Halloweening

We made a quick visit to a cute pumpkin patch in South Provo.

I think Luke was excited to get a pumpkin.

One Sunday we baked Halloween sugar cookies,

and our friends Carlie and Raeya came over for pizza.

Everyone topped an individual pizza - the festive among us

made them into jack-o-lanterns. The lame among us did not.

After brainstorming about costume possibilities for weeks (months?) and perusing

the selection of costumes at multiple retail venues, Luke was still undecided

about what he wanted to dress up as for Halloween. Finally, a generous five

days before the school Halloween parade, I thought it might be a good idea to

make a decision. We pulled out dress-up items, we talked about costumes we could

create or improvise using items we had on hand, but Luke wasn't happy with

any of those options. We started looking online and discussed easy-to-assemble

inexpensive costume ideas. Luke finall decided he'd be Waldo (of course, I'd

made that suggestion weeks before, but that's neither here nor there). We pulled out

his Waldo book and looked at the components for Waldo and his associates, then decided

that I would be Wenda and Ben would be Odlaw. We ordered shirts, glasses, and hats

for everyone, and socks for me. Luke borrowed the cane from a neighbor. Everything

we ordered should have been delivered in time for the parade, but the red and white

striped hats never arrived. I improvised a hat for Luke using a cream beanie we had on

hand, and embellishing it with a yarn pom pom on the top and hot gluing red ribbon near

the brim. I never made a hat for myself, but I think we still got the point across.

Finally, it was Halloween Celebration Day at the elementary school!

Luke wasn't into me taking his picture during the parade. Also, I asked

him if I could dress in costume for the parade and he said, "Um... parents don't really do that."

So I put my Wanda costume on when I picked him up. Liza's 5th grade teacher was doing

carpool and she had the same idea we did, so I hopped out of my car for a picture.

We went right from Luke's school to the seminary building parking lot for

the trunk-or-treat for the older kids' school. There were lots of kids there and

I especially loved seeing my kids talking to and hanging out with their friends.

Cat and the soccer girl posse were really cute as Minions and other Descpicable Me

characters, with Coach dressed up as Gru.

(my favorite costume at the trunk-or-treat - I don't think the dog liked it very much though)

Luke, Liza and I were the only ones who wanted to carve jack-o-lanterns,

but I think we rocked them!

Halloween sugar cookies,

because who doesn't love a coffin-shaped cookie with a cross on it?

Luke helped me create a fire pit in the section of the yard formerly known as the "play structure

area" but which is now covered in weeds. Ben helped us get a fire going, but since it was taking a while, Cat and Liza made tin foil dinners inside and brought them outside to finish cooking.

The kids and I sat around the campfire, eating tin foil dinners and s'mores and roasted Starburst

while taking turns telling G-rated ghost stories. This is actually my favorite Halloween tradition;

I love how it allows us to take advantage of cool fall weather while enjoying lighthearted spookiness.

On Halloween, we made Mummy Dogs for dinner.

Liza went trick-or-treting with a group of friends from school,

and there wasn't much going on at our house in the trick-or-treating

department. Luke had been sick and just wasn't interested in going out, and

since we've deemed Jack too old to trick-or-treat, he and Luke watched E.T.

We'd missed our Ward trunk-or-treat over the weekend because we had

some people unavailable and some people sick, so I set up the trunk display

I'd prepped for the school trunk-or-treat so we could take a few pictures. 

Can you find Waldo, Wenda, and Odlaw? (other than the sign)

Then Cat practically forced Luke to let her take him trick-or-treating

in our neighborhood and at Robert's. She donned my Wanda costume to

match Luke, and Ben joined them while they were nearby.

After the movie, Jack entertained himself (and
hoped to entertain trick-or-treaters) with Halloween-y
music such as Star Wars.

Luke took some turns handing candy out to trick-or-treaters.

Liza and her friends scored plenty of candy!