Halloween Day

We went to the ranch to watch the game and enjoy Halloween festivities. Cousin Presto was there with Aunt Crys. Aunt Crys agreed to carve the pumpkin we brought along with us. Yeah---there's nothing like waiting until the last minute to do something. Then expecting someone else to do the work for you. That's what family is for:D I was really happy that Crys agree to carve the pumpkin. I am really bad at carving pumpkins:)

Big Dog was impressed with Crys' work.

GH was a happy pirate for grandma.

GH earned extra points with grandma by swabbing the deck.

Big Dog refuses to conform. He is mad at the world.....and you are gonna know about it;D

Rooster is just a silly pirate. But, she has a hook...so don't mess with her.

I didn't get any good photos of trick or treating this year. Big Dog, GH and I had to cut the night short because we got sick. Rooster continued trick or treating with Captain Awesome. Captain Awesome says she did really well. She must have done pretty well because she came home with a bag full of treats.

Pumpkin Time

The kids have enjoyed playing with the two pumpkins we have sitting on the porch. Rooster got the smaller one on her field trip to the pumpkin patch.

Big Dog didn't want to sit still for this picture. He is a fast one:D


GH is always up for being photographed. GH was able to roll this pumpkin over onto it's side. He's such a He-Man.

Rooster thinks her pumpkin needs to go to school. She also thinks it needs to use the slide.

Halloween activities and books

Rooster worked very hard on her spider.

GH attacked one of the spiders with extreme prejudice.

These hot dog mummies were made with crescent roll dough. They were delicious.

The candy corn cheese pizza was equally delicious.

Here are a few coloring pages

We've also been reading some books for Halloween.

Julius's Candy Corn by Kevin Henkes, This is board book which profiles the greedy and manipulative Julius who steals the candy corns off the top of cupcakes;) Rooster seemed shocked by the ending of this book.

The Count Counts Scary Things by Stephanie St. Pierre, All the kids liked this book. Big Dog LOVED this book.

Clifford's First Halloween by Norman Bridwell, Rooster absolutely adored this book.

Frankenpooh by Bruce Talkington, The kids were somewhat into this book. I have noticed that the kids don't know what a lot of the Halloween stuff is about (examples: witches, Frankenstein, mummies) I have probably been a bit overprotective about exposing them to this stuff.

Barney's Trick or Treat by Mark S. Berenthal and Barney's Halloween Party by Mary Ann Dudka and Margie Larsen, Big Dog loved these stories.

Curious George Goes to a Costume Party by Margret and H.A. Rey's, Rooster and Big Dog LOVED this book.

Mrs. McMurphy's Pumpkin by Rick Walton, Rooster loved this book. She was certain that the pumpkin wouldn't return when Mrs. McMurphy sent the pumpkin down the river. But the pumpkin did come back....and eventually ended up being a pie:)

Corduroy's Best Halloween Ever, This was a very sweet story that Rooster really enjoyed.

Trick or Treat bags

I saw this idea for canvas trick or treat bags in Family Fun magazine this month. I think the hardest part was locating all the pictures from previous Halloweens. I haven't done well keeping up with scrapbooks etc. These bags were pretty easy. You just print the photos off on iron on transfer paper. Then iron them on the bags. (I think I need a new iron because my iron refused to get hot enough:)) The person who came up with the idea used puffy paint to label the year etc. I decided to embroider it. I used all six strands of embroidery thread with a darning needle. It worked very well. The fabric was very stiff so I didn't even need an embroidery hoop.

This is GH's bag. He was Yoda last year.

This is Big Dog's bag. The first year he was the lion from Wizard of Oz, then a monkey, and last year he was Darth Vader.

This is Roosters bag. For her first Halloween she was Sally Ride. Then she was a dragon (I was a princess-hahaha), the following year she was Dorthy from the Wizard of Oz, then Scooby Doo, then Princess Leia.

Aww what sweet memories.

Trick or Treating and other stuff

Tonight we handed out jump ropes and books instead of treats. Most kids were ok with that. A few were a little disappointed. They were probably wondering why anyone would give out anything besides candy. The reason is pretty simple. It was actually cheaper. They were all originally $1 each. But, after the 90% clearance price they cost 10 cents each.

Grandma brought this cool jack-o-lantern bib for GH. It's pretty awesome:)

Big Dog has been sick and his sleep schedule is all messed up. So he was a little crankier than usual. We were a little frazzled by the drama. Thats when Captain Awesome said "The biggest difference between you and me is that when you see an attitude problem. I see a defensive end".

While we waited for trick or treaters the kids played in the leaves. A few trick or treaters actually joined our kids in the leaves. Just in case you don't know. Kids LOVE leaves!!!

Grandma's Halloween visit

I forgot to ask my mother in law if I could post a picture of her. I should just have everyone I know sign waivers and be done with it. But, anyway here are some pics


Big Dog as Vader.

GH, The Rooster and grandma (hidden)

Everyone

GH

The Rooster makes a beautiful Princess Leia.

We need more pumpkins

We had been playing in a big pile of leaves when Big Dog left and started placing a basketball beside the pumpkin on our front step. It kept rolling away. So he kept putting it back. I said "Is that basketball a pumpkin?" I then positioned the new pumpkin beside the old pumpkin using our "pumpkin bats". Big Dog was very proud and said "One, two pumpkins" What an imagination:)

Kim's Halloween Party

Holy Moly Kim can throw a party! She had music, crafts, food, and tons of decorations. We had a blast! Captain Awesome even got to talk football. Which I know he loves to do:) These are a few pictures from tonight.


Before we left the house.

We went with a Star Wars theme. GH is Yoda. Big Dog is Darth Vader, and The Rooster is Princess Leia.




I'm going to rule the galaxy with an iron fist......as soon as I figure out how to get out of this car seat.


The princess has arrived.




Gabs was a super cute pirate.
When will mom figure out how to run her camera? Then I could go back to playing.

An apple orchard is a Rooster paradise.

They had a tire swing that the kids enjoyed playing on for a while.



So much to see.....

A glorious apple
Grandpa Alan use to have a 4020 tractor.

The corn maze was cute and easy for little ones:)