Happy Halloween!

Holidays are a lot more fun when you have kids to enjoy them with!  This year's Halloween did not disappoint, especially since Nana came to visit.  

It took Rachel FOREVER to decide what she wanted to be for Halloween, but we finally settled on a ladybug (other options included a bee, Bumblebee the Transformer since her cousin was going to be Optimus Prime, Jesse from Toy Story when she found out that's what her friend was going to be, maybe Snow White since we already had the dress, but she informed me that she wasn't going to be Rapunzel because she doesn't like the movie, "Tangled" anymore, and the list goes on and on, but I'll spare you).  

Her costume reminded me of the book series, "Ladybug Girl", and I love the red boots per Rachel's request last minute.  I did not make any of her costume, since the whole thing cost only $14 at Target.  And I got Andrew's cute dinosaur costume from a secondhand kid's store for $8.50.  Best idea ever to not make their costumes - no way I could have made them for what I bought them for.  

I guess it's tradition now to take pictures of my kids on Halloween in my neighbor's front yard.  See last year's blog post HERE.  Our across the street neighbors, Jim & Pam King (any Office fans? ha ha), have a bridge and pond with a ton of fish right in their front yard.  And they leave the fish food out so that the kids can feed the fish whenever they want.  They are so sweet to the kids, and I'm so grateful for them.  

I enjoy the warmer weather for Halloween - it means our ward party is always outside in the parking lot, and it makes trick-or-treating much more bearable and fun.  The ward party was fun, yet stressful at the same time if I'm being honest.  Trying to get kids fed, feed myself, carnival games, keeping the candy intake to a minimum, and socializing meant for an exhausting night for mom and dad.  The trunk or treat was a success, and for 50 cents I decorated our van and got lots of compliments.  I took a posterboard and cut it out like sharp teeth, and made the trunk look like a mouth - easy peasy (idea/photo courtesy of pinterest).  For the record, between my mom and Brandon, Andrew had WAY more candy and goodies than Rachel.  I think Rach only had 2-3 pieces, where Andrew had much more plus two cups of homemade root beer.  Seriously?  :)  

On actual Halloween night, we trick-or-treated to all our neighbors, which gives us a good excuse to stop by and say hello since we don't really have many close by LDS neighbors (maybe 3-4 other LDS families on our block).  Then we headed up to Mandy's since our street doesn't get much trick or treaters, and hung out with them for a bit, and finished up at a popular neighborhood in our ward boundaries that always decks out for holidays.  

Trick or Treating with the kids

Picture courtesy of Pinterest - not our car, but just so you get the idea.