Halloween Happenings

Its seems like the older the kids get, the longer Halloween seems to last! It lasted about 3 days around here - about a month if you include every day the kids ran around the house in a different costume! With how much the kids love dressing up, it's pretty much Halloween every day at our house, all we really need Halloween for is to get all the extra candy!
On Friday the kids had their school parties. It was pretty crazy running between 2 different schools trying to catch all the action, and of course, by the end of Sami's party my camera battery died, so I ran home to grab the other camera for the boys party, and when I got there, that battery was dead too. So, unfortunately I don't have footage of the boys party, but the boys had a good time playing games, eating tons of treats, and their cute teachers were all dressed up as crayons. Kaden even almost won musical chairs - Gav chose to be the gentleman and let the other kids have the seats - really I think he just wanted the play dough they were handing out when you got out. Sami's party was really cute with fun crafts and healthy treats, and Sam was super excited to see that her teacher was a witch - that way she could be here black cat!
That night our ward had the trunk-or-treat and chili cook off. The kids always love this activity! There is always so many fun games for the kids to play, prizes for them to win, and of course, lots of candy! After we ate dinner Sam was off with her friend and I didn't see her again until it was time to trick-or-treat, but the boys hung out with me while we hit all the games!
Saturday we finally had some time to start carving our pumpkins!
It's so funny to watch the kids get grossed out by cleaning out their "pumpkin brains". That night we had our annual Halloween party and buffet! The kids look forward to this every year and it's so fun to see a tradition that I grew
up with, be so fun and important to my kids. We like to have Mike's family over and since they like to trick-or-treat in their own neighborhood, we always do it before Halloween so we still get to see them. Then on Halloween we have the leftovers to enjoy before trick-or-treating!
Since our neighborhood isn't finished and there aren't too many houses around, we decided to take the kids to our old neighborhood to trick-or-treat so they could say hello to all their friends and our old neighbors. We didn't stay out too long, but they each still made quite a haul! A few years ago, we started having the kids separate part of their candy for the soldiers serving over in Afghanistan and Iraq. Since then, it has become a habit for them to come home and divide out their candy for the soldiers. It was so great to see them walk in the door, and sit down and on their own make two piles, one for them, and one for the soldiers. All on their own, Sami and the boys gave up half of their candy. I was so proud of them! They did it without complaining, and I was so happy to see how unselfish they were being with their candy. I'm so glad we started that tradition, and it's one I think I will keep around for a long while. Who we give it to might change, but I love the principle it's teaching them. Now I just need to get this big bag of "soldier candy" off before I eat it all! :)

Happy Halloween my little Monsters!
Stylish Black Cat

2 Little Ninjas!

Tiger Carts

Dragon Tay