Two Months of Halloween

Can I be honest and say that part of me is really glad that Halloween is over? My kids started getting excited about Halloween way back at the end of August and after two months of reading Halloween books, talking about Halloween costumes, and squealing with delight every time we pass a "Halloween House" (a house with Halloween decorations) I am sort of glad to have a break until next year! Even though it has been really fun to see them BOTH get so excited about a holiday. Maybe all their energy will now be directed towards Christmas... I guess I will just have to wait and see.

We started out our festivities a few days early with a Halloween party at their Grandma's house. It was the first time they got to wear their costumes and they were thrilled. Not to mention they got to spend time with River, which always makes them happy.

This is a cute video of the kids at the Halloween party and you can see Rose's bat costume really well. Asher is grumpy because he hasn't had a nap.

We had TONS of pumpkins this year because last year I threw a pumpkin out in our garden and all the seeds sprouted. I transplanted about 20 of them to Jon's uncle's garden and they did really well. We harvested 74 pumpkins! Most of which we shared with friends and family. Rose was especially attached to her "baby pumpkin" and carried it around like it was a real baby. She almost didn't let me carve it because she didn't want me to poke it with a knife. Yet when she saw that Asher was doing it she changed her mind.

She "helped" by coloring all over it!

Asher named his pumpkin something goofy like "googagerma". He comes up with the craziest names whenever you ask him to name something. Most of the time no one can remember them... not even him!

And here is my bat pumpkin... I'm sort of proud of it.

I sewed both of the kid's Halloween costumes this year and I am really happy with how they turned out. Asher's hat is a bit big and so it kept slipping down over his face, but other than that they turned out better than I thought they would. And Asher was pretty thrilled about having a complete pirate outfit. He has been wearing it non-stop since Halloween and insists on being called "Captain Hook" or "Asher the Nice Pirate" ( I told him mean pirates aren't allowed in our house.) He has also been carrying around his hook non-stop (I didn't make it, his Grandma gave him) for the last month or so. It goes EVERYWHERE with him, except for the bathtub. It is actually getting to be sort of gross and I need to figure out away to get it off his hand long enough to wash it!

Rose really wanted to be a bat this year. I don't know where she got the idea but she was pretty enthusiastic about it. It was really cute to see her flap her arms and pretend to be a bat. Actually her favorite thing is to put her costume on and jump off the couch while flapping her arms. She really got into her part!

Jon and I didn't dress up this year. Asher told us that he wanted me to be a princess and Jon to be a donkey (I have no idea why!). I just didn't have the energy to try to figure out costumes for us this year, and I didn't fit into any of my old costumes because my belly is too big!

For trick-or-treating we just went to our Ward's trunk-or-treat. Which, in my opinion, is ideal for little kids because the walking is very minimal and it wasn't too cold! Someone in our neighborhood rigged up a trailer with a strobe light and scary music that kids could walk through. Rose was too scared to go inside but she sure had fun rocking to the music outside. I caught a bit of it on video, but wish I'd gotten her a bit earlier when she was REALLY going at. Oh, and the skunk is just too cute too!

Gratefully the kids have now blazed through all their Halloween candy (I still have a little stash hidden away) and so now life is getting back to normal. Though I don't know if Asher will let me take down the Halloween decorations yet... he is still going through denial that Halloween is over!