happy halloween!

Halloween this year was almost a week-long affair.

We had our Ward Halloween party on Tuesday night.  Anna and Jolee informed me at the end of last year that they both wanted to be peacocks for Halloween the following year.  So, technically, I had an entire year to prepare for this night and I wanted to make it good.  But then...I forgot about it until close to September so I had to frantically search the web for ideas on making a memorable peacock costume without having to break the bank.  

This was the result.  I ordered the peacock feathers online, used a glue gun and stuck them together onto pieces of cardboard cut out to fit their backs and covered the ugliness with teal felt and stuck it all together with a long ribbon for tying around their waist.  I then made teal and green tutus for each to wear over black leggings. The colorful feather boa was a bonus.  

I was pretty proud of myself for this creation.  It took some time, but I thought the result was well worth it.  But most importantly, the girls loved it and that was my main goal.

Then came Kaden's costume.  

Ok, so last year I totally flaked out on costumes so I was determined to redeem myself with his monster truck costume this year.

I bought a cardboard box, painted it, cut it out & taped some pieces together.  Add some embellishments and some suped up tires made from paper plates and bubble wrap tucked inside contractor garbage bags and voila!  Kaden was a monster truck driver.  

Seriously, SO proud of this costume!  I spent way too much time on it, but it was well worth it, in my opinion.  And Kaden LOVED it! He kept wanting to put it on and "drive" all over the place, making "VROOM!" noises as we went.  Yay!  Success!!

Here they are in the light of the church gym.

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but we got a lot of compliments.  

(okay, okay, totally tooting my own horn!)

And here are all the kids together in the room that I helped decorate.  

Kela took forever to decide on a costume so I had to improvise and buy this ensemble at the store.   It wasn't anything exciting or flashy...just a witch costume with a wooden broomstick. 

And here are the cousins together.  It was such a hectic night and the party was pretty much a blur, but the kids had fun collecting candy outside in the parking lot and playing games inside the church afterwards.  Honestly, I've never been much of Halloween fanatic, so for me, this was more than enough.

 Oh, and did I mention they had a costume contest?  They did.  There was no grand prize, but the kids were definitely in the running for best costume.  It was pretty exciting, I must say.  They paraded around the gym and I could tell Anna and Jojo loved showing off their peacock feathers.  I was simply happy that they were happy with their costumes. 

And then on Thursday night, we decided to finally carve our pumpkin.

Wait, I know what you're thinking.  "I thought there weren't any pumpkins at the pumpkin farm when you went?!"

And you'd be right!  There were NO pumpkins at the farm, but Jolee happened to grab a pumpkin from the Aloun farm when she went on a field trip with her class from school! 

Yay, for Jolee saving Halloween!  Daddy cut the top and the kids got to scoop out the goo.  Jolee then got to decide and draw the face of her Jack o' Lantern and Daddy cut it out.

With this on our porch, it's finally starting to feel like Halloween! 

Friday, Halloween Morning, Kaden had a dress-up and Trick or Treating day at his school.  

I brought his costume and the parents all spread out around the school while all the kids got to go Trick or Treating around to the parents.  It was SO cute and fun and Kaden loved it!  How cute are his classmates?! I'm so happy we found this school for Kaden.  He absolutely LOVES it here and loves his teachers and friends.  Plus, he's improved in so many ways with his speech and language!  

Yay for school!

And then it was Halloween night.  Our neighborhood turned out to be a great place to go trick or treating, with lots of neighborhood kids walking around as well.  Unfortunatly, Mitch had to work, but I had my Mom stay and guard the house and pass out candy while we went around a couple of blocks near our house with the cousins.  

Anna and Jolee were tired by the end of the second block so after returning home, they decided to take over the passing out candy duties from Obachan.  

Happy Halloween!! Hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween too!