Happy Halloween 2021

We got no troubles, life is the bubbles, under the sea! 

Sophie picked our theme this year and wanted "ocean" costumes. With that to guide us we ended up with a Charlie Shark, Griffin Octopus, Daddy Crab, Sophie Mermaid, Mommy Anemone, and Davey Pirate (above the ocean, but still counts). The shark and pirate were already in our costume closet, we bought the mermaid at Target, and I made the other three. Overall, not too stressful this year. 

We had beautiful weather for both our ward party and trick or treating on Halloween night so the costumes needed no modification. Griffin eventually did succeed in ripping off his octopus eyeballs, but everything else held up fine. After the weirdness of the covid Halloween, it was nice to have everything go nice and easy this year!

Making our costume debut at the ward Trunk or Treat

Pumpkin carving crew - Sophie did her own pumpkin this year!

Sophie - Sea Turtle

Davey - Jurassic Park

Charlie - Blippi

Griffin had already gone to bed so I carved a page from his favorite Halloween book.  The chickens always make him laugh real big!

Pumpkins aglow and ready for the big night

Love these salty sea kids

Ready to hit up the neighborhood!

Sophie stayed out an extra hour with dad to bring home a big haul

Video: 2021 Halloween

Happy Halloween!

Halloween this year consisted of carving pumpkins and going trick or treating. There weren't any school parades or ward parties or community events, but it turns out we didn't really miss them all that much. The biggest concerns we had were weather related, but luckily there was lots of sun on the two days leading up to Halloween to help melt all the snow and ice from our big storm, and by the 31st the sidewalks were clear and dry.  It was so nice out that night we didn't even need to wear coats to Trick or Treat!

Last year I waited to long to buy pumpkins and they were all sold out mid-month so we never got to carve any. This year I made sure to snag some early and then we carved them as a family on Halloween Eve.

The kids do not like cleaning out the guts, but with four pumpkins to prep, there was no way I could do it all on my own. It was either help, or no pumpkin for you!

Charlie was the easiest request this year - just a happy face

Davey wanted me to make him a Mario pumpkin, but I didn't have the time or energy to figure out something that complicated so he got a Goomba (from Mario) instead

Sophie wanted me to make her pumpkin match her shirt! I thought I did a pretty good job. 

Griffin went to bed before I got around to his pumpkin so he didn't get to give any input or take a picture with the final result, which ended up being a lion.

For some reason I did a little impromptu photo shoot of the kids in the Halloween shirts. I don't remember why I did this, but I got some cute photos of them!

Trick or Treating was different this year. Our neighborhood has an older demographic and there were definitely less houses participating this year. We had to try about 12 houses when we first started out before finding one that opened with candy. It was still a successful night though and the kids brought home plenty. They just had to walk further to get it!

Our house decorated for the trick or treaters, of which we had about 5

Our sweet neighbor saw on Facebook that I was making the kids Mario costumes for Halloween and she put together these cute mystery blocks with chocolate coins inside! They were such a fun surprise and the kids thought they were so fun!

Halloween 2020 Video Clips

Our INCREDIBLE Halloween

This year we did an Incredibles theme for Halloween. With the new movie that came out this summer it was a popular costume choice, but we would have done it anyway because we had the perfect family set up - dad, mom, big sister, middle brother, and baby boy.

I chose to make our costumes again this year and spent a long time searching second hand stores for red clothing for the entire family. I had to resort to eBay to get a red sleeper for Charlie, but in the end I was able to find stuff for everyone. I also ordered iron-on logo transfers from eBay because I didn't want to attempt making them on my own. The last big piece was creating masks, which actually turned out to be way more challenging than I planned. It turns out I am no good at measuring faces, or cutting eye holes that actually align with a person's eyes, but they worked well enough for the short time we were wearing them.

We debuted our costumes at the ward Halloween party. It was actually a great costume theme because the red made it really easy to find everyone throughout the night. And there was no question about who the kids belonged to, so we let them wander freely, even Charlie! We brought his walker and he just cruised around the church gym looking at things. The YW were in charge of the carnival and party, so I was busy making sure everything was running smooth and didn't take many pictures, but it was a fun, successful night. 

Sophie with her friend Bodie, and Davey at the cupcake walk. I was helping him and it took us about 15 rounds before he finally won. 

We carved our pumpkins the day before Halloween this year. I let the kids choose what design the wanted and Davey requested Chase from Paw Patrol, and Sophie wanted a cat. I did a passable job on Chase, although his face got a little wonky near the end, and Grandmari did Sophie's cat. Both kids loved their pumpkin, and that's all that matters. 

Halloween night was very cold, but at least the forecasted rain never showed up. We bundled the kids up in coats, hats, and gloves before heading out into the neighborhood. The boys only lasted about 10 houses before Davey started asking to go home, so I took them back while Dave went around more with Sophie. They stayed out another hour before heading back to count up the candy. 

Sophie with our orange dinner of mac & cheese, carrots, baby oranges, and orange jello

Our house decorated for Halloween. We live at the end of a dark court, so I tried to make our house bright and fun so people would know we are there.

Happy Halloween 2018!!