Costumes and Carvings

Halloween felt sort of uneventful this year compared to other Halloweens in the past. We only got dressed up twice: once for the ward Halloween party, and once for the actual holiday itself. We didn't dress up as a family to go along with a common theme this year like we've done before. Instead, the day before and the day of the party, we all just picked random costumes to wear that we already had. So, I guess that also made it the cheapest Halloween we've had yet!

Micah wanted to be either a vampire or Elvis this year. He ended up being dracula:

Kanyon wanted to be Spiderman. Wish granted! The twins wore this same costume 2 years ago:

Jonah wanted to be a zombie. Thankfully, we had a costume to fit his wants; this was a costume Ammon wore 3 years ago:

Ammon said he wasn't going to even dress up this year, and he said he didn't want to go trick-or-treating either. But, the day of the ward party, I finally convinced him to dress up. He chose to be a ghost. Then I painted his face white, added a white feather boa around his head, and picked out some white gloves. He went as "Einstein's Ghost". Pretty clever, I'd say!

I had worn black all day to school the same day we'd had the ward party because it was "Black out Drugs" day for Red Ribbon Week. So I threw on a pirate's hat, and some silver accessories, and went to the ward party as a "Pirate's Wife".

Josh wasn't going to dress up either, but minutes before we left to go to the party, he decided he didn't want to be the only member of our family to NOT dress up, so he came up with this Golfer's outfit last minute, and I thought he did a pretty good job of it!!

The night before Halloween, we carved all our pumpkins. Josh picked the 111 lb. one to carve, and all the boys picked 40+ lb. ones out of the patch to carve, too. Mine was a green, regular-size one, but compared to the others, it looked tiny!

Josh carved a fleur d'lis sign on his because his favorite team is the New Orleans Saints and that's their symbol.  I carved a music note into my pumpkin. For the boys' pumpkins, I had some examples of jack-o-lantern faces on a Halloween decoration, and I had the boys each look at the faces, and tell me which one they liked and would want carved on their pumpkin. They all picked different faces, and I carved them all using one kitchen knife. We've never bought a pumpkin carving kit or carving tools, and I'm proud to say that I can still do it the old-fashioned way! I thought they all turned out great!

On Halloween, I wore a different costume all day to school. I painted my face green, wore a witch's hat, a music shirt, a black skirt, and black heels. I was a "witchy musical teacher". During my first period class, a boy walked in, took one look at my costume, and said "that costume is fitting for you". I laughed so hard! It was exactly the reason why I picked it!!

Halloween itself felt like a marathon. Jonah and Micah had their costume parade and class party in the afternoon, then I took the 3 younger boys to the Merchant's trick-or-treating on Main Street for an hour after school and their buckets got filled with candy, then we all went to the Halloween Carnival at the school. Ammon and I volunteered in booths almost the entire time (2 1/2 hours), and the boys went around doing all the activities and getting prizes and candy at it. Then Josh took the 3 younger boys trick-or-treating at some of our friends' homes and around the neighborhood, while Ammon and I stayed at the Carnival to work until it was over. Then we all came home, had Family Home Evening, and for dessert we ate the cupcakes and cake the boys won at the cake walk before heading to bed!

I just LOVE Halloween! It's in my favorite season, and I love the harvest smells and sights, and the cooler weather. I love Halloween decorations, and I love any chance to dress up! The boys like it because they get loads of candy (that they're STILL eating even now). And it's fun for all us doing pumpkin growing, selling, and carving!