Halloween!

Halloween seems to get bigger and bigger each year! I think it's having the kids get older and being involved in more activities that include celebrations. Whatever it is, it's a fun reason to dress up and celebrate. This year was a chose a costume from the dress-up bin year. The kids thought that was just as fun as picking out new costumes because they could be something different for each activity. 

Our Halloween fun included Halloween parties and parades at school, a trip to Gardner Village to see the witches, trick-or-treating at Kevin's work, a Halloween fun run, a ward fall carnival, painting pumpkins from our garden, carving pumpkins, and trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. 

Luke loved the firewoman witch at Gadner Village.

 These cute little pumpkins came from the only plant in the yard that survived-- cute! Luke didn't want to paint, so he did a thumbtack decoration. Evelyn got to paint hers too, just with water though. 

 

Evelyn loved her costume (she didn't want me to take it off her!), but was a little cranky this time I put it on her (short nap). I couldn't resist taking pictures of this tantrumy giraffe! 

 Look at those feet kick!

 The hood did seem to bug her, so we left it off most of the time. She got lots of compliments on her costume, especially the cute padded behind.  

 

 Outside the Riverton Office Building 

 Lukey the tired pirate on the way home from Kevin's work. 

 The ward Fall Festival fell on the same night at a BYU game that Kevin had tickets for. I didn't brave going for the dinner part with all four kids by myself, but we did come late for the carnival. Each auxiliary planned a game with a little prize. It was great! They had this cute photo op spot too.  

 Kissie told us about a fun Halloween race at City Creek park. It was fun to see everyone's costumes while running!

 

 

 I could do without the carving pumpkin tradition, so the kids are lucky Kevin likes it! We found cheap, giant pumpkins at Winco this year. The kids loved planning their designs. It is nice they can be more involved in the cleaning and cutting each year.  

They turned out great! 

 The kids even dressed up for Halloween storytime at the library! 

 Here's Cora on her class Halloween parade. The whole elementary school walked to the junior high and back. 

 We went back for Violet's afternoon kindergarten parade around the school too. 

 Here's our dinner for Halloween night: spider icecubes in apple cider, pineapple stars, mummy hot dogs, peas for grass, and mashed carrots pumpkins (which no one liked, I should have guessed!). 

 All ready for trick-or-treating! Luke and Evelyn didn't last too long, but Cora and Violet were out for quite a while! Luke and Evelyn had fun eating their cansy and handing out candy to the other trick-or-treaters too. 

 I think it is because our neighbors-- good friends!-- asked to trick-or-treat with them. They had so much fun! 

October Videos

Luke practicing his shots at preschool sports basketball class

Violet as the letter S in the letter parade!

Evelyn's somersaults

Baby dancing

Violet the kitty in the school Halloween parade. 

School pictures!

We school the official school pictures and did some of our own this year. It was a windy day, but it was fun to have them outside! I love that we could get some with Cora and Violet together. 

 

 

October Round-up

Cora did another round of swim lessons at the rec center. She passed off level blue! It's nice to have swimming lessons so close!

Evelyn playing at the Dino Land at City Creek. 

With my big trip, we didn't get to go on our fall leave drive until mid-October. It was too late to see much color, but it was still a good time exploring. And a good outdoor adventure while the kids had two days off school. 

Evelyn was grumpy she had to sit still for the picture. She loved running around and exploring on her own! 

 

We saw this lovely sign while we were out at Cascade Springs. Kind of funny that the outhouse would be closed due to the government shut-down! I guess there wouldn't be anyone to stock the toilet paper? 

Taking advantage of some of the last outdoor play weather!

Evelyn is fascinated with Luke's balance bike! But she's not quite tall enough or coordinated enough to ride yet. Before she does, she'll have to learn a thing or two about how to wear a helmet! 

The kids collected leaves on our fall walks to make pictures. I loved Violet's! 

We also did some apple prints too. 

Luke was so excited to wear big-boy clothes to church for the first time-- white shirt and tie! Thanks to some hand-me-downs from my neighbors, he now has a bucket full of ties to choose from. 

 

Evelyn on her first day in nursery! It might takes a few weeks for her to get used to it! Kevin had to stay in there for a while with her. 

Violet just finished a unit on the world in school. They made globes, and each week studied a new continent. They had presentations from parents on each continent, and learned an animal, food, and landmark for each continent. She had fun making this Statue of Liberty when they studied North America. 

 

We skipped Cornbelly's the last few years, so I really wanted to go this year. The only time we could go was after after work. It was fun, but the kids were tired and a little on edge. There were quite a few tears and head bumps in the rat maze. They had fun in the corn box, with the dress-ups, and on the jumping pillow. I was just glad I rode the cow train with Evelyn and Luke instead of getting lost in the corn maze with Kevin, Cora, and Violet!

 

We were lucky to meet up with Heather and her boys. We love going walking on the trail by her house, there are so many big trees! The kids collected leaves and made leaf wreaths at her house afterward.