Halloween and Fall

Our Halloween was great! The kids had a blast trick-or-treating this year. Bennett finally caught on and understood what to do! Niah dressed up as Susan from Narnia. Grandma Shannon made her costume. It was perfect! Niah was so happy about it. Chloe dressed up as a fairy. She saw some purple fake eyelashes in a magazine and had to have them, so we planned her costume around those darn eyelashes! She looked so pretty. Bennett was an astronaut. We had a zipper malfunction so he looks a little 'GQish' with his zipper open.

And of course, don't forget Mabel. She wore Chloe's old Tinkerbell costume! It was only on long enough for me to snap a picture then she tried to eat the wings.

We carried on our annual tradition of soup and breadsticks. The kids were so excited to go trick-or-treating that they didn't really eat. They were full on candy anyway! (Notice Bennett's costume change. He went trick-or-treating as a fireman. He just couldn't make up his mind!)
Tuesday, Bryan had the day off so we spent the afternoon out in the yard raking leaves and enjoying the beautiful weather. I love days like that.

Chloe's enjoying a snack out in the sunshine!



I love this time of year. I don't want it to end. At least we haven't had any snow yet!

Not So Happy Halloween

Our Halloween week was rough. Chloe came down sick and was throwing up and complaining of a belly ache for three days. She didn't sleep for four nights straight. This was towards the middle of the week, so by the time our Halloween parties started we were all exhausted and a little grumpy. We had a party with our ward. I am on the activites committee so I knew what was going to go on at the party. I got my kids all pumped up for the games, hayride, prizes, food, and of course, a trunk-or-treat. They were so excited! Bryan started his night float that night so he had to leave early to go to work. My kids are going through a weird separation anxiety phase right now- mostly Niah- (isn't she too old for that?!) so they would not leave my side to go with their friends and play games and participate in all the fun things I had told them about. (Chloe probably would have gone no problem, but Niah's fits made her nervous, I think.) Keep in mind that it's pretty cold too because the party was outdoors. We have big coats on, blankets, etc. so my hands were FULL. Here I am trying to chase a monkey, but every time I would wander off to get him the girls would get out of line and start to cry and follow me. If I held the little monkey he would squirm and get mad because he did not want to be held. As I'm typing this it doesn't sound that bad, but it really was stressful, chaotic and really not fun! This went on all night. Finally, the trunk-or-treat came and they did a little better, but would not leave my side. Bennett had a lot of fun getting candy and would not let go of his candy. I'll spare you the rest of the details, but all in all I didn't get to talk to a single person at the party and my kids were big grumps all night. I was glad to get cleaned up and out of there. I thought the party was a success though! I think the ward members had fun.

Sadly, these are the only pictures I got of the kids in their costumes. Where's Chloe you ask? She was being stubborn and would not get in the picture. So, I have no decent picture of Chloe in her cute hippie costume. :( Here's my cute little monkey. He loved his costume and when people came up and said, "Oh, what a cute monkey," he would answer with a monkey sound. It really was adorable.

Niah was the cutest pirate I have ever seen! Arrrgggh!


I kind of gave up trying to get the kids excited about Halloween day. I down played it and as the day went on, I felt bad that they couldn't go trick-or-treating around the neighborhood- because it was Sunday. South Bend sets hours for trick-or-treating and they set it for Sunday night. Boo. I thought I should have made more of an effort to find somewhere to take them Saturday night. Anyway, the kids saw people out getting candy and wanted to give candy to the trick-or-treaters. We were all out of candy from the ward party so we had the idea to clean out their buckets and get rid of all the candy they didn't want. It worked out nicely! There were not many people that came down our circle, but Niah didn't let that stop her. She got a whistle and stood in the circle blowing the whistle and yelling, "Candy, we have candy!" If she saw someone at the top of the circle she would start yelling and try to get them to come down to our house. It was the funniest thing ever! I was laughing so hard.



Chloe and Bennett thought she was a little crazy! Oh, look- a picture of Chloe in her costume. She decided to just throw it on over her clothes so she could give candy away.

She's a cute hippie. Or as she says, "I'm a whoopie!" She didn't even wear the earrings that started the whole hippie idea. Oh well.

In the end, I think our Halloween turned out alright. The kids had more fun giving the candy away and weren't sad at all that we didn't go out trick-or-treating. It was truly entertaining to watch Niah yell down the street to passersby! The kids buckets are still full of candy from the ward party, so they have had their fair share of it- and so have I!

Wow. I didn't realize how long that post turned out to be. If you are still reading, I'm impressed.

Our Halloween

We had a fun Halloween. We spent it with the Mason family. The kids had so much fun being with their cousins.

We went to a trunk-or-treat and a party at the church.

Niah's favorite toy at Grandma Shannon's house are her 'flower babies'. She played with them the whole time.


Grandma Shannon and Aunt Kelsie taught the kids how to play Killer Frogs.

All the grandkids LOVE grandma and grandpa.

Chloe and her cousin Swayzee were a little shy of each other at
first, but by the end of the night they were having lots of fun together. (They are carrying a rubber chicken on the pillow and thought it was so funny!)

Here is my attempt at trying to get the kids to pose for a picture. Niah was mad at me, but I guess each of their faces goes with their costume!

The girls played Mario Kart with Aunt Kelsie. Niah told us she wants a Wii for Christmas.

We had a great weekend with Bryan's family. My girls want to go back to see their cousins. I love that all three of my kids have cousins their age. Thanks Mason family for a fun Halloween.