Halloween '08

This is quite possibly going to be one of the longest posts ever, but I gotta do it since this is our family history. Here is our Halloween this year:

Thursday night, Bill came home with these awesome Fall flowers for me. The man knows how to start my not-so-favorite-holiday off right!:)

Then that night we carved pumpkins (and I didn't take pictures because I had pumpkin guts all over my hands!) Next year...

When we woke up yesterday morning, the kids were super excited (and so was I because, after all, Halloween IS my favorite holiday!) Bill had the day off and we had my sister and her family coming over for a party and they couldn't wait!

We started with the good-ole sugar cookie decorating. Hayden thought it was fun to play with the candy we were using to decorate with before we got out the frosting. But as soon as the actual frosting part began, he was outta there. Nice try, Honey.

And what would pictures of frosting cookies be without at least one of a kid licking their fingers?

Our next activity was a coloring contest. Judging by this picture, it was obviously the hit of the party. Uh, let's move on...


The kids were excited about the donut eating contest. We let them each pick which one they wanted.

There was no way Hayden was playing the silly game. He wasn't wasting time getting that donut goodness in him!:)

And we got Kate situated with a donut and a lovely Christmas bib.


And ready, set, EAT!!!!!

Lana, you're cheating. This is supposed to be "No Hands!"


Lana got full after eating half of her donut, so she gave it to Little Sis to finish it off. Kate loved it! It even had mini M&M's on it!

And this is what she looked like by the time she was finished! No face paint needed for Halloween! Just give the girl a donut!

After the kids had the donuts washed off of their faces, hands, clothes, hair...they did a fun treasure hunt that grandma made for them. They always love a good treasure hunt, and my mom is the queen of them. She gave them bunches of candy and fun prizes at the end. It was great! So here she is with all of her adoring grand kids: (Hayden, Lana, McKenzie, Kate, Isaak, Brielle, Kailie, and Rylee) Getting eight kids to all smile and look at the camera at the same time is officially impossible.

Thank you, mom and Tai and Mike, for coming over for the party. We loved having you and you made the kids' Halloween so much fun!

After the party, it was time to eat and get ready for the ward sidewalk trick-or-treat and carnival. We made home-made pizzas and got the kids all gussied up. Rylee and Lana were feelin' the Halloween love.

Lana went as Dorothy (and loved every minute of it!)


Rylee went as a ballerina. (Go ahead, you can be impressed. Non-crafty me DID make her Halloween costume this year.)

Kate was a cute little ladybug. This was the best picture I could get of her. She HATED the hat on her costume. And we seem to have a problem keeping our holidays straight. Now she is holding an Easter egg. What the heck?

And Hayden went as Mater. He didn't want his picture taken either, so this is the best we got. He looked so cute though!

And here are all of our little stinkers ready to go get their haul of candy.

The trick-or-treating was a lot of fun, and the carnival was a blast. They just had it in our cul-de-sac. They had classic carnival games (fishing pond, cake-walk, ring toss, etc.) as well as a bounce house and the best smelling cotton candy and popcorn. It was great! The kids loved it!

My friend, April, joined us for all the fun and by the end of the night, Kate would not let go of her. She threw the biggest fit when April left. Sorry that you had to hold my kid all night, April. But she was such a good sport about it all, and we loved having her.

Bill's parents came over to see the kids as well. Lana loves snuggling up to her grandpa.

Bill's mom was good to play on the floor with Rylee and Hayden while Hayden drew on his new "McQueen" notebook and played with his new "Mack" truck. They look so tired! It was a long day!

And, whew, Halloween is over for another year! It was a fun-filled day with family and friends and freakish amounts of food that filled us up so much that we won't need to eat until Thanksgiving. Thank you to all of you who shared your day with us! We loved it!