Happy Halloween!

I can't believe it's October 31st! Another month in the books and another holiday to celebrate! As has become tradition, we celebrated as a family the Sunday (October 26th) before Halloween. We were lucky enough to have Nolan, Lincoln, and Addie join us since Krystle, Jordan, and Camden were on vacation. We started the evening with a little pumpkin carving before indulging in a yummy dinner of soups, salad, rolls with homemade root beer and a pumpkin spice sheet cake for dessert. Afterwards, I led the kids on a scavenger hunt for the "Jack's (Skellington) Pot". Everyone came in costumes (except Amber who wasn't feeling well and Danny who was out of town). This year, Jeff, Jonas, and I channeled the Sandlot. Jonas was Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez, Jeff was Squints, and I was the lifeguard. Laurin's little family dressed up as the Little Rascals. They were so cute! Laurin was Porky, Casey was Buckwheat, Carter was Alfalfa, Everly was Darla, and baby Ava was the dog, Petey. Amber will be Roz from Monster's Inc while Jacob was the Abominable Snowman and Beau was Sully. We kept the movie theme going with Dallin as Nemo and Audrey as the little girl at the dentist, Darla, from Finding Nemo. The Tanner kids joined in the fun. Nolan was Kevin from Despicable Me. Lincoln was Stitch and Addie was the classic cute witch. She loved stirring her potion in the cauldron. I love how creative everyone gets! Halloween has never been my favorite holiday, but I really do look forward to our little family party. Maybe next year we should try an entire family costume theme?

Nolan's

Lincoln's

Addie's

Jonas's

Dallin & Audrey's

The Irons

On Halloween, I made Jonas his traditional spooky pancake breakfast. What's a little more sugar to add to the day?! 

At 1:00 p.m., I got to go to Jonas's class to help out with his final elementary school Halloween party. I am not going to lie, this year has been a little sad as I recognize all these "lasts". I know I shouldn't linger in the loss of these little moments, but it's hard to not feel a little sad. Still, I am trying to embrace the excitement of what is to come. I really do love watching him (and all the other kids/grandkids) grow and challenge themselves. In any case, I was asked to bring a game to play as the kids rotated through stations (there was another game station, a craft station, and a treat station). I brought a classic Bingo game...and lots of candy! After the Halloween party, I moved outside where I got to watch his last Halloween parade.

After school, we ran home and indulged in our traditional Jack-o-lantern pizza before heading over to Laurin's house to go trick-or-treating with the grandkids. Amber, Jacob, and Beau also joined us. This was definitely the highlight of the day. It was so funny watching all the little kids (Jonas included) run from house to house to get as much candy as they could! I actually asked Jonas if he would rather do our neighborhood's trunk-or-treat with his friends or if he wanted to go with his nephews/nieces, he chose family...at least this year. For a holiday I don't really love, I did love celebrating with the family! Happy Halloween!