Halloween.

Wednesday, October 30th

We woke to POURING rain and it continued to just downpour all day long. Our back yard had two full rivers running down on either side of the house and two geysers that were shooting water into the air from the water running into rocks. It was crazy!

Des had been really upset about our family costume idea for awhile. He realllllly wanted to be Mario and well, it just didn't fit into our theme. Once he found out that he could dress up as Mario on Wednesday and do trick or treating at the library, he was totally fine. So, he was Mario and G. was a little pumpkin, princessy, cute halloween outfit girl. (That's a thing right?)

Grady and Graham came over, braving the rain, to borrow some last minute costumes and we headed to Storytime.

The library did a great job. One of my high school friends read the stories and did a great job keeping the kids entertained. They handed out plastic pumpkins already 1/2 full of goodies and then we "trick or treated" a few stops around the library until our pumpkins were full! Then there were cupcakes and balloons. It was perfect.

Here's Des and G. getting ready to go. They were so excited!

Graham picked out a football player costume in his continued efforts to court G.

Our trick-or-treaters!

Then it continued to rain all day long so Des just sat inside and ate that candy non-stop. Ben was a little jealous when he heard we got to go without him but his siblings happily shared their goodies with him. 

Thursday, October 31st

The most perfect Halloween ever. We woke up to Ben in our bed telling us that his bottom tooth was loose...and it was! AAH! Then I made everyone pumpkin and ghost shaped french toast and eggs and milk with orange sprinkles.

We are a group of misfits in the morning...

Then after dropping Ben off in his Buzz lightyear costume at school, we went to teach yoga. Des was dressed up in his favorite OSU football player gear and G. was back in that adorable pumpkin outfit. Ms. Gene (the childcare watch lady) had planned a special party for the babes and they celebrated with cookies and punch and bags of treats! We headed home happy and sweet and got ready for the party at Ben's school. They had a parade of costumes at 8:30 which we missed, but we were able to make it to their 12:30 party. We brought a little veggie tray to balance out all that sugar. (Needless to say, it wasn't the most popular item at the party! But at least it looked cute.)

The party mainly consisted of a bunch of parents distributing treats to all the kids and seeing them get excited! They did play pin the nose on the jack-o-lantern...and all raced to see who could finish their bottle of water first when Mrs. Moreno offered an extra sticker. :)

There were enough cupcakes for these two. Please notice the icing...

 Ben looking studly...

There were lots of chairs for G. to sit in...and lots of open cups of paint for her to find!

The kids were about to play some more games but I checked Ben out so that we could get home and get ready for Trick or Treat on Main Street! 

Mom and Dad left this morning for Las Vegas, so I promised Dad I would help hand out candy at his office. I had made our costumes from a bunch of thrift store sweatshirts and hot glue. I think I spent about $30 total and most of that was the 2 feather boas I had to order for the chicken. I love making our costumes and I love dressing up as a group. It's so much fun for me. So, here we are...

Farmer Brad and his Barnyard Crew.

We didn't have anyone take a group photo! AACK! And this is the only one I have so far with me in it. :)

 Aren't they adorable!?!?

No one is smiling here, but they loved their costumes! It was so fun getting ready and they were fighting over who got to get dressed first! Everything is just glued together so by the end of the night we were literally falling apart leaving traces of cotton and feathers and stuffing all over downtown. 

We got to Papa's office like an hour early because we were so excited. We made a short lap, getting tons of more candy and cut across the street because Ben saw Collin. We handed out TONS and TONS of candy to some awesome costumed kids. There were so many people there and Ben kept track of how many kids he saw that he knew. :) Brad handed out candy next to us with his SSC Business Club and then went inside when they ran out to corral his crew. 

At 5:30 we crossed the street to compete in the costume contest and WE WON FIRST PLACE! 

During the judging, Ben was so, so nervous and Des kept asking, "Did we lose?" so I kept them distracted by making them make their animal's sound. It was hilarious. They were all so excited when we one. And G. just kept that piggy nose on almost all afternoon. She loved the attention she was getting!!!

(They took a picture of us as the winning group so maybe I can get a copy of that!)

We came home to hot beans and garlic bread, put G. to bed and carved pumpkins with the boys on the back porch. During dinner Ben said, "Mama. Thank you for coming up with those costumes. That was so fun." Then this morning, Des said, "Mama! That was the best halloween! I had so much fun!"

I DID TOO.