HH11 (Happy Halloween 2011)!

I just love Halloween, especially with kids! I don't know if I or they enjoy it more! Here they are on Halloween morning! We had a fun morning eating pumpkin donuts for breakfast, reading Halloween books, and watching Mr. Boogedy ("Boogedy Boogedy Boogedy!"). Then we got ready to take Emma to school. I was able to go help at her school for her Spider Party! It was a lot of fun and the kiddos in her class are darling, and Mrs. C is just fantastic! I helped at the Spider Counting booth and Oreo spider making booth. She had a blast!

Since we wouldn't be home during dinner time, we had white chicken chili and witches broomsticks for lunch. Yummy!

After school, we went to Washington State for their Trick-or-Treat family activity. Here's baby Maggie! (Suck suck...suck suck) Again, everyone loved our costumes and we loved making people smile and laugh!

At the WSU family event, we even got to meet Butch, the WSU mascot! Dave and I have always thought Butch needs a makeover, he looks kind of ghetto! Oh well! Go Cougs!

Emma and Cal do another cake walk! And they both won cupcakes, which they thoroughly enjoyed!

We went around to all of the offices at the Riverpoint campus and trick-or-treated! We liked this pumpkin that was out, but still think Daddy's was better! (;

Cal playing the bean bag toss. We love that the graduate programs of WSU is very family-oriented.

Emma having a fun Halloween!

Sugar rush!

The Simpsons! None of our pictures turned out very well, DOH!

After the WSU thing, we went to grab some dinner at Wendys, got to talk to Aunt Amy, Grandma Di, and Grandma and Grandpa Ryerse. Then went to the Shiloh Hills Christian Fellowship Trunk-or-treat, which was a fun thing! Then we just went to a couple of our neighbor's homes. It was a nice night! The kids got more candy than they could handle! We traded all of Cal's peanut candy for other things Emma had. They had fun negotiating over candy. I remember that. "I'll trade you 20 smarties for 1 Snicker's bar..." Ha ha!

"Bart!"

Emma kept singing or "playing" Careless Whisper by George Michael, made familiar to her by the Sexy Sax Man (go check it out on YouTube if you have no idea what I'm talking about). Silly Lisa!

Marge in the kitchen.

Trick-or-treat!

Until next year...muwah ha ha ha! We're already talking about what to be next year, of course. Now it's time to hit the Halloween clearance sales, which means time to get some basic supplies for next year's Halloween!

Halloween Tricks and Treats!

Halloween! It's truly one of my favorite holidays, and we've had a great Halloseason! A few weeks ago, we got a package from Grandma Di! The kids are so excited, like always! Cal got a 3D Monster truck book, which he loves and reads over and over! They also got a cute set of Halloween pop-up books we read at least a couple of times a day.

Emma got a jingly bells Halloween bracelet, which is so cute, and some prizes for her good piano practicing!

The package also had lots of little Halloween treats, a Halloween cookbook, decoration for mom, and more! A big thanks, Grandma and Grandpa! Also, another big thanks to everyone else! Dave went to Utah on a recruiting trip to some of the universities a few weeks ago, and was sent home with goodies and fun from everyone! Coloring books and candy from Tayla and Kaison, foam swords, trick-or-treat buckets, shirts, and candy from Grandma Sue, and jerky, cookies, gum, and a pink belt buckle for Emma from Amy. Wow! The kids were way excited! I couldn't find my camera that night so I couldn't take pictures! We are so lucky to have people who care about us and think of us, thanks again! We love you all!

One of my favorite parts about Halloween is making all of the fun goodies to give to neighbors and strangers! We made these skeleton cupcakes, that were pretty fun, but the picture turned out not so well. Also, Emma had the idea to dip Scooby snacks in white chocolate to make skeleton bones. They were way cute and super easy! We made monster feet out of Nutter Butters, by dipping them in chocolate and using cashews as toenails.

The weekend before Halloween, we had a party with a couple of our friends, the Collier's and the Bennett's. We made homeade individual pizzas, had games for the kids, decorated some sugar cookies, and played some fun games with the adults. Thanks for coming, guys! We have so much fun with you! I only took a few pictures...

Cruz, Abby, and Emma playing the eyeball game!

Lilly and Callahan helping each other with the ball toss, with Aaron and Dave visiting in the background.

The Saturday before Halloween, we went to the Halloween Carnival at Emma's school. It was a trial run with the costumes to see what worked and what didn't, and we weren't quite dressed up, we didn't wear any makeup or have our glasses! I think they turned out pretty well! I had a fun time sewing everything and putting everything together! Most common questions were about how I made the costumes, particularly the Marge hair. The answer is: posterboard, cotton balls, and LOTS of blue spray paint. Yep, everything is homeade, except for Dave and Cal's shirts and pants. I love having costumes that no one else has, they're unique since we put them together. And it is so much fun to see people's reactions! On Halloween, we feel like celebrities. Everyone was getting their cameras and cell phones out to take pictures, or asking to take pictures with us. Lots of people say we should win a costume contest or something. Seeing the smiles on everyones faces is worth it!

There were the typical carnival games, like the fish pond, which the kids love!

We had some yummy food like nachos, cupcakes, and cotton candy. The cotton candy machine kept setting off the smoke alarm, so they moved it outside. We had to wait a long time for it, but it was worth it. Mmmm... The cotton candy matched Lucy's outfit.

Lucy had her first taste of sugar....she grabbed off a piece and knew exactly what to do with it!

Lucy's first experience with sugar! She would get a little taste, and smile. It was pretty cute, we couldn't prevent her from eating it.

Hope you enjoyed that, little lady, because there will be no more for you until your first birthday! (:

I think Cal likes cotton candy because he likes all things messy!

Sticky, sweet!

The cake walk - Cal and Emma both won!

Playing ghosty golf! At all of the booths where balls were involved, all of the workers mentioned that he has a nice arm and good aim. Cal likes throwing, kicking, passing, rolling balls of any kind!
Cute Lisa Simpson. She was excited to see some friends there all dressed up!

Emma is always very nice and helpful with Callahan. It was a fun thing, thew PTSO did a great job!
Saturday night was our ward Chili Cookoff contest. I brought a white chili, and it was good. There were so many yummy chili's there! It was tasty. Even better though, was the cornbread, it was the bets cornbread Dave said he's ever had! We sat by the Bate's, a couple I visit teach and Dave home teaches. They During dinner, Cal fell asleep! I guess he had had enough fun that day.

After dinner, there was dancing and music. It was a lot of fun! We really like our ward! My favorite costume there was "Cloudy with a chance of rain". A sister had a blue jogging suit, and she attached cotton balls all over that, painted her face blue, and made a cap with cotton balls. Then she went around with a spray bottle misting people. Cute! The kids just raided the dress up box. Emma wore the new wings and skirt Grandma Sue sent her and was a fairy for the night, Cal went for the Cowboy look.
I love the great family traditions and activities associated with Halloween! Sunday was the day we carved pumpkins. Dave is the master pumpkin carver, and Emma had a great time doing it this year too, and is getting pretty good!

Emma even did well with the knife (we were right there helping her, of course)! Cal kept picking up the knives and tried to stab the pumpkins all over....uhhhh...yikes!

Cal decorated his pumpkin with foam stickers, then called it good and ran around the house and read books.

Lucy, our little pumpkin!

Dave's was the champ, like always! He did a Wazzu pumpkin, it looked great! Even better in person, of course!

Here's the all-star pumpkin line-up! Dave's WSU pumpkin, I did the Simpson's logo, Cal's race car pumpkin (and he had Emma draw Napoleon Dynamite (his recent favorite) on the back, Emma's witch hat pumpkin, and Lucy's pumpkin in disguise.

After the pumpkin carving, comes the pumpkin seeds! I love them! This year we used butter instead of canola or olive oil. It was so tasty! You use 1 Tbsp. butter per cup of seeds, and salt to taste. Bake at 250 until a little browned around edges and crunchy.

And now, check out the most recent posts to see Halloween day happenings!

Green Bluff Farm Field Trip

There is a group of farms up in Spokane that makes up Green Bluff farms. Emma went with her Kindergarten class to the Hidden Acres Farm on a field trip! I was able to go with them and help out, and it was a great time! The kids got to go explore and see the animals, go on a hayride, pick their own apples and pumpkins, learn about farm life, listen to Priscilla the giant pumpkin, and eat homeade apple spice donuts and apple cider. Emma loved it!

Getting lost in the corn maze!

We got to see "exotic" farm animals, like a farm dog! They also had sheep, pigs, chickens, roosters, and a few other things. The dog jumped into the pig's pen and the two were playing together. Emma's good buddy Brooklyn (closest to the adult, her mom Miranda) is in this picture with her, and they love getting together for playdates!

In the little old farm house.

Going on a hayride - Emma and Trinity, the two were paired up as buddies for the day!

Did you know there's a particular way you need to pick an apple? There are two ways to do it, actually, which I thought was kind of interesting and never knew! "Are you smarter than a kindergartner?"

This girl is the apple of my eye!

Out in the apple orchard.

Mrs. C teaching the class about the apples and how we get them. He he! The rest of the kindergartners ate their apples, but not Em. She said she wanted to wash it first, so she took it home to eat after she washed it. I guess I've created a monster...or a germaphobe! (:

Emma and her cute little friend Guiliana. There are some really nice girls and boys in Emma's class, and she's made lots of friends (when I come to pick her up, Emma and her friends always say goodbye and gve each other hugs).

Mrs. Camponella's Kindergarten class!

Picking her pumpkin out in the pumpkin patch! She was very selective, and found the perfect one!

Priscilla the giant, talking pumpkin.

Emma had a great time doing everything, but probably the most exciting part for her was riding the bus! (: