Hooray For Halloween!

We had plenty of spooktacular activities to keep us busy during the week of Halloween.
Saturday the 23rd, Ryan's mom had her annual party for the grandkids. It was fun and simple. The kids came in costume and played games. Ryan's sister Alondra made yummy scones for everyone to enjoy. Shirley had the basement all decorated with Halloweeny stuff.

Cousin Malory and Cora. Cora wanted to be a ghost this year. Easy enough. And she looked pretty cool!


I don't think Cora liked whatever game was being played at the moment.


Jane wanted to use the costume Cora used last year, a "candy corn witch". I really liked the outfit and it suits her well. And once again, easy! Halloween was very low stress for me this year.

Jane with cousin Cassie.


Wow, she's really getting into character here. Yep, she looks like a dead person.

A bunch of Ryan's cousins' kids were also in attendance. I forgot to get a head count.



The kids had fun and Shirley sent them all away at the end of the evening with treat bags. What Halloween activity would be complete without candy?


~ Friday, October 29th, Oliver and I met up with my mom and cousin Fletcher (who is 3) to go trick-or-treating at the Anniversary Inn. That started at 1pm. I only knew about it because I scoured the internet looking for fun Halloween things to do. Both my sister and my brother-in- law worked there several years ago. Walking through the themed suites brought back some memories. Ryan and I got to stay there a bunch of times thanks to the family discount.

I didn't get any pics of the boys trick-or-treating there, but Fletch was dressed as Snake Eyes and Ollie was a train engineer. They both needed prompts at each room to remember to say "trick or treat", which is kind of awkward for me. Next year I'm hoping Oliver will be more excited about it. I feel like a crazy woman urging my kid on to collect as much candy as he can. I can't help it. I'm a candy whore. It's been that way for as long as I can remember. I don't know what it is about trick-or-treating, but I've always been obsessive about it; getting that free candy, as much as possible and as fast as possible. No dilly-dallying. Even though I know I can (and I do) go to the store and buy candy anytime I want it, I still get that trick-or-treat "feeling" when Halloween comes, and I get so excited. It's in my blood. Which makes sense, because with the volume of sweets I regularly come in contact with and consume, I'm certain there is a fair amount of sugar in my bloodstream.

No matter what time of year it is, whenever I ring someone's doorbell or knock on a door, when someone opens it, my automatic instinct is to yell "TRICK-OR-TREAT!" I actually do say it, maybe half the time, depending on whose door I'm at. It's always worth a shot, right?


~ Saturday, the day before Halloween, was our tri-ward Trunk-or-Treat. It was a lot more fun than I had expected it to be, once I got over the rage I was feeling when we were 10 minutes late, despite my best efforts to be early. Ryan got home from work a little later than I expected, which turned out to be about 20 minutes before I wanted us all to be there. No matter what, it seems like I'm never allowing myself enough time to get ready for anything.


Jane with her rather wide smile.

Cute Engineer Ollie. His hat was giving him problems. When he puts it on, he pulls it down to squash his ears, then we can't see his eyes. But if I try to adjust it so it's not covering his face, it must feel weird on him because he always takes it off. There is no happy medium. It's either too high or too low on his head.



Here's my pal Maria with Kenley. Aren't they precious? Her husband was dressed as Walt Disney. Should have gotten a picture of all three of them.


We happened upon Maisie and Maren. Maren made their costumes- an owl and a tree, in case it wasn't obvious enough. So cute! She is so crafty.


Oliver was a little overwhelmed with all the people in costumes. I think after he saw one guy with a creepy mask, he got kind of apprehensive. He was very quiet the whole time we were there, and wouldn't say a word to anyone handing out treats. :( By the time we were half done begging for candy, he was wanting to go back to daddy at our van.

I found this gift bag at Honk's Only $1 and instantly knew I had to wear it. Good thing Halloween was coming up or I might have tried to pass it off as a dress and wear it to church.
Imagine my dismay when I saw a teen-aged girl there with a similar costume. She told me she thought of it first. I begged to differ.


Ryan getting into the candy he was supposed to be passing out.


The girls (Cora, Jane and Malory) helped me decorate the back of the van earlier in the day for the occasion.
If only Cora could have held that face the whole night!


I don't know why it looks like Cora has a white mask on her eyes.


Here we are at home after the Trunk-or-Treat. Ollie was done with the hat. Doesn't he look cute with a mustache?


I like how the blurriness could be mistaken for creepiness here. And the blur to the left (Jane) adds a nice touch as well.

Cora and Malory are such good buddies.



I was telling Cora not to smile, but to look serious like a ghost.



They got a pretty fair amount of loot at the trunk-or-treat.





~ On Halloween night, when we took Malory home, the kids happened to be in their costumes and we happened to get out of the van and walk around Malory's neighborhood, ringing doorbells one by one. The people inside the houses gave the kids candy. We did this for about an hour, until Oliver started wanting me to carry him. (Ryan opted to stay home.)

Cora threw together this last-minute mime costume for Halloween night. She was tired of being a ghost. I applied her makeup that we copied from an online image. I thought she looked pretty cute. And once again, it was easy!

She looks so grown up in this picture (and so drugged).

It's hard to believe Halloween happened over a week ago already! Time is going by so fast. We must be having fun or something.