Halloween Shenanigans

-Halloween festivities began last last Friday when Reese went to a Halloween themed birthday party.
-Then I had preschool parties with my Friendly Frogs on Tuesday and with my Busy Bees on Wednesday (several preschool posts coming soon!)
-On Friday, I chaperoned at Quincy's school field trip and brought Corbin and Cole along to enjoy some trick or treating as well.

-The kids had a great time and scored some impressive candy loot.

-Reese dressed as Hermione Granger from Harry Potter. We borrowed the cape and scarf (thanks, Karen!), bought her shirt at the Associates Store for $1.50, her "dress" is a sweater vest of mine, she wore one of Aaron's neck ties, the belt goes to another dress of hers, and her knee socks are from t ball a few years ago.

-Astrid from How to Train Your Dragon monopolized most of my costume making time and creativity, this year. She freaking loved her costume and that makes staying up all night to sew the skirt from fake leather with a crappy machine 100% worth it.

-How funny are those trick or treat bags from Paul and HolleeAnn? Corbin's got so heavy, he dragged it behind his body like a roller suitcase. Cuteness. We borrowed his monkey costume for Friday from Cole. Hey, Corbin, is that a banana in your pocket or are you just happy to have a giant bag of candy?

-From Trick or Treating, I took food to Quincy's school party, then went over to Cooper to surprise Reese at school and have lunch with her.

-Back to the preschool to pick up Quincy, home to make homemade cornbread and black bean soup to take to the ward party.

-We opened a package from Grandma Lynn and Grandpa Pumpkin and the kids went crazy with happiness.

-Reese got home from school at 3 and we joined the zillion other associates families at the Walmart Home office for trick or treating. This is the one time a year that I get to go to Aaron's work. It is always a lot of fun to see where he spends his time and visit with a few of his coworkers. I have a running joke with Aaron that I don't actually know what his coworkers look like in real life, because I only see them on Halloween and they are always in costumes. Does his assistant really have that rockin' afro, or is it a wig? (it's the real deal, btw...glad I didn't make an idiot of myself and comment on how "real" it looks!)

-2 floors, 1 Hogwarts Express, a million cubes, and a haunted house later, we moved our party to the church for the chili cook off and ward trunk or treat. I dressed as a pirate and Aaron wore his You Can't Beat LA shirt and proudly announced that he was an NBA player on lockout. Does that make me the basketball wife? Sweet! Show me the money, baby!

-Seriously guys, 2 more weeks without NBA. Kinda nice...

-One great thing that happened at the ward party was that Quincy was introduced to our friend, Shane. More on that experience later. Catania, you are brilliant.

-The kids loaded up on even MORE candy at the trunk or treat and crashed on the way home.

-Saturday was the Halloween 5k/1K race (post coming soon), the pumpkin patch, meltdowns and chocolate diarrhea for the children as a result of the candy free-for-all binge session. After that, all of the candy bags were emptied into a giant communal bowl.

-The children were permitted to watch Hocus Pocus (um...language? not so much for little kids, but it seems to be going over their heads, thank goodness. Not my proudest parenting moment! I don't recall the movie using the word "virgin" and "sucks" so many times. Oopsie.)

-Aaron bought some GROSS parmesan and garlic popcorn that tastes like feet and uncooked pasta roni. We attempted to have a date after the kids went to bed and Aaron's movie of choice was Zookeeper. I'll never get that hour back.

-I lie. I only lasted 10 minutes. Once the animals started talking, I checked out and fell asleep.

-On Sunday, we made ghost shaped cupcakes and delivered some to our friend, Pam, who had a mastectomy last week. The rest went to school with Quincy today to share.

-Tonight, for FHE, we carved pumpkins and saved the seeds for roasting (save a few for planting next year!). We ate mushroom dill soup (thanks Katie, you're a dream!) for dinner, and put out our jack-o-lanterns, witch broom, and bowl of candy out on the porch before the girls went to bed.

Right before bed, the girls opened another package, from Grandma Lynda, this time. My kids love getting mail. Thanks auntie, uncle, grandpas and grandmas!

The Halloween Witch stopped by, snacked on the candy (read: threw away everything gross, sorted out all of the colorful candy and set it aside to be used for gingerbread houses in December, and bagged and stashed the rest outta sight and outta reach.) In exchange for the candy, she left The Wizard of Oz. This was a childhood favorite of mine. I'm really excited to share it with my own children. I hope the flying monkeys won't be too scary for the kids. I think I scared them enough this weekend when Quincy saw Shane's missing thumb and I told her he sucked it off when he was 5...

-More posts comin' atcha soon!

Don't Eat Pete!

Remember this game? It's the new favorite around here. I was totally surprised that Aaron had never heard of it! My favorite memory is playing this game backstage at dress rehearsals for Dance Festival when I was 15. (Which proves that any game with candy is a game for young and old alike!)

Don't Eat Pete:
a simple board is drawn on a piece of paper (I use a plate to help control runaway candies). Basically, just draw 9 circles.

A piece of candy is placed on each circle.
One person is the "Guesser".

While the Guesser has his or her back turned, the group decides which circle is "Pete" without telling the Guesser.

The Guesser then turns back around, and removes the candies from the board, one by one, and puts them in his or her cup. When the Guesser tries to remove the candy from the "Pete" circle, the group shouts, "Don't Eat Pete!"

(Their turn is over after this, the board is reloaded, and a new "Pete" is selected for another Guesser)

This game is especially fun for little kids because they are startled EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. They forget that they are taking from a minefield and it is hilarious to watch their greedy little face jump when the group shouts at them, sending them into a very giggly fit. Of course, the goal is to get as many candies as you can without eating "Pete" because you get to keep whatever you manage to take from the board! Poor Quincy picked "Pete" on the 1st or 2nd guess every time! We finally designated the middle circle as the "Freebie" circle, so she got at least one candy every turn. I really think she loved being startled more than the candy, though.

On Friday, we each took turns being the Guesser, then mixed it up and had one person choose Pete, and the rest take turns removing candies from the board. Simple, fun, automatic laughs, and, thanks to the candy, Yummy! (mmmm Coconut M&M's...Hello, Lover.)

This is really fun with older kids when you play with one bag of each person's favorite candy and mix them up on the board. Everyone knows that there are only 16 Starbursts available, and they become pretty possessive when they see that Dad is taking them all!

Play the game, then watch a movie while you snack on your loot.

A Tap Dancer, A Ballerina, and a Stinky Skunk.

Both Reese and Quincy had preschool class field trips to Town Center to Trick or Treat this week.
Thursday-
Quincy's class:
These are my Busy Bees! We had a lion, a monkey, Minnie Mouse, a ballerina (Q), a chicken (monkey's little sis) and Spiderman. The kids were GREAT on the field trip! It's a shame is was chilly, Q did not like having to wear a jacket over her leotard.

"Five little pumpkins sat on a gate.
The first one said, 'Oh my, it's getting late!'
The second one said, 'There are witches in the air!'
The third one said, 'But we don't care!'
The fourth one said, 'Let's run! Let's run!'
The fifth one said, 'It's Halloween Fun!'
Then 'Woooo' went the wind and OUT went the light
and the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight"

For Quin's trip we had Baby Frankenstein. Thanks for the outfit, Carrie!
Too funny. He looks like a little thug.
Friday-
Reese's class:

"The leaves on the trees are orange and red

orange and red, orange and red.
The leaves on the trees are orange and red
all through the town"

A Ballerina and a Tap Dancer Trick or Treating at the grocery store.
(Aren't Q's legwarmers the cutest? I want some!)
And also sporting a pair of tights (don't judge me)...
A Stinky Skunk!

Corbin stole the show. He was like this most of the time...
...totally asleep in the stroller. He STILL managed to score more candy than the girls. Really. The ladies were taking pictures of him shoving treats into my diaper bag that was hanging from the umbrella stroller. I love candy, I'm not complaining.
Excellent.
Double Excellent.
And Quincy is napping in her crib. Perfect!

They're gonna need their energy, Round 3 of Halloween Festivities is this afternoon: Trick or Treating with Daddy at the Walmart Home Office. It will be madness.