Halloween!

 Halloween was mostly low-key this year. Camille and Claire went out with friends- Camille and her friends dressed as candy which was super cute.

They came and watched Trailblazer's Parade which was really funny for me! I was happy to see Camille!

I dressed up with the Specials team as Ghostbusters! I don't really get into Halloween, but it's fun to dress up with my co-workers, and the kids love it so it's worth it.

Claire was dressed as a ghost with her friends and it didn't end well. They couldn't see anything. But, she did win this HUGE vase full of candy from the Willy Wonka House by correctly guessing how many pieces of candy were in there

                                                   

We only had about 15 or 20 trick-or-treaters at our house. Definitely one of our smaller nights. I think all the kids go over to the "rich" houses. But, I noticed Claire and Camille came home with very little variety to their candy- it's like they all go to Costco and buy the same multi-packs of candy. I think going to us "poor" streets has the way better candy!!

Halloween!

 We are not a big Halloween family- but when I found out that our school was having a Barbie theme, I decided to lean into it. Here I am with my teammate Kelly:

And with my good friend. Becky

And, with Ken at our trunk or treat- we won for best couple costume

Camille was a princess and all of her friends (about 7) dressed up as secret service agents to protect her. And they all wore tutus. I'm not sure what all that was about, but they had fun with it

We only had about 30 trick or treaters, which is too bad because I had lots of full size candy bars, but oh, well. We did not carve pumpkins this year.

Halloween

The girls had no school today! Yay! I had to go into work for a little bit, but we were able to join our old homeschool recess group and enjoy a fun Halloween party. It was so great to be with our homeschool friends again! 

Then, for the first time, the girls all wanted to hang out with friends instead of go together. They are at that age, even if it is a little sad.

Claire went with her good friends Sophie and Liesl. They have been a tremendous blessing to her at middle school this year. 

Audra wanted to go trick-or-treating, but none of her friends did, so they got together and watched a movie, Knives Out, instead. That really made Audra very sad, but it turned out to be her best option. The joys of getting a little older.

Camille went with Ivy, Talmage, and a few other friends. Ben walked with them.

I stayed home and handed out candy. I bought full size bars, but it wasn't enough to get very many trick or treaters. We only had about 20 people come, so I have about 40 full size candy bars left over. I'll have to figure out what to do with all this candy. Sigh.

At any rate, all three girls had a great time and it was a very successful Halloween.

School Parade

 Here's Camille and her best friend Ivy. She's so excited Ben and I are there to watch her school Halloween parade and to have me taking pictures!

Trick or Treat Street

 Audra was helping at Trick or Treat Street for both band and ASL, Claire had soccer practice, so it was just Camille who represented our family as a trick or treater this year. Oh, how the times are changing for our household! It's a whole new world. We ran into cousins, though, so Camille wasn't completely by herself.

Once again, the high school outdid itself. Every time someone says something like, "the youth these days..." I want to roll my eyes and tell them to go to their local high school and see what those amazing youth are doing! These teenagers are going to change the world, and we get to be a part of it as we attend these events they host!

Halloween!

 We had a low-key, wonderful Halloween. The family came over for dinner and then the cousins went trick -or-treating together. We made a "spooky" Halloween dinner which was fun, and simple. It was COLD and the kids refused to wear coats because they didn't want them to cover their costumes, but they still somehow lasted 90 minutes, which is impressive. We only got 16 trick-or-treaters which was a little disappointing, but oh, well. Maybe the weather? Who knows?

Goblin eyes, vampire blood, bat wings, Frankenstein brains, mummy bread.

We had Maid Marion, Hermionie, Katniss Everdeen, a pirate, a cat, and a lion:

Trunk- or- Treat

 In a sure sign that things are slowly starting to get back to normal, we had our ward Trunk or Treat! It was all outside- thank goodness for good weather (thank you, climate change!), but it really did feel normal. I think this is our first ward activity since Covid. At least, it's the first one we have gone to.

Audra couldn't go because she had state marching band, and Ben and I had to leave early because we met friends downtown for the Molly Brown House Victorian Horrors. We got Claire and Camille a ride home, and it somehow all worked out. It was pretty crazy! 

There were over 200 people there- I think everyone was ready to do something normal. It was really, really nice.

Magic of the Jack O' Lanterns

 

Hudson Gardens has started Magic of the Jack O' Lanterns. It's a paid event at night when they light up all the Jack O' Lanterns, but it's free to walk around during the day. I knew nothing about this other than the Leubner's said it was worth going to walk around, so we went and walked around and it was simply incredible!!! We have no evenings in which we can go before it closes this year, but next year this is going to be at the top of our list of must dos. We missed having Audra with us, but the three of us still had a good time.