Halloween Cookies & More...

I know this is a lot of pictures for one single holiday, but we had a very busy weekend celebrating Halloween. So here it goes...

On Halloween the kids and I made sugar cookies. This time I let the boys help me cut them out, they thought that was pretty cool. They each had to cut out a haunted house, a pumpkin, a ghost, a bat, and a cat. The cats didn't always turn out that great because the legs would break off, so we didn't do many of those. I loved how the boys worked together on this and that they had fun doing it.






After the cookies were baked and cooled off, it was time to frost them. I think the boys love this part more because they get to lick frosting off their hands and, according to Jantzen, they get to eat the sprinkles if they pour too many out on the table. I think he does that on purpose.


Here's the cookies the boys frosted (Jaron's on the left-his cat's missing a leg and Jantzen's on the right-his cat's missing the tail), don't they look so yummy? They did such an awesome job on them and, yes, they have been enjoying eating them. Jaron, however, has been a stinker about eating the candy corns off his pumpkin, he hates them. I'm not sure why, the rest of us love them.


And here's some of the cookies I frosted...I'm not as creative when it comes to frosting cookies like the boys are, but they did taste good.



Here are some more Halloween pictures of the kids...because I don't already have enough!

Jaedyn and Rylee just chillin' in their strollers...


Jaedyn holding onto her trick or treat bag with a death grip. She wouldn't let go of that thing the whole night. She obviously has got the Halloween thing down...


The silly boys (Jaron, Dallin, and Jantzen) posing as if they were really Harry Potter and the Super Mario Bros...


And lastly, the kids playing around in front of our neighbors house. He had it decorated so awesome, but I couldn't get the kids to cooperate all at the same time, so this is the best I got...



I think Halloween was a fun one this year because Jaedyn could be more a part of it, next year should be even better. Even though it was super busy and kind of crazy at times, we all had a good time. I love celebrating the holidays with my family.

Trunk-or-Treat

On Saturday night our ward had it's annual Trunk-or-Treat. Jaron and Jantzen were so excited to get all dressed up in their costumes again...Jaedyn, not so much. She threw a fit as I was getting her dressed and then she was a little difficult for pictures.

I did manage to barely get a picture of all three of the kids together with their pumpkins, but I was farther away than I wanted, so I took individual ones.


Here's my little "Harry Potter" with his "Boba Fett" pumpkin...


And my little "Luigi" with his "Mario" pumpkin...


And then here's my little "Snow White" with her "Snow White" pumpkin...


Jaedyn kept taking off while I was trying to get pictures, which was slightly frustrating, but I did get some. Here she is getting into her carriage to go get some candy...doesn't she look so stinkin' cute in her costume? I love having a girl to dress up on Halloween.


Here's one final picture of all the kids together before we piled in the car to head to the church. The boys had to hold Jaedyn so she wouldn't run off.


We met up with our friends the Heiselbetz's and the Foisy's in the church parking lot and headed out for some Trunk-or-Treating with the kids (Josh stayed back at the car to hand out candy).

Here's Jantzen with his best friend, Dallin. I think they both look so stinkin' cute as "Mario" and "Luigi". They got a lot of comments about how cool they looked from a lot of people there.


Here's Jaron with his best friend, Jace. They didn't want to hang out and trick or treat with us because that's not cool to hang out with your mom, so they went off on their own. Normally, in this town, I'd never let Jaron do that, but we were at the church so I was fine with it.

**Not that I'm biased or anything, but I think Jaron makes a super cute "Harry Potter".**


Here's my little character with Avery and Dallin. I don't know why he's always posing like that, but he does know how to make us all laugh.


It didn't take us long to go around getting candy, but the kids had fun. After we were done we just hung out at our cars and chatted with our friends before heading home.

Since I'm always the one taking pictures and am rarely in many of them, I made Josh get one of me with our kids plus one (Jace). I love how Jaron gets into character, he just loves that wand. Too bad it doesn't really work!


My little Jaedyn is such a doll. She was loving the glow bracelet she got very much. She didn't let go of it all night.


I can't forget to get a picture of Josh with his little princess...


And the rest of the guys with their girls...Neil & Rylee (Tinkerbell), Josh & Jaedyn (Snow White), Erik & Avery (Punk Rocker).


After hanging out for a bit while the kids ran around and played we went home. As soon as we got there Jaedyn had to explore through her ladybug bag to see what treasures she had inside. She quickly discovered the wonderful things she could eat inside. When she was done chewing on one wrapper, she would go for another one. Luckily she can't open them yet.



We had another fun night of Trunk-or-Treating this year. I'm glad that we have a safe way for our kids to still be able to enjoy Halloween. Things are definitely different from when I was a kid. Sometimes it gets a little stressful, but when it all comes down to it, the kids have fun and that makes me happy...and seeing my kids all dressed up puts a big smile on my face, they are so cute!

Pumpkin Carving Fun!

We did our Halloween pumpkin carving on Friday night. We had to get them done before our ward Trunk or Treat on Saturday, so we waited until the last minute because if we do it too early they get rotten and stinky really fast.

Before we started carving I had to get our annual pictures of the kids with the pumpkins. I got some really good smiles this year...




After I got the pictures we started gutting the pumpkins. At first Jantzen was excited to help me do this, but it quickly turned into something that grossed him out. I think his exact words were, "This is so disgusting!" He's a funny kid! He wasn't too happy when I told him I was going to cook the seeds and that's what we were going to have for dinner (Not really, I think they're gross).


I love his face in this picture, he was absolutely grossed out when he touched the pumpkin "guts".


Jaron had Jace over, so they both worked on a pumpkin together. As you can see, they had fun doing it. They laughed the whole time, one day Jantzen will too.




Josh finished cleaning out the last pumpkin, then we were ready to start carving the patterns we chose this year. As always, Josh and I were the ones who did all the carving since we don't do easy patterns. So, while we carved away the kids went and played.


After a couple hours of carving and some sore wrists, (Josh and I both have carpal tunnel), we finished the pumpkins. Here's what we did this year...


Jaron's pumpkin is the "Boba Fett", Jantzen's is "Mario", and Jaedyn's is "Snow White". We tried to find a Harry Potter and Luigi pattern to match the boy's costumes, but we weren't able to. Jaedyn was the only one who had her pumpkin match her costume. I think they all turned out pretty cool anyway and the kids loved them, so that's all that matters.

Halloween Fun

Yesterday at school Jaron and Jantzen got to enjoy some Halloween fun. They were both so excited to finally get to wear their costumes. This year Jantzen is being "Luigi" and Jaron is being "Harry Potter".

In the morning, Jantzen had his class party. They made some fun Halloween art, enjoyed some spooky Halloween stories, and...


...really enjoyed a ton of sweets! His teacher was kind enough to tell the kids not to eat too much because it was almost lunch time, but that didn't stop most of them, especially my Jantzen. I didn't let him wear his moustache or his white gloves that go with his costume because I knew they'd get ruined with all the treats.


Here's a picture of Jantzen's class all dressed up...


Jantzen had to get some pictures with Jaedyn in her Halloween outfit. I love how she's poking at him in the second picture. Jaedyn absolutely loves playing around with Jantzen, it's so cute!



After Jantzen's party was over we went home and had lunch, then turned right back around and went to the school again. This time it was for the Halloween parade and "Trunk or Treat". They only did this in the afternoon, so Jaron's teacher said I could bring Jantzen back and have him join their class.

Here's my little "Luigi" and "Harry Potter", aren't they so cute? I think so! Even though you can't see it because of his massive amount of hair, Jaron does have the "Harry Potter" scar on his forehead. He wanted to use marker to put it on, but I quickly vetoed that and told him I would use my eyeliner.

I absolutely love the moustache on Jantzen, it covers his whole mouth and makes it so he can't talk. Needless to say, he was very quiet during the parade, which is very unusual for his character.


All of the kids were given a trick or treat bag and then headed off to get some candy...LOTS of it!




(This is Jaron's G.A.T.E. teacher, Mrs. Jones)


After they were all done with the parade and Trunk or Treat, I got some class pictures of Jaron and his class. Do you notice an extra student in there??? You can't really see his face, but he's wearing a green hat...can you play "Where's Luigi"?



Jaron's class went back inside and spent the rest of the day watching a movie and getting goodies. I don't really think the boys need to do any more trick or treating this year, they got a ton of candy just from school.

Now, I can't wait to see how Jaedyn looks in her costume and to see what she thinks about this whole "Halloween" thing.

**I just had to throw in this picture of Jaedyn that we took at Jantzen's soccer game that night. I was trying to get a good picture of her in her Halloween outfit, but she wasn't cooperating very well...she kept trying to run away.**

Halloween Treats

Every year for the boys' Halloween parties at school I always try to make something yummy for them to share. I usually stress about what I'm going to make and I didn't want to deal with that this year, not to mention their school doesn't allow home baked goods anymore. So, this year I kept it very simple, but fun. I made sucker ghosts for their friends and decorated candy bars for their teachers (not as fancy as I usually do, but, like I said, I wanted to keep it simple and not so stressful this year).

Here's the 61 sucker ghosts I made today for the parties tomorrow...


That's right, I had to make 61 (36 for Jantzen's class and 25 for Jaron's class). They were so easy to make and Jantzen is so excited to give them to his friends during their Halloween party.



Since I know the kids are going to get a ton of candy during the festivities tomorrow I decided the sucker ghosts are all the sugar I'm having the boys give out. I did, however, get some fun Halloween activity books and pencils for them to give out also...you're welcome all you parents out there.


I can't wait to see Jaron and Jantzen in their costumes tomorrow at school. It should be a fun day! Until then...