Halloween "Week"

From carving pumpkins, to baking cookies, to parties & trick-or-treating...our family had a lot of fun with Halloween this year. Elijah didn't actually want anything to do with the carving or cleaning out of the pumpkin. He didn't like the feel of it in his hands, so Joel and I got to do the honors for him! : ) Abigail did a pretty good job cleaning hers out and then Joel did the carving for her. She wanted a butterfly on one side and then a smiley face on the other. Elijah said he wanted a "funny" face for his, so I just did a classic pumpkin face for him. It was interesting to see them experience it, knowing it was their first time. Elijah kept wanting to put the cut out pieces back "in" until we lit the candle and he saw what it was like!

 

 Next up: the kids & I made some sugar cookies and decorated them. Abigail wanted "purple" sprinkles and Elijah just wanted to eat everything; the cookies, the frosting, the sprinkles, the chocolate chips... It was quite an adventure that afternoon! : ) 

 

 Next up: was trick-or-treating at Gresham Town Fair with friends! So Abigail's "official" costume this year was Cinderella and Elijah's was Elmo. They wore both of those costumes that night and then switched costumes later on. I had plugged in 2 curling irons when I was helping Abigail get ready. I wasn't sure how she would want her hair, so I was just getting prepared. Well, we didn't end up using them, instead I did her hair in a french roll like Cinderella's and we didn't use them. I thought I'd turned them off, but one was still on and just as we were getting ready to go, Caleb touched it! Ouch!! Poor little guy! It burned his index finger and he was just miserable as we made our way to Gresham Town Fair!

He's okay now, but the reason I tell this story is because of all that happening,  this is the ONLY picture I got from that outing. It was as we were getting in the car to go home after it was all done! Elijah's costume was already off and he was buckled into his car seat, Abigail graciously gave me one pose!

 Next up was the Harvest Party put on by the high school students from church for the little kids. We got there late, but the kids had a great time anyway! Elijah wore his monster costume from last year, but as we were putting it on, he said, "I don't want anybody to see me in my costume!" and clung to Joel for about 10 minutes after we arrived. Shortly after that, we just took it off. So strange...considering how much he loves to make people laugh! He actually did the same thing the night before dressed at Elmo but then relaxed as he saw all the kids collecting candy!

 Here's Abigail with Maggie, Kari & Ellie. Abigail really looks up to Kari and when she saw her on Friday night dressed as Aurora/Sleeping Beauty, she wanted to wear her dress-up that she pretends is Aurora. If she had worn her actual costume though, there would have been 4 Disney Princesses represented! : )

Caleb was the bear that Elijah was when he was almost the same age in Slovenia!

 Here the kids are with their beloved, Ellie!

Here are the babies of the party! From left to right is Grant-(the youngest), then Reagan, Ethan & Caleb. Reagan turns one November 9th, then Caleb on the 20th, then Ethan on December 6th! Three babies so close in age!

 

Here are the kiddos as they headed out for the "official" trick-or-treating. Caleb and I actually stayed home, 1-for him to go to bed and 2-for me to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters. : ) So you can see that Abigail is now in her 3rd costume of the year and Elijah is wearing last year's. I'll have to get a picture of him in his Elmo costume someday! : )

I had forgotten to get "finished" pictures with the kids and their pumpkins the day we actually carved them, so yesterday after church the kids let me snap a few! Abigail had to show both sides of her pumpkin! And yes, let the record show that, indeed, we had a sunny Halloween day in Oregon! : )