Graham is batty for Halloween decorations and cracks the whip till I have everything in place.
Come on in and sit a spell and I will tell you about our Falloween.
ZUCCHINI FEST
I tired of checking on the zucchini too early. It went berserk without adult supervision.
UEA
Graham was the only one I could round up for a day of fun over UEA. Even little C opted to stay home and pal around with friends. Oh well, having one kid in tow sure is cheaper;)
Have you TRIED Kneaders' Pumpkin Steamers???? Oh man alive.
The Pumpkin Patch in Orem. I haven't been here since Ava was a baby.
I'll just say...not much has changed.
I think these are even the same bunnies that were here last time.
Hehe...
Graham said there were spiderwebs inside the pumpkin....REAL spiderwebs.
After the patch we went to the Halloween store where Graham got a New (his FOURTH) Indiana Jones hat to replace the old. I couldn't talk him into this sombrero.
We had a heck-of-a-time finding a caramel apple because everywhere was sold out. I said, "Ah, I know a place." The last stop before heading up the canyon was at the Riverwoods where we found what we were looking for at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.
A boy, his hat, his apple, and his mom. Recipe for a perfect day.
Dear Brother's and Sisters...
In October Grayson gave his first youth talk in Sacrament Meeting. Later that day a family brought over a drawing they had made and a plate of cookies all for Grayson. The letter told Grayson what a great talk he had given.
The rest of us were downstairs watching Little House when they dropped off the goods. Gray had half the plate of no-bakes polished off by the time we came upstairs. I was glad.
Grayson can get a bit of a sweet tooth from time to time (don't we all!) I had a bag of High Chews in the garage that I would nibble on from time to time. One evening I was laying on the couch nibbling some out of my pocket while the kids were oblivious around me. Callie was sad about something and so I wanted to cheer her up. I whispered in her ear, "Reach in my pocket for a surprise." She could not tell what I was saying no matter how many times I said it. Finally Grayson piped up from across the room, "There is a high chew in her pocket. It's from the green bag in the garage." No sugar on the property gets by him.
When Things go Awry
Doesn't an evening at home eating pumpkin chili and caramel apples sound yummy? It's wasn't :(
The chili was bland and the caramel was too hard. I used the rest of the caramel to make into individual caramels. They nearly tore your teeth out.
Halloween sugar cookies. I didn't have enough powdered sugar on hand so I tried making it in the blendtec but I used waaaaay to much sugar. It smelled like I was going to burn out the motor so I sifted what I had and used it in the frosting, which turned out grainy.
We learned from the scratch test at the allergist that Ava is allergic to pretty much everything environmental.
It was actually a relief to get some answers as to why she has had a stuffy nose for the past few years, which always turns to sickness. She has missed so much school. After the new year we will start a treatment plan that is lengthy and will take some commitment on our part, but hopefully will cure this girl once and for all.
Crazy Hair Day! We did little worm balls all over Callie's head. After school she had choir practice and wanted her hair taken out. I warned her it would be REALLY curly.
But even I wasn't prepared for this!
She had a little Mr. Sprinkles thing going on...
HALLOWEEN!
This is the first year that the kids were allowed to wear Halloween costumes to school! I was at another wards Young Women in Excellence the night before and one of Ava's teachers was there and she offered this cute angel costume to Callie. Graham was thrilled to finally be able to wear his police uniform to school.
After school the babies start walking home and I pick them up on front of the Halloween house. They stand there and stare at all the decorations as they wait for me (you should see what this house does for Christmas).
The kids had the day off of school the day before Halloween so we threw another GROWLIE'S Spectacular. Callie was dead set on having a birthday party this year instead even though Graham begged her to do a Halloween party again. I would hear him bring it up and she would immediately stop him, "GRAHAM! I am not doing a Halloween party again!"
BUT...
During their long walks home from school where Graham had Callie's mind and ears all to himself, he somehow convinced her to give up a birthday party for another Halloween gig.
They helped me make these spider plates, bone fingers, and ghost cups for the party,
This party had a theme:
I lined the windowless room in the basement with newsprint and the kids drew pictures with highlighters. We had the kids wait in the family room and watch Toy Story of Terror while Ava and I changed the storage room into the Glow Room.
I changed the lightbulb to a blacklight so that the highlighter would glow. At the last second I got the idea to cut open glow sticks and flick them all over the room. It looked SO cool! It was like we were standing under the galactic sky. When Ava and I brought the kids in one of them said, "It smells like poison."
The poison was worth it for the ooh's and ahh's we heard when we shut off the light. While we were in there I told them A Dark, Dark Tale.
We then went back upstairs for lunch.
Ava was once again my right hand.
We had a boys table...
And a gouls table...
They had a relay race to wrap a mummy downstairs...
We gave the guests a little treat bag on their way out and decided that the party was a success. It is easier for me to throw a Halloween party than a birthday party actually. The house is already decorated, there is no pressure for gifts, and the theme is pretty standard!
Scarecrow Festival at the Homestead
On Halloween day we supported Mallerie's 5K Fundraiser at Southfield park. We were one of only a handful of people in attendance. Graham was not interested in running so I said I'd walk with he and Callie in the kid division. I think once he saw how little the kids were that he was competing against he realized, "I can't loose to a two-year-old." He ran the whole half mile and got first place.
Whoopti-do.
Back at home we carved our pumpkins.
I totally copied the big one from Kei's Facebook page!
This past fall as I was going into the grocery store and saw the large pumpkins out front I thought to myself, "That would be funny if I bought one and placed it in our garden." But I didn't end up following through with this thought. Then the next Sunday Graham came inside rather out of breath and excited, "There is a HUGE pumpkin growing in our garden!" We all went out to see that sure enough one had seemed to grow large over night while the others stayed the same. I saw a glint in Matt's eye. Ha! He had my same idea.....
That large pumpkin had the tastiest of seeds once I roasted them.
Ava was really stumped what to dress up as. I felt a little guiltily pulling out my peacock costume for me. But each man for himself I say!
Since Halloween was on a Saturday the kids were antsy for evening when they could go Trick-or-Treating. They killed the time watching The Haunted Mansion in the living room before Matt took them out.
Callie told us, "When Dad passes away Mom can take me Trick-or Treating, when SHE passes away Ava can take me, then when SHE passes away, Graham can take me trick-or-treating."
Our neighbors came to the door and we knew it was time to go!
Giuseppe came over later that night and when he came in the garage door I sent him out again and said, "You have to come through the front door! Go trick-or-treat." He did!
Grayson sticking with Matt's BYU jersey for another year.
Last year we spent Halloween at the Geertsen's in Provo while our house in Heber was dark and lonely. Graham wanted to make sure people knew we were in business again...
