Halloween

I have let time slip away without writing, thinking that we have not done much out of the ordinary or "blog entry" worthy. But now we have had Halloween and the end of football, so I guess it's time to catch up a bit.

Gone are the days where we are all dressed up in theme and I spend hours and hours making costumes. The kids brainstormed many ideas and settled on a couple each. (They are already making plans for next year.) Jess wanted to be a bird and I was preparing to make a costume fashioned after my memories of being a bird myself in an Alice and Wonderland play in elementary school. But happily, she changed her mind just before I went to get a green hoodie and fabric to cut feathers. Instead she decided she loved the idea of being a big bag of jellybeans. Jess loves all things starting with the letter "J." I was thrilled--the work load was drastically reduced. We reinforced a clear plastic trash bag, cut leg and arm holes, and filled her up with lots of little balloons. She got the most compliments by far while out trick or treating and trunk or treating. Probably those moms are thinking, dang, that's so easy!

Michael Phelps, Jellybeans, Animal Rescuer

Makenna was an animal rescuer for the ward Halloween party, but switched to a cat for neighborhood trick or treating. She liked the idea of having a monkey hanging around her neck, but in practice found it a little annoying. It really got in her way when trying to eat. She liked having cat make-up much more. Plus she got to wear her favorite boots again.

Kitty Cat for the Neighborhood. Loving the make-up!

Isaac was Michael Phelps at first, which was easy enough. He already had his long, black speedo suit and dark goggles. We added an American flag to a black swim cap and wrote "PHELPS" with a sharpie. We meant to have him wear 8 gold medals, but forgot to take them with us to the ward party. On Halloween, he had had his last regular season football game and we barely made it home in time to meet his friends for trick or treating, so he just kept his full football uniform on--pads and all. No, I think I had him leave his mouth guard at home. Isaac went with some friends and another dad. They hit every house in the neighborhood. I know he stopped by home once to dump out his bucket to make more room because there was a big pile of candy when I got back with the girls.

Jellybean Jess--the only kid who didn't change costumes.

The girls lasted longer trick or treating than I thought they would. It helped that we met up with several families of friends. It was a little odd being so close to our old neighborhood, but not going over there. We have been in this house for almost a year now--Thanksgiving will officially be a year--but this was our 3rd Halloween in Las Vegas. There was one house on our street that you had to walk into to get your treat. The entry, dining room and stairway were completely decked out in spookiness. The owner said she had been setting up for about 2 weeks. I believe it too--it was amazing. Jessica did NOT like it. She stepped one step in and then decided to wait outside for Makenna and the other kids. There were plenty of decorated houses, but none of the others crossed the line for Jess. Their very favorite house gave out dollar bills. Super excitement. We learned from our trick or treating buddies that it is a tradition that's been running for at least the last 3 years. I was sure Jess would loose her dollar, she kept pulling it out so often. Makenna had promptly buried hers at the bottom of her bucket so it couldn't blow away. After a little over half the neighborhood, they were ready to call it quits.

Back home again they dumped their buckets and started trading right away. However they jumped each time the doorbell rang and dashed to hand out treats. Matt was happy to let them take over his job. They stayed up rather too late, but went to bed happy. It's going to be a long time before those buckets are empty. It's funny that each time any of them pick a treat from their buckets, they still dump the whole thing out and root through it all before picking just the right thing. After going through their loot so often, I'm surprised they don't have it all memorized by now.