Happy Halloween!

OK, let's do a rundown of the costumes! Ireland was thrilled to put her Ravenclaw costume to good use AGAIN! She even took that cloak to school! Gita really, really, really wanted to be Seven from Stranger Things. I know nothing about Stranger Things so Liesel and Ireland filled me in. Apparently with this outfit she's supposed to have a nosebleed and a bloody skate. When I tentatively asked if her red Doc Martens would work, they all lit up at the idea. I have wanted ALL the girls to dress as the Mean Girls for a while and Liesel at least finally agreed to be Regina George. Sydney was excited to be Hermione and I'm glad we can recycle that costume- I put a lot of work into it!

Our Ward Halloween Party was so fantastic. Everyone was there and we even won the chili cook-off! How adorable are these ghost snacks? So charming!

Our bishop is a talented photographer and since the girls were off either helping to run the games (Liesel and Ireland) or playing those games with friends (Brigitta and Sydney), Brent and I got our photo taken. Inspired by Flannel Fest, we went as a lumberjack and lumberjill.

Apparently Sydney stopped by the photo booth as well!

I'm not sure when or how Brigitta got a hold of some fake blood to make a nosebleed...

Sunglasses were one of the prizes that could be won from the games.

Traditional costume parade!

Liesel got to run the cake walk which is one of the more popular games.

Usually people start to filter out and the same 10 people that help with every activity end up doing the clean up but they asked everyone pitch in. The gym went from fully decorated to completely clean and put away in 20 minutes. The centerpieces had been these ghosts so the missionaries wore them like hats. Liesel wanted a pic with them. We really love these ladies!

I was so, So, SO excited about decorating the truck for the Trunk or Treat! This took several trips to Home Depot, Hobby Lobby and Party City and more than one look from Brent that said, "Is this really necessary?" I was contemplating a smoke machine when I noticed the bubble makers and I quickly called my sister Reagan. Should I do a smoke machine or bubbles? She excitedly told me to do bubbles and oh man, she was right! The kids FLOCKED to the truck! Not even for candy- just to play with the bubbles! I was going for a Dia de los Muertos theme and I played music from Encanto. It's hard to tell, but we had bales of bay, colorful pots with sugar skull patterns on them filled with tiny orange flowers, our red, woven tablecloth and bunting on the bottom. It was all tricked out and I really loved the finished product!

Traditional candy count:

In this pic you can see one of the potted flowers that were a part of our Trunk or Treat decorations. I bought 4 of them so each of the girls got one.

Since Liesel's on the Chocolate challenge all this becomes a barter system. We made sure to buy her non-chocolate treats she could enjoy ntoo and those are behind her- not for trade.

On Halloween itself, the girls just scattered. Everyone wanted to hang out with their own friends so rather than corralling everyone to go Trick or Treating, Brent and I found we had the house to ourselves which was just dreamy! So many people say "let them stay little" but I have to admit I'm loving this new phase of parenthood where I'm not on 24-7, not needed every second of the day. I get a little break now and again. I did manage to get a photo of Sydney with her cute friend before they took off.

Let's talk about Gita. When I was a kid, we used a pillowcase for our candy because we didn't have proper candy buckets. Gita has a bucket, but she used a pillowcase to hold the sheer volume of candy she amassed that night.

One house gave her an entire package of candy corn! Not a snack sized bag, a HUGE bag of candy corn just for her!

Which reminded me of this- makes me laugh!

I've gotta be honest, it warms the cockles of my heart to see my girls organizing and categorizing their candy by color. 

Kinda feel like my work is done here!