Happy Halloween

What a fun time of year! I have learned to love the holidays since Riley came into our family. But I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Halloween. How can you go wrong with getting to dress up in something you aren't and go door to door asking people for candy, and they give it to you?! This year I decided to make the kids' costumes. We went to the Joann's and I let Riley pick out what he and Emmaline were going to be. I bought one of the patterns that have boy and girl patterns, and he decided on pirates. We got all the material that day, and I put the pattern away for a few days, OK, weeks. Then at the beginning of the month, Mary Lynn and I decided to have the boys pictures taken together, and one of the shots was in their customes... So I had a weekend to get it done. I was very proud of how it looked, and I was so sick of the project that I didn't start Emmaline's until Monday. I really had to hurry then! We had planned on going to the Springs Preserves Haunted Gardens for our family home evening, and I wanted the costumes done... I got it done, only to discover the haunted garden was only open Thursday-Sunday... The costumes were so cute, and I was able to enjoy the rest of the week. We enjoyed carving a pumpkin and decorating the rest from our pumpkin patch trip. Thankfully, Demya and Benson came over and helped. Otherwise, I don't think I would have attempted it! I'm terrible at carving pumpkins! Thanks a million Benson! We also made a witch and scarecrow door hangers, and Riley painted a pumpkin on paper which we were able to stuff. I have to admit, it turned out really cute. Riley was SO proud of his handy work!Emma and Riley also got to wrap themselves up in toilet paper and pretend to be mummies! Emma was so excited to be apart of the fun. It was cute!Thursday was our ward party. I made eyeball cupcakes for the cupcake walk and Allen made homemade root beer. The root beer was gone SO fast! We enjoyed the chili, and Riley had fun getting his face painted, doing the cupcake walk, going fishing, and best of all, playing and the play set with his buddy Thomas Rhodes!Weren't we cute? I was a damsel in distress with a motley crew of pirates! It was my bridesmaid dress from Demya's wedding. It worked perfectly!Demya and Benson went as hill billies! I thought they looked so cute! After the party, we drove over to the Springs Preserve. It was OK. I was really glad that we didn't have to spend the $9 to go. Riley enjoyed walking around, and Emmaline LOVED the scarecrows they had all over and the twinkle lights. There weren't as many trick or treating stations as I thought there would be. But the kids had fun, and the decorations were cool.Friday was Halloween. It's been so hot here... much to my irrition as my AC in the van is not working. Because it's been so hot we begged my mom to take us out on to the lake. It was SO much fun! Mom took us up to the dam which Benson hadn't seen before. Riley thought the driving around was a little boring and VERY cold! Emma loved it. She watched the water going by and giggled.We enjoyed going to Sandy beaches. Everyone got into the water... I know we are crazy! It was cold, but the the weather was still warm... so it was nice. I forgot Emmaline's swim suit... so she had her diaper on for some of the time, and some of the time she was just a little bare butt. (EDIT: there was a really cute photo of Emma playing in the sand, but based on some web traffic we got, it seemed like a good idea to take it down. For the same reason, a couple of other photos were also taken down.)

It reminded me of the summer I spent with my Uncle Curtis and his family. We went to a little lake they have there. The temperature outside was 105 but the water temperature was 60... Riley had so much fun playing with his uncle Benson. He told me that Benson is his friend. He loves having someone to pal around with. We start most outing with asking him who his buddy is that day. It's really cute, he doesn't like to switch buddies! Emma loved crawling along the in the sand. She was happy to dip her feet into the water, and run her fingers along the top. Riley drove the boat back. He borrowed Grandma's sunglasses. She said that he looked like a rich kid... he looked at her and said he was a rich kid! Oh, if he only knew... I guess he's rich with family right? Both kids took naps on the way home. Which was good, because it was a really late night! We went with Mya and Benson to their ward Halloween party. It was fun cause that's our old ward. It was really strange to see some of our old primary kids who aren't kids anymore! Ugh, when did I get old? The party was fun, with another chili cook off. The kids loved the hot dogs. After dinner there was a trunk or treat. Basically, you go from car to car getting candy. Riley had a blast! He made sure everyone gave Emma some in her bag. What a good big brother! After the trunk or treat, we went to visit Brigham, Charlotte, and Faith. Faith was so cute in her lady bug costume! We visited with them for a bit, then went to see Allen's parents. They hadn't seen the kids' costumes, and I really thought that they would get a kick out of it. We let the kids get into the candy there. I figured what was the big deal, it was their candy, and might as well get the sugar rush over sooner rather than later... Emma loves dum dums, and Riley loves everything (that's what he tells us). Really, he really likes the dum dums and M&Ms. Everything else is OK. Riley was opening the dum dums so fast... At one point Emma had 3 at one time! I think she may have been trying to share with Daddy... but she got mightily cranky when Riley tried to take away HER candy! I love Halloween! This was such a fun one!

Happy Halloween!