We had so much fun celebrating Halloween this year and it seemed to last all month! Actually, even longer if you take into account that they bought their costumes at the end of August! Ha! As soon as the costumes were on display at Costco they were ready to buy. Joseph immediately knew that he wanted the Ninja costume. They had the cutest Superhero costumes for the girls so I thought I had the girls all convinced to do the Superhero theme, until Ella saw the Elena costume and the clip earrings that came with it. She was sold and couldn't look at anything else! Julia was still sold on the Batgirl costume and looked adorable in it so figured I could at least have her and Charlotte dress as superheroes...until our neighbor, Julia, gave her a witch costume and then I was just left with Charlotte as Supergirl. So, we had quite the eclectic group of trick or treaters this year but they were all as happy as could be and that's all we can ask for!
On October 21st we went to our friend's home for a Halloween party. Rich and I actually dressed up for the party, too, but unfortunately didn't get any picture of us. We went with our go-to costumes of Mr. CLean and the French maid since no-one from this group of friends had seen them yet so it was easy and fun. The best part at the party was when somone broke a glass and Rich ran across the backyard, jumped over a table and started to clean it up! Too funny! The kids had a great time at the party and we are so blessed to have such great friends in our neighborhood.
On Friday, October 27th the school had a Monster Mash festival. We walked up with the neighborhood crew and had a great time. This was the first year that the school has put this on and I was really impressed with how large it was. There were a TON of bounce houses, a whole section to go "trunk or treating", food trucks, an area for a dance party, a train ride and lots of other games and arts and crafts. It definitely was a little crazy since it was dark and they all seemed to want to go in different directions but once we figured out a plan (Rich stuck with Joseph and our neighbor, Tiah, and I stuck with the girls) it was manageable and fun. 
We had been talking about going to the pumpkin patch since the beginning of the month but every weekend seemed to be warmer than the last so we kept putting it off. Finally, on October 28th, after a morning of soccer, we made it and it was the perfect afternoon. Nani and the Zicklers joined us for the fun and we had a great time picking out pumpkins, feeding the animals, going on the hayride, doing the corn maze and just getting dirty!
Typical chaos!!!
We told the kids that whatever pumpkin they chose they had to carry it out themselves!
Sweet Jules-always with the best smiles!
I ordered these matching outfits for the girls after last Halloween so they wore them to church on the weekend before Halloween. They looked so sweet in them but these are the best pictures I was able to get.
Joseph is just the best big brother to them!!
On Sunday afternoon we got to carving the pumpkins. Joseph wanted "eyeballs all over the pumpkin" so Rich got out the power tools!!! They had a lot of fun!
None of the kids minded touching the inside of the pumpkins this year and just had a blast scooping and designing. We roasted the seeds but I don't think I let them cook for quite long enough so nobody seemed to love them.
Gotta love carving pumpkins in 80 degree weather!
They came out great!! I loved how they were all very specific as to what they wanted...Joseph with the eyeballs, Ella with a cat, and Julia with a happy jack-o-lantern. Charlotte napped while we carved (figured that would be way easier) but we carved her a happy one, too!!
Last year I bought inflatable decorations on sale after Halloween and the kids loved having them up this year! We also hung 4 ghosts in the tree so our house was very festive!
On Monday, October 30th Ella had her costume parade at school. She was super excited and the younger girls were excited to dress up, too, since we went to Stroller Strides immediately following the parade and had a Halloween party there, too.
She is into smiling without showing her teeth lately...
but I was able to convince her to give me one big smile!!
By the time Halloween actually came around, Ella had misplaced one of her clip earrings so she went without them but thankfully that didn't bother her.
Her class sang a few songs after the parade which were super cute.
Julia had a great time at Stroller Strides collecting treats from all of the strollers after class.
Joseph had his Halloween parade the morning of Halloween and was super excited to go as a ninja.
Julia wanted to dress up for it, too. She definitely got a lot of use out of her costume this year!!
There he goes!
On Halloween night we first went to the Tirado's house for pizza and to play. It was quick but fun to see them and hang out for a bit. Following pizza we hurried home to meet up with the Laugesens and the Vuongs to begin trick or treating-we found them a few streets over and had a great time. Our neighbors, Brandon and Alex, were dressed as Santa and a taco so the kids went back and forth between singings, "We wish you a Merry Christmas" and "It's raining tacos" for the majority of the night walking from house to house-they had a blast! Ella lead the pack of the boys and basically took charge, while Julia pretty much hung with me and held my hand the entire way but loved it all. Charlotte bounced from the stroller to hanging with Rich but was really good, too. I took Julia and Charlotte home after about an hour but they both did great. The older kids stayed out with Rich for a little bit longer but everyone was home by 7:45.
When Julia, Charlotte and I got home I put Charlotte to bed quickly and when I walked out of her room I found Julia going through her candy. She was so excited and even followed my directions of "only eating one!"
I just love experiencing the holidays through these kids-they bring so much joy to everything and just make it all so much fun!!
Happy Halloween!!!
