Halloween Festivities

Ahhh the time of year where the leaves change color and the winds kick up and blow the leaves off the trees. I enjoyed having a warmer fall. The mornings were brisk but by the afternoon it was sunny and bright and the girls came riding home from school on their bikes sweaty with coats stuffed in their backpacks. I tell them they didn't have to walk/ride as far to school as I did when I was a kid. :) At least I don't tell them I had to trump up the snowy hills both ways! I am looking forward to next year when they get to walk to the new school just down the road! (anyway, more on that another time)

Halloween! Olivia wanted to be a doctor. She loves to play doctor about as much as pretending to be a baker. I'm surprised she didn't dress up as a baker for Halloween!

Here she got her costume all put together the night before the ward activity.

Friday October 25th, ready to go trunk-or-treating at the church!

The dinosaur, doctor, Dorothy, the shark. I actually had fun making Tyler's costume. There is a fin on the back but you can't see it. I just bought a plain gray sweatsuit and sewed on the teeth, eyes, and fin. Once Halloween was over the plan is to remove the fin but leave the rest. It's a cute looking hoodie with the teeth and eyes! I mean, there's sweatshirts with masks on them all over the stores right now. Tyler loves it. He put it on one evening just to show our Home Teachers. Aidan's costume I bought online last year after Halloween for $5! And it's always doubly worth it when it can be used again by the next little one. Olivia's costume is pretty self explanatory. Jaime's white shirt, kids' dr. kit, and a foil made head mirror attached to elastic. Didn't have to purchase a thing! Lindsey loves reading Wizard of Oz and watching the Oz movies that are out there. My lovely friend was so kind to let me borrow a Dorothy dress she already had from one of her daughters. The hair was fun for me to do and the shoes! Well....the shoes were meant to be. I had never bought anything at GoodWill before. I went one morning to look for a pair of black dress shoes with Tyler in tow. We walked in and went straight to where it said children's shoes. I never even saw a pair of black shoes I could stick red glitter to. My eyes went immediately to a pair of red sparkly flats. Not one scuff or mark to even show they'd been worn! Only a half size too big. That'll work! And boy did it. It totally completed her look. 

So back to the ward activity. Jaime had his school's halloween activity the same night so I was off to tame my kiddos at the church on my own. I was worried Tyler would take off while I was helping get food and I wouldn't be able to find him. I tell you, our ward is so huge that it's so easy for a kid to get "misplaced." Add on the large number of guests that came and you'd think we had a stake activity going on! HOWEVER, my prayers were answered and my kids were great! The boys stayed at the table with my while we waited our turn to go get our  plates for dinner. While we were waiting in line Jaime walked in. Their activity ended at 6 while ours started at 6. It was 6:30 when we walked in. I really appreciated his help to getting a plate of food. Something about letting Aidan or Tyler walk and carry a plate of food through a maze of people just doesn't sound like a good combination. :) So we enjoyed our dinner and visiting with friends then headed out to the trunks in the parking lot. I felt bad...we ran out of candy. And that was including the candy my kids threw in that they didn't like. 

The usual routine, dump out the loot and watch a fun Halloween movie. 

The next day, the 26th, was Grandpa Morales' birthday. Nothing pleases him more than being with my kids and doing things that make them happy. Our kids got to go spend the entire day with their grandparents (interesting story in itself. It just involved some car swapping so our kids went along to be able to hang out at their grandparents house.) Jaime and I were able to go shopping and get started on CHRISTMAS GIFTS! I love it. :) We also got to pick up Bel from the car dealership (her car had a regular checkup) so she did some shopping with us and went to lunch with us as well. After all our shopping we met up with our kids and Marty and Diana at Granny's Buffet (Old country, they recently changed the name of it but we still like it to be Granny's.) 

Leave it to grandpa to pick a place he knows our kids will enjoy to eat. :)

The following week I went to pick up some boxes of apples at my mom's. Thanks to my wonderful sisters for going out to an orchard to pick them!! The next day I went straight to work.

Saucy Saucin' Day!

Aidan (and all my kids for that matter) like to turn the crank on my Victorio Strainer. This puppy makes applesaucin' so quick, and fun!

I ended up with 40 quarts of applesauce

and a batch of apple pie filling. It's the first time I've attempted to make it. I couldn't believe how easy it was. Much easier and faster than applesauce even! Yes I tasted it. I tried what was left at the bottom of the pan. :)

I used up all the jars I had and still had apples left. I was going to give them to whomever wanted them and then I had a thought, if I just go buy more jars then I'd have more applesauce and it could probably save me from having to make more next year...or two. So that's what I did. Friday night after a party I went to I went to walmart and bought some jars. Saturday I sauced the rest of the apples giving me a total of 58 quarts. I'm done canning! And canning wouldn't be complete without my going through my food storage room and reorganizing. I like to make it look all pretty! :)

And back to Halloween~

We spent the last two FHEs with the Christensen's. One was on the 21st to make caramel apples, YUM, and the next on the 28th to carve pumpkins with an inactive family. Our kids just have so much fun together. We all had a great time. We always plan on leaving at a certain time so kids can get to bed at a decent hour since it's a school night but we never do. The clock just runs faster when we visit with friends I think. 

Can you believe I never took a picture of the final pumpkin faces!? Me either. 

One evening we went to Home Depot to get a few things. We stopped to look at the Christmas decor. :) I love it! Yes Christmas isn't even for another month but I've already been listening to Christmas music too. Not that I don't enjoy Thanksgiving, I really do. But for me the whole Christmasy spirit goes with Thanksgiving. The family gatherings and the cold air and hot cocoa drinking...makes me warm in side.

On Halloween I tried a new recipe. Turkey and Black Bean Chili with a side of corn bread muffins. It was so good! A couple of my kids; ahem, the boys, didn't plan on even tasting it. There may have been a comment or two that those who don't eat don't go trick-or-treating (evil I know) and whatdya know! They ate their dinner. Not all of it but enough that they weren't going to have just sugar in their tummies. And Tyler's remark of it actually being good was funny too.

After dinner we got the kids suited up and pumpkins lit and off they went with Jaime and their friends to go through the neighborhood while I manned our front door. Next year, I may just sit outside so I can do more visiting with all who walk by, since many are from the ward. Plus when I did sit down it wasn't long before I had to get up to open the door.  Course Jaime made a comment that I may need to walk the kids next year. Our neighborhood is growing so big. Our kids get tired of walking it all. They get so much candy and yet they still could have hit up so many more houses. Jaime and I were surprised with how many homes just left the candy in a bowl on the doorstep. Glad people around here are honest and don't take it all. ;) There was one that had a note that said "Please take one, we're watching!" Maybe they were and maybe they weren't but it may have had an effect on trick-or-treaters. Our kids got back and dumped out their candy and put the stuff they didn't like back in our candy bin to be passed out at the door. I ran out of candy again! Costco bags too. Thank goodness my kids don't like twizzlers. We had tons of those to put in at the end so I never did need to turn anyone away. 

Everyone's piles of candy. Naomi and Daphne came over too. We let them stay for a fun halloween "party/late night." I didn't care that it was a school night. I was happy to make an exception. My parents always threw big parties for us on Halloween and this kind of reminded me of it. I think next year I'd like to let them invite others over after trick-or-treating for some games. Course, it'll be a Friday next year so it makes it a bit easier to accept I think. ;)

Hope your Halloween was as treasureful as ours.