Halloween!

We continued the Halloween festivities with our Branch's annual Truck or Treat and Chili Cook off Party on Friday the 20th. The Primary usually is in charge of this, but I was a little burnt out and we still had the program coming up in a week and the party would be when Chris was out of town AND the day before Charlie's birthday party so I told the Branch Council that if they wanted to do this, we'd need to divide all the responsibilities up. People still wanted to do it, so we assigned out tasks and called it good.  I was hoping to not actually be 'in charge' of it and just have a assignment, but alas, old habits die hard and people just kept assuming I was in charge and treated me as such.  Besides without a real leader, some of the last minute details can come as a surprise and I ended up running around like a crazy chicken the day of trying to make sure it all ended up ok.  I missed Chris' help tremendously, but was so glad my friend Shuniqua was around to help me hand out candy and get set up. 

Freddy was Captain America, Charlie was Iron Man, Alec was a soccer player, and Gwen was a ballerina. 

Being very pregnant, I thought resurrecting my cow costume from when I was pregnant with Alec was in order. Something had happened to all of the spots, so the kids helped me draw them on.  Also, I had to make new teats for my udder. We had about 20 minutes to get EVERYONE costumed and loaded up in the car. It was such a busy day.  We had a really good turn out and I thought my friend's Lexi and Troy (a scarecrow and a farmer) costumes completed my look so we got a picture.

The kids had a blast and everything turned out just fine. People were so helpful in cleaning up so I didn't have to be the last one there. Shuniqua and I won 2nd place for our Chili again (which we made the day before) and the kids got LOTS of candy.  I let them stay up sorting and trading with each other because I really wanted Chris' help putting them to bed. His airplane was delayed though so I ended up doing it by my self anyway.  He had been in Ohio on a business trip for one of his projects for 2 nights. 

The next weekend, Gwen was invited to go to party at our neighbors barn just across and down the road a bit from us. She got to reconnect with her two best friends from 1st grade. Super fun.

We managed to squeeze in Pumpkin carving the night before Halloween. Freddy was old enough to really get it this year and he came up with his design and scooped out his seeds all by himself. ("with blood dripping down") Alec did his entire pumpkin all by himself - including the cutting! Gwen and Charlie came up with awesome designs too and were heavily involved.  Some traditions are just more fun as the kids get a little bit older.  A friend told us to wipe bleach along the inside of the pumpkins after they're carved to get them to last longer.  We tried it and it worked a little bit. They probably lasted 2 weeks. 

Halloween day was a Tuesday this year so we had a fun little party in preschool.

Then after a quick dinner of peas and potatoes while Gwen was at ballet, we met up at a friends neighborhood and went trick or treating for 30-40 minutes, then drove to another neighborhood of someone in our branch who invited us to come there and did another 30 minutes or so. The kids got SO MUCH CANDY and the weather was so nice. I was exhausted by the end of the day and had to visit the bathroom twice at various friend's houses. This baby is sure growing!

Chris and I put the kids to bed just a tiny bit later than normal and still had time to watch a movie on Plex (we love you, Jared!) that is acclaimed as the most true-to-the-book version of Frankenstein.