October 2014: Halloween

Faith couldn't resist that pot of goodies! It was just sitting there asking to be dug into, contents chewed on, and emptied all over the door steps! 

I have grown to love this holiday! I love the fall aroma and the anticipation for a change of season and upcoming holidays. I love creating costumes for myself and my kids and going all out. I love the pumpkins and the chance for spooky things to be fun and exciting and not just terrifying. I love watching as neighborhoods come alive with children and fun and games. Every year, as I'm up WAY too late finishing up costumes the days before Halloween, I ask myself WHY? Why am I torturing myself this way? This can't be worth it. But in the end, it is! And I forget all about the grueling late nights and frustrations over silly costume woes and we have fun pictures and fun memories and those linger in our minds much longer!

I was so thrilled this year to be in the stage of life that I found myself in. Watching as MY kids ran with excitement up to each door and chimed, "Trick-or-Treat!" so enthusiastically. These are memories that I had as a child and I thought that excitement had gone as I left childhood behind, and it had...until now! And I get to re-experience all of it again through them! My heart smiled as I watched this cute scene.

Miles surprised me in that he actually WANTED to keep that hat on his head, even when it insisted on falling off every second! And he carried his "Bam Bam" club with pride the whole evening! I found this incredibly adorable that he took his costume so seriously. I thought for sure as soon as he saw the candy, he'd ditch the costume props and focus on the trick-or-treating, but he didn't. He wanted those things at the door with him when he collected his treats.

All set for our Halloween party! Monster cookies, green fish crackers, witches broomsticks and drinks. We also served some delicious mummy dogs. 

 Becky and Matthew as Noah and The Rain with Esther as The Giraffe in The Ark. 

 Meet the Flintstones. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to be the Flintstones this year with a perfect Pebbles and Bam-Bam. I am really happy with how the costumes turned out. I was nervous for a good while the days before Halloween. We were also blessed with BEAUTIFUL weather Halloween day/night! Which made wearing these costumes MUCH more manageable! 

 Rachel as a Feline! 

 Baby Esther the Giraffe. 

 We didn't feel much like eating doughnuts Halloween night, so we saved this contest for the next day! Christopher won. 

Ready for the Party! I (by "I", I mean Chris) made some cute gunny sacs for a gunny sac race, but all the kids I was planning on coming ended up not being able to come, so now we have some Spooky pillow cases...for next year I guess! 

 I love hanging up the kids decorations, and I hate taking them down at the end of the season. I mean I like to because I'm ready for the next season's crafts and decorations, but I hate to just get rid of the previous ones. So I try and take pictures of them so I can remember how cute they were. 

 Lydia surprised me one afternoon when she drew faces on all the leaves that she gathered on our walk and taped them up all throughout the house while I was laying down with Miles. 

 This one was my favorite. 

 I loved Lydia's creativity in drawing this face on her pumpkin. It was like a cat jack-o-lantern.