Raining with Cats and Dogs: All Things Halloween!

The days leading up to Halloween sure kept us busy and in costume! The girls grew tired of their costumes and wanted to do a little switch-a-roo throughout all of the festivities, which is how I knew we had done enough.

The first Halloween event was Cammy's Fall Family Costume Dance at her school on Oct. 26th. We all dressed up and enjoyed some pizza, cookies, and dancing. Although I am not sure I can call what Cammy did dancing. She more spent her time running around the gym with her girlfriends searching for more friends. She had a blast so I guess that's all that mattered. Jason and I held down the dancefloor with Hailey and Brielle.

A 50s housewife, Princess Belle, an own and SuperGirl ready to party!

Family photo, with Clark Kent in it this time

Cammy with her friends Nicole, Amaya and Gaby

Cammy with Nicole and Vaaruni

Cammy with her teacher Ms. Abendroth

The following day, Oct. 27th, the girls dressed up again (us parents left our costumes at home this time) and we went to the big carnival event at Hailey's preschool/church. We didn't get to stay quite as long as I had hoped because of soccer right before it, but the girls had fun playing some of the games, jumping on the bounce houses and watching some of the neat performances, like the fire dancers. It was a very well done event this year and didn't seem nearly as crowded as previous years (when we swore we would never come back again, yet here we were).

Switch-a-roo with costumes

(Elsa, Minnie Mouse and a bride)

The girls with their little buddy Zach

Hailey playing a penny toss game

The dads, Brady and Jason, and their littles

Cammy doing the toilet paper roll toss

Watching the fire dancer

We used the weekend to carve our pumpkins. I thought that carving them during the Seahawk game would be a brilliant idea, but it turned out that men can't really multitask when it comes to football watching (I should have known better!). So in the end my mom helped Cammy carve hers and I did my own. The two littles decided to paint their pumpkins and Grams and Cammy added in some painted pumpkins too. It wasn't our usual family carving event this year where we have 5 carved pumpkins, but I decided I was ok with that considering we wouldn't even be home to give out candy and light them up too long.

Being brave and taking out the "guts"

Grams helping Cammy do the carving part

Hailey and her painted pumpkin

Cammy's finished product

Brielle working on her painted pumpkin

Carving my pumpkin with a little help

On the Monday before Halloween, Oct. 30th, we came home right after school and got the kids changed into their costumes. We went to the high school just down the street for their fun little community carnival event that we have gone to previous years. The girls loved playing the games and earning candy. Jason and I made a poor parenting choice (we're allowed those every now and again, right?!) at the end of the carnival where we thought it would be a fine idea to take all 3 kids through the "haunted hallway." We even opted for the "less scary" option where they turned the lights on a little more. Well boy was that a mistake...I was even scared (I HATE haunted houses more than anything...so what was I thinking?!) and we walked the girls through there as fast as we could reminding them that it was not real, not scary and everything was ok. We came out of it with Brielle unphased (thank goodness for one), Hailey crying hysterically and Cammy pretty freaked out. It's all about the adventure in life...right?!

The girls ready for another round of costumes, candy and fun

Brielle fishing for candy with daddy

Cookie decorating

Photo booth with the two that wanted to cooperate

Finally we reached actual Halloween!! It felt like quite the lead up this year! The girls tried to wear different costumes again, but I told them they HAD TO wear the ones they picked for Halloween this year. It's the rules! We decided that this year we would avoid driving anywhere like we usually do and just try trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. This was the first dry Halloween that I can actually remember (the news claimed since 2006) so we took full advantage of walking this year. It was cold so Hailey petered out pretty quick. Cammy seemed super into it and Brielle was along for whatever, but was definitely cold. We were happy to have my mom (aka: Grams) join us, while my dad held down the fort watching the World Series. The girls definitely brought home plenty of candy and a few full sized candy bars, so I think they were totally content.