Halloween

 Where to begin. It was such a busy week! We started out with our ward Trunk-or-Treat / chilli cook-off. And, I forgot my camera. No worries. I have about a million pictures from the rest of the week to make up for it. However, that was the one night Elle liked her Dumbo costume. It was cold outside and the costume was warm, which I think had a lot to do with it. We had fun, the kids ran around like crazy. Sydney, being the shy girl she is, chatted away into the microphone during the costume contest. I ended up having to take the microphone away from her and push her along off the stage so the parade could continue. My chilli didn't win this year. Obviously, something was wrong with the judge's taste buds. ;) We came home with loads of candy and could've ended this whole thing then and there. But, alas, this is just the beginning.

Sunday night we carved our pumpkins. That was quite the project!

I can't get the pictures to load, so I guess I've hit my limit. I'll post them separately.

Oh, and here is also where David LEAVES for the week. Seriously. Leaves during the crazy week-o-Halloween. tsk, tsk. But, we survived it - he just missed out on the fun. So, Tuesday Chay and I kicked off the week by making little marshmallow fondant ghosts for Sydney's party.

One of my FAVORITE parts of Halloween is an excuse to play with my food. Here is a sampling:

The next party was Sydney's dance party on Wednesday. She got dressed in her Gabriella costume (from High School Musical, in case you are out of the loop) and had her ghost marshmallows ready to go.   When it was her turn to hand out her treats, she did so by doing an arabesque with each one. I must say that no one else did that. Nope, they just handed them out like normal people, but not my Sydney. Oh, and do you like our fanci-fied sucker holder? (aka Bisquick box.)

And what party at dance class would be complete without dancing. (Can you see how tiny she is compared to everyone else. She is jumping and they are all standing on the ground.)

 

So, with a good layer of sugar on her tummy, we go home and prepare for the next round of parties. Preschool and library. Preschool doesn't allowed homemade treats (Boo!) so we had to settle for taking paddle balls. Oh, and we had to work on a family project of decorating a paper pumpkin. Elle was tired, and David was gone. So, it became a Sydney and Mommy project. Of course it had to include sparkles (glitter) and buttons (a family joke - if you've seen Coraline, you might understand.) That little project was completed around 10 p.m. Here are the results along with "Gabriella". I must say our pumpkin was the most original. No one else bothered to glue a million buttons on - they just colored theirs - lame. But, I'm sure they also had their little ones tucked in bed at 8:30.

Elle and I stayed and watched the costume parade. Elle was fine watching until her sister came along. Then we had this.

















And Elle did the second loop of the parade with them. And so did I. So, I have no pictures. But, here is Elle trying to get in on the class photo shoot.























Then, Elle and I were off to the Library for story time and costumes.




And here is the best photo you will get of that:

As it turns out, she decided she only liked wearing the shoe part of her costume. If you know my Elle, you will understand the shoe thing. She really likes most all shoes. So, the costume itself, as cute as it was, was very short-lived.

However, turns out we have a whole box of dress-up stuff. (Comes with being a girl momma) And, lo and behold, she found a "Melmo" costume. Yep, some old rough looking thing. And, that was the end of Dumbo.

Thursday night, David got home. (Insert angels singing)

Friday morning we went to the gym and the kids wore their Halloween costumes (three days in a row at this point) for Halloween activities while mom worked off some of that candy that kept jumping into my mouth. Later that day we went to David's office for some more trick-or-treating. Here is Elle as "Melmo" outside of his office (where my kids were given ridiculous amounts of candy which is not good for the whole Mom's diet thing.)

 

 

Now, my little 18 month old quickly learned the difference in M&M's and suckers. Here she is sifting through some loot.

She would dig her little paws through the bowl and come out with chocolate and the fruit flavored tootsie rolls (her favorite!) And let me tell you about how much those little paws can hold - three mini-candy bars at a time IN ONE HAND. The kid has skills.

This is the "Please give us more candy" look. They have it perfected.

Friday night we went to our fun Halloween party that I wrote about earlier. Here is a bigger picture of just us and a small glimpse of balloon butt. And, I'll have you know that not once did my husband tell me how beautiful I looked. The NERVE!

Ok, so now we are to the actual real day of Halloween. We started the day out with pumpkin shaped biscuits and chocolate gravy. (Hey, it's Halloween and I'm a realist - might as well start the day out with sugar, right?)

So, after three straight days of wearing the same Halloween costume (plus the party the Saturday before) Syd was tired of her costume. Oh, and it was white and already had been washed once, and needed it again. So, she decided she wanted to be something else. Back to that box of dress up, and, voila! A princess fairy. How original, right? But, I got to do some painting on her face which made the whole day a little more exciting for me (especially since I was kind of tired at this point.)

We had dinner with Nanny and Trick-or-Treated her house first.

 

 Then, we were off to our own neighborhood. We visited our neighbor who always has a fun time scaring the kids (and giving their parents a good laugh.)

 

 

Played with the fun pumpkin flashlights.

Elle learned to say "TickoTeet"

Sydney even asked some people why they didn't decorate as good as the people next door. Mom wanted to go and hide next door.

We made it a block before both girls were cold and tired. Then, we went drove to some friends and had some yummy homemade doughnuts (which was the perfect excuse to stop trick-or-treating.) A good night, with two tired little girls.  Thank goodness daylight savings came the next day. We needed it! So, goodbye to the holiday that allows me to play with my food. I'll miss you.