2010 Trunk Or Treat

Kels was given a "new" dress from a friend and we found her some wings and a hair ribbon wreath. She told me that she was tinkbelle bugfly. Pretty funny. She got VERY attached to her wings and they still have not been put away with the holiday stuff. The other day she announced that she was BATMAN!!! and attempted to "fly" off the furniture with her brothers...I may have to put her wings away very soon before we end up with her breaking more than her wings...
Kaeli spent LOTS of time working on the perfect costume for Ky. He is still in love with anything that has to do with CARS. She found a box and made it into Lightning McQueen for him and then we decked him out in all of his Lightning clothes top-bottom (hat, glasses, PJ's, socks) and topped it all off with his new favorite shoes - cowboy boots. He was hysterical and he was so fun to watch as he enjoyed his costume to the max this year. We were all sad that it got wet in the rain and really was a "one-time only" costume...

Colton was excited to be Superman this year - again, thankfully easy piece of cake costume - his favorite T-shirt and borrowing Ky's bday cape. He was all set to go.

GO PANTHERS!!! Ceana wanted to show her other "school" spirit by getting as many layers of black, red and white as she could. She did a pretty good job too.

Trunk or Treat night always starts out with a children's costume parade in the gym. This year the parade was pretty long - LOTS of families from our wards and the community joined in all the fun.

Kaeli decided to be "M&M Girl" - she wrapped one of her favorite blankets around her shoulders and called it good. She devoted all of her time on making Ky's costume that she chose not to do anything for herself. Kels was stuck to her like glue for the night. She had so much fun but had to make sure her "sissy" was right there with her.

The kids had a total blast this year in spite of the rain that decided to do its thing in the one hour window we were outside (no rain most of the day, no rain from time activity was over for rest of the night) Ky was esp excited to see and get treats from his preschool/primary teacher. he adores her and is loving every minute of being in "big school" with her. He was excited to show off his treats and full bucket to me.

Caiden "volunteered" himself to be Preston's helper with candy this year because he chose to not make the best decisions with his behavior, attitude or language, and ended up blowing all of his privileges during the week. I am hoping it was a lesson well learned and that he will someday understand why right now I am the "mean mom" of the world...

I took a turn with the little peeps so the big girls could have some time just to themselves for big girl stuff, esp since Tori was able to come to be with Ceana for the evening.
It was fun to just take some picts of the haul the kids brought home. There was such a good turnout this year that the kids' buckets were overflowing. Ky ended up having me carry his bucket so that he could carry more candy in his hands. It was pretty funny.
Our usual tradition is to dump out all the goodies onto the middle of the table and let the kids each pick what they want to eat. Colton took full advantage of that this year and ate way more than he was supposed to. It was fun having Kels old enough this year to really "get it" and understand that she got to pick and eat lots of yummy treats.
Something the kids thought extra funny this year was Preston's need to "organize" all the candy into piles. Ceana got in on the fun and soon all the "we are keeping" piles were organized into neat little piles far away from the "we will never eat these" piles. Although, some of that did get pilfered this year because Preston and Ceana discovered a package of "exploding candy" (ie pop rocks) and several other "retro" candies that got eaten up that night. The rest of the candy got put into baggies and "hidden" in the freezer. We usually freeze all of the choc stuff to use for baking projects or for special activities or travel. My hiding place was apparently not good enough this year though because it has been largely diminished by kids hungry for sweeties. The other candy has been taken to Preston's work or will be given to bishop for his Sunday kiddo treat give away.

HOORAY FOR HALLOWEEN

Ceana cranked out homework like crazy to earn the privilege to go to what is becoming the annual Halloween "girls' night" with a few of her closest friends. She decided to try the pirate thing again, and with both Preston and I to help her, she was all decked out. Preston made her an eye patch, and loaded her down with all of my gaudy jewelry and I brushed her face with earth-tone eye shadow and mascara. She was happy with the results and went along very happy to be with her friends for the night.

On the way to the annual ward Trunk or Treat activity I happened to look back at the kids. Kels was just "hangin' loose" in her carseat. She has picked up this pose from Ky and more often than not I find her in this position more than him anymore. It was a total crack up that I had to try for a pict in the car.

Love her little toe hanging out - when we got to the building we discovered that neither she or Ky had their shoes - thankfully she had snuggly PJ's on with footsies and we layered Ky with all the extra socks we had still in the car (another story for another time....) It worked well. Kels's PJ's were pretty much thrashed by the end of the night, which was fine since we also discovered a monster hole in between her legs too, they have been through multiple kiddos - prob amazing they lasted this long :)

TRUNK OR TREAT CARNIVAL

We had multiple themes going on this year. Caiden decided that he REALLY wanted to be Gilligan this year, so Kaeli and Preston also chose characters - Kaeli was Ginger and Preston was The Skipper. The little people all got their outfits chosen for them about 1/2 hour before we were supposed to leave - they were all in PJ's still. Thankfully it was easy to throw these together since I had remembered the cute aprons we had gotten from the Pioneer Day carnival we attended in July. Along with a few accessories and we were good to go. Bob The Builder and crew. Kels' toolbox was sufficiently supplied with all the "tools" a girl needs - curling iron, hairspray, clips, brush, etc. It was perfect for her.

The boys were chomping at the bit to get to the carnival. Kels was NOT impressed. She pretty much freaked out with all the noise and people and just clung to her big sissy as if she was holding on for dear life. Kaeli just stood very still and stroked Kels' hair, trying to keep her calm. I dont know what I would do without Kaeli, those 2 girls really have bonded and Kels will often times even choose Kaeli instead of me. I am blessed that they have each other, esp for times like this when I need to be everywhere at once.

TRUNK OR TREAT CARNIVAL II

We finally coaxed Kels to let Kaeli loose by offering her a cookie. She still didnt stray too far from any of us though, and I ended up holding her while we were inside
Of course my boys found the treats right away. They had a cookie decorating booth AND a cupcake walk booth - what more could the boys ask for?

Caiden esp enjoyed the game booths. This one was his favorite. He had to suck up a candy corn with a straw, keep it on the end of the straw and then drop it into the little cup. I am not sure if it was timed or not, but it was challenging and fun.

TRUNK OR TREAT

For those of you who may not know what Trunk or Treat is - it is a safe, annual event where local church families come and let kiddos trick or treat out of the trunks of their cars. It is a riot and a great way to celebrate and know that the kids are safe.
Kels didnt let loose of Kaeli the whole night. She was more than happy that she had been let go to just run around amid all the other kiddos. Every time I found the girls, Kels was literally pulling Kaeli along behind her at full tilt. Kaeli had chosen to wear high heels with her costume, and had a hard time keeping up with Kels, it was pretty funny. Kels is too little this year to "get it" - she could care less about the candy, she was just happy to run around, so kaeli didnt get very many treats this year....maybe next year.


Preston manned the handing out of candy this year, Kaeli took Kels, and with Ceana not there, I went ahead and let the boys go off on their own this year with the strict understanding that they stay together at all times. Caiden apparently found a solution to them staying together. Everytime I found the boys to get their picts, the little boys had a fist full of Caiden's shirt. He was very patient with the little boys and they did a good job on their own.

SPOOKY LIGHTS

When we got home from Trunk or Treat, Kaeli was trying to play with her light stick. She wanted me to take picts, but she couldnt shake it hard or fast enough to show up on the camera. I remembered I still had a thick light glow stick from my photography workshop! I ran in and got it, dropped my shutter speed down as low as it would go and I took picts while the kids played. It worked lots better outside since the flash had too much to bounce off of inside, I had to partially cover it with my hand. It was just experiment time to see what worked or didnt and the kids had tons of fun.
KAELI

LOVE the boys' faces. They were really getting into things, and exerting that energy really showed on their faces!

KY

CAIDEN

COLTON

LUNCH TIME FUN

Our Halloween fun started a day early with an invitation to what is becoming an annual costume luncheon at a good friend's house. As always, her house was decorated so fun, and she had all the spooky treats you could ask for. We got to spend some time with our good friends and the kids had a great time playing together. Thanx D family for inviting us - we had TONS of fun!
Caiden decided he wanted to be Gilligan (from Gilligan's Island) this year. He had everything but the hat...which was soon resolved when J swooped over on her bike and presented Caiden with her hat to borrow! Thanx J, your the BEST!

A NEW FAMILY TRADITION?

Probably not....

I used to LOVE these cereals when I was a kid. We would get them as a special treat at my grandmother's house (we never got sugar cereals at home). My brother esp loved the pink box, and I loved the choc (of course)
When I saw them in the store a few weeks ago, I just had to get them for old time's sake. These cereals used to be available all the time when I was growing up, but now they are only available for a couple of weeks in October.

So, I kept them hidden until this morning - a fun Halloween breakfast - the kids are going to be bouncing off the walls from sugar overload anyway, right? Might as well get them off to a good start....or so I thought. The boys were chomping at the bit all week when they discovered them hidden in the pantry, and Ky couldnt wait to get a box open.

They really didnt go over too well though. The kids each had some, and tried the different kinds (which really only tasted like Cocoa Puffs and Captin Crunch) and the boys picked out all the marshmallow shapes (we dont do marshmallows at our house) and that was that. I tried some too, and they really didnt taste anywhere near as good as I remember them....
Oh, well, it was worth a try I guess. Some traditions stay and last forever, some crash and burn - today was one of those. Halloween is not my favorite time of the year anyway, so no big deal that we didnt start something new. Will have to see if the dogs like sugar cereal.....

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

We had an extra full and adventurous Halloween this year. The kids started their happy holiday on Thursday with class parties and festive activities. Friday afternoon we were invited to a friend's house for a costume party luncheon. The kids had a blast eating yummy food, playing fun games, getting their faces painted, and doing crafts. It was a great way to spend our time out of school. Thanx A & B for planning such a great activity!
Friday night we attended (and were partially in charge of) our annual church trunk-or-treat activity. It was really Ky's first year to "get it" and he had so much fun walking around with Ceana to collect treats and candy and he got really good at saying "trick-or-treat". The kids also enjoyed the indoor cupcake walk and the costume parade.
The girls had an extra fun time tweaking Kels's costume too. She was given an outfit that says "I am a social butterfly" - the big girls came up with the idea of making her some antenae from pipecleaners and baby butterfly clips and attached it to a headband. They also hunted the costume and dress up boxes to find her some wings. It turned out SO cute and we have had tons of fun taking TONS of picts of her.
Overall I think the kids had a great Halloween and all the picts we took will make for lots of fun scrap pages.