Halloween Tricks and Treats

So this year Halloween started on Thursday afternoon for us. Nate had a party at preschool, and got to wear his costume to school. I wasn't able to stay due to nap time, but he said he had fun. From there we went to a friend's house to have a party with the original playgroup-- the ladies I met when all of our babies were just tiny babies, and we became fast friends. Now that our kids are in school we don't see each other very often anymore, so it's fun to get together for parties. We tried to get a group picture of the kids in their costumes. You can see that Mummy Graham's alter ego is the Incredible Hulk. And.... did you notice who was missing?

Nate absolutely refused to come and have his picture taken. He was mad at me for making him put his costume on.

Then on Friday night was our ward Trunk or Treat. The kids had a great time running around, eating lollipops, and eventually Graham started to give candy back to those who would take it.

Jesse had a day full of crisis at work, so he spent some of his time like this.

We won the vote for the spookiest trunk that night. As I mentioned, I covered the trunk with a sheet, put a sleeve in it, and put different bowls inside my trunk. I think that the adults were more afraid of sticking their hands in than the kids were. I guess they were afraid that there was someone in there waiting to grab them. Oh, and just a future FYI, if you ever need to peel grapes in a large quantity, blanch them. You know, stick them in boiling water, and then in an ice bath. So much easier.

On Saturday night we went over to the Kigin's house, and had a wonderful chili dinner, followed by trick or treating. To recap, we had a mummy, a SWAT officer, and Jesse went as Hawkeye Pierce from MASH. (We don't have an adult size Cowboy hat...)

So what a busy few days, and boy am I glad it's all over with. It was fun, but I'm ready to get into a week that is just full of normal things. :) Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween as well.

Happy Halloween

So I have a few events that I'll blog about-- the Trunk of Treat, and a playgroup party, but for now, just a few fun pictures of how we are celebrating Halloween. Hope you have a spooky fun day today!

Bad to the Bone

The other day was fire safety day at school, and Nate came home with temporary tattoos. He loves them, he's such a thug.

The Pumpkin Patch

Nate's preschool class had a field trip to the pumpkin patch this past week. Graham and I came to have fun with him. The kids had a great time. We had been having cold rainy weather out here, but the day of the trip it was a sunny warm day. I felt bad for the kids wearing long sleeved shirts. And it had been dry for a few days, so it wasn't muddy either. There was a hay ride, slides, duck races, a corn box, mazes, a jumping pillow, and picking out pumpkins. It's hard to say what their favorite part was. It was torture to get them away from each activity, but then they loved the next activity just as much as the previous one.

Graham sometimes had trouble getting to the top of the hill, so he tried to sit down on the hay and slide down. I don't think he had as much fun....

Baltimore Half Marathon

So I finally had my big race. It was a little unfortunate because I had a cold for the two weeks leading up to the race, so I just was not feeling all that well that day. It was by far the hardest thing that I have ever done. Well, maybe not by far, maybe it ties with hiking to the top of Mt Washington. We did fairly decent considering all, we finished in 2:40. My friend that I ran with was a little concerned about me as we were running, and that I was going to drop out, since she could see how badly I was struggling, but I'm not a quitter, so she never had to use her "don't quit" speech that she had planned out in her head.

Jesse and his dad took the kids down to cheer me on. They were waiting at mile 12, and the picture they got of me shows me perhaps a little more cheery than I was actually feeling. (I was feeling like sitting down, curling up in a ball and crying.)

But we did it! And we'll probably do it again despite all of the vows that I made throughout the race. Just maybe not in 3 weeks as my friend tried to talk me into.... But that's another story.

The Aquarium and Zoo

So in the second half of September Jesse took a day off of work and we went to the Aquarium again, and also went to the MD Zoo in Baltimore. Our Aquarium membership got us into the zoo for free, and we'd never been there, so we thought it was a pretty good deal. It was a long day, but we all had a good time. For the first time at the Aquarium we didn't put Graham into a backpack carrier, and instead just put the monkey leash on him. He did pretty well, but you will notice the times when he was trying to get away... :)

Graham fell asleep on the short drive between the Aquarium and the Zoo and slept through the first little bit of the Zoo. When he woke up he was none too happy, but then we showed him the Zebras that we happened to be standing near, and he was totally fine after that. Graham loves zoos.

We enjoyed the giraffes, since the National Zoo which we usually go to no longer has any.

We really enjoyed this zoo, and it could be my favorite one in the area. It's a little expensive to get into, but Nate is already asking to go back to this specific zoo.

I need ideas!

OK, so we have our ward Trunk or Treat coming up on Friday the 30th. I need ideas on what I can do with my trunk. Here is the basic idea I have come up with- I am going to cover the trunk with a black sheet, and cut a hole in the middle of it. Then when the kids come, they have to stick their hand in the hole and find the candy. In addition to the bowl of candy I would like to have other non-candy bowls. I was thinking mushed up jello, cooked spaghetti, and peeled grapes. It can't be anything unsanitary, or too messy (like raw hamburger) But what other tricks can I play as they get their treats? Oh, and the candy bowl, it is one of those bowls with the hand that gets you when you reach in, so that'll add excitement.
So send me ideas on what else I can put in my trunk! Thanks!
Lauren