Halloween 2011

Halloween was fun, if a bit chaotic this year. I think I'd like to veto weekday trick-or-treating and I know many moms that would support me on that. :) It's just too hectic and difficult on a work night. But both kids were really into it this year and I know they had fun with their friends.

My attempt at painting our pumpkin this year did not turn out as cute as I'd hoped. It was supposed to look like a candy corn and I'd selected the most cone-shaped pumpkin I could find. But as Craig noted, my tape job before spray painting was a bit sub par. Haha. ;) There are some run lines in several places and I think the yellow should be a little higher.
The idea came from a fellow blogger friend, who I think got it from Martha Stewart. I do prefer painting pumpkins to carving them, but I wish I had had a back up plan this time. Haha!

Here's a cute preschool craft that Will brought home that helped brighten up our buffet table.

Halloween fell on a Monday, so Will had preschool as usual and his class celebrated with a Halloween party complete with costumes and trick-or-treating in the halls with many of the parents.

Then in the evening, we invited our best pals over for chili & grilled cheese before trick-or-treating in the neighborhood nearby. Once again, our house is just not designed for entertaining... but we managed to squeeze everyone in and get everyone fed. (I think.) I prepared the chili in the crock pot to cook while I was at work and then just grilled the sandwiches on my griddler when I got home. Our guests brought fruit, veggies and cider to round out our meal. We seated the youngest kids at the picnic table in the kitchen again: Jax, Sophia, Mya and Stella (all age 2), Cora (age 3) and Lincoln (age 1).

Meanwhile, Will and Charli (age 4) and Jagger (age 6) sat in the dining room. The adults just sort of hovered, standing up, and sat down whenever space was available. Sorry, guys!

Our guests didn't even arrive till 5:15-5:30 and trick-or-treating began at 6:00... so you can imagine the chaos of getting everyone fed and dressed in such a short time. Never mind getting any pictures. No group pictures. No family pictures. No detail of kids costumes.

All of my pictures that evening took place while we were walking... which, by the way, was way more fun and enjoyable than the dinner part back at the house. Haha!

Soph & Lincoln rode in our wagon, pulled by Lincoln's dad, Brian. Thanks, Brian!

Our group... ready to hit the road.

This year, the kids both wore hand-me-down costumes. Coincidentally, the costumes were the things they are most interested in right now! Nice! Will was a stegosaurus and Sophie was Tinker Bell. Also, prepare yourself for this being the only type of expression you'll see out of Sophie this evening. The squinty-eyed smile is her signature face when the camera is out these days.

Mya & Stella were doctors. :)

Celia was a monkey like Lincoln.

Charli was a butterfly, Cora a flower fairy and Will a dinosaur.

Stella, Mya & Sophia

An attempted group shot. Jax (far left) is a Ninja Turtle. Then Stella, Mya, Sophie, Lincoln, Cora, Will, Celia and you can just barely see Jagger's arm. We were snapping quickly for fear they'd all bolt.

Soph walking with Aunt Casey and Stella. Brian pulling Lincoln.

Jagger is a Transformer (I pretty sure?... shows you how much I know).

This picture cracks me up because it looks like goofy faces that Molly (Cora's mom/my cousin) and I would make.

Cora & Soph fussing over Celia - so cute.

Soph (with a wing malfunction) and Charli.

Get a load of this little beauties face make-up! That's a talented artist who did that!

Will & daddy

The Rethman family

Craig & I

Stopping by Uncle Dan & Aunt Lori's house. They always have special treats set aside for our kids and their house is always decorated so cute.

Cousin Bethany giving the kids their special treat bags.

Whenever they are together, Sophie makes it her job to lead Cecilia around by holding her hand. ALWAYS. :)

Molly & I - first a normal pic...

(This is how normal people take pictures.)

And then our high-school-girls-on-Facebook pose... haha ;-)

Sophie & mommy

At this point, most of us were ready to be done. We said goodbye and walked home... tired and cold with sugar-loaded, wound-up kids that still needed baths and teeth-brushing. Then Craig and I still had a house to clean up and normal evening work to get done. Like I said... I veto weeknight trick-or-treating. ;) Amen?

I gave the kids a "treat" from mom & dad and we read it together before bed.

Then a few days later, we got dressed up again and paid visits to the grandparents houses (just for about a half hour each) to get some pictures of the cousins together.

I think I like the blue shirt and striped tights that we put on Soph this night instead of the pink from Halloween.

She did NOT want to take this costume off either night. :)

A hug for Aunt Casey.

Onward to Papa & Grandma Riedeman's house, we waited for Aunt Kelly to get off work so we could take pictures with Cecilia. Our little monkey cousin was a bit afraid of Frankenstein. This year, Sophie wasn't!

This was cute - Will and Sophie kept saying "Here, little monkey... eat your banana!" The fabric banana was attached to her costume and they were trying to get her to pretend to eat it.

And that was our Halloween for 2011!