More Pre-Halloween Fun

Over the weekend we took the boys to two different Halloween festivals in the community. The first one, on Saturday, was at Purdy & Hills Funeral Home. Every year they put on the festival, and the activities vary each year. When we went, the boys picked out a pumpkin to decorate with stickers, went on a hay ride, and enjoyed a hot dog.

Then on Sunday, we went to Gold Creek Church for their Trick-or-Treat "I SPY" edition. Kids were given a map with pictures of various characters on it (like Star Wars, Frozen, Ninja Turtles, etc). The goal was to find every character on the map and get their signature. Once completed, they could turn it in for a small prize. There were also a Disney, Minions and Star Wars room where tables were set up and people dressed up in costumes handed out candy. Also in the Star Wars room, they had Jedi training classes every 15 minutes, where kids could then fight Darth Vader and Stormtroopers (this was  a favorite with the little ones). Clifford ran into some friends, so his focus was just to run around with them and get candy, whereas Kristjan completed the character map. The place was wall-to-wall with people, so we lasted about an hour before grabbing some cotton candy and heading out for home.

Boys dressed in their Halloween costumes! Clifford is a zombie (again) and Kristjan is the Marionette from FNAF. Since Kristjan picked something that we couldn't find anywhere in stores or online, I had to get creative and make his costume. It turned out GREAT!! And he got soooo many compliments from kids on Sunday. His is definitely a one-of-a-kind this year. As for Clifford, the great thing about his zombie is his look will be different each time I do it for him. He got lots of compliments too on the toothpick poking out of his cheek (gotta give credit to Peter on this one...that was his handy work!)

The event got crowded quickly, so we didn't really take any pics. I was able to snap one quick one of Clifford and his friends.

A Pinterest-Themed Halloween Party

Last week we attended a pinterest-themed Halloween Party. One of the gals from my mom's group hosts a Halloween party every year, and we were invited to it this year. Basically, everyone was to bring a pinterest inspired side dish and enough treats to handout to each child as they went around "trick or treating" in the house during the costume parade. Having an idea of what moms would be in attendance with their children, I told the boys they couldn't dress up in their costumes, that they had to be something less scary (insert *eye roll* right here from Peter). For a few years I've been wanting to re-create the boys dressed as Thing One, Thing Two, so this was perfect timing for me. After negotiating with the boys, and agreeing to paying them $5 each to wear the costume, we had a deal that they would let me dress them up for this party. And they looked good! Well worth the money I had to bribe them with...

As for the party, it was fun. We didn't really see the boys at all the entire time we were there, as they were busy running around with their friends. That gave us a chance to talk and catch up with our adult friends. The majority of the age group of kids in attendance was 7 and under, so there was a lot of screaming and crying since I'm sure most of these kids were over stimulated and up way past their bedtimes. After listening to it for a few hours, once the costume parade was over with, we said our thank-yous to the host and worked on making our way home.

Thing One, Thing Two!

 Halloween 2007 

(Clifford 2, Kristjan 1)

 Halloween 2015

(Clifford 10, Kristjan 9)

 The Halloween treat I made to hand out

 My side dish. Turned out super cute!!

 Boys with their friends as they (patiently) wait in line for the costume parade to start

The group of kids at the party (minus a few toddlers who waited out in the hallway)

Pumpkin Patch

Recently we went with our friend James and his girls to Stocker Farms Pumpkin Patch. We spent a few hours letting the kids run amok in the pumpkin park. Everyone's favorite activity is the jumping pillow. I'm pretty sure the kids could stay on it for hours! We took a break from jumping to grab a bite to eat. Boys got hot dogs, while Peter just had to try the BLTC (a blt with candied bacon on a sweet roll). After eating, we made our way into the corn maze. I hung in the very back, snapping pics while Peter and James worked om figuring out the map. They did pretty good. We only got lost once or twice. Once the corn maze was completed, I really wanted to go into the pumpkin patch itself for us to pick out our family pumpkins, as I do every year. And like every year, no one had any interest (and of course, the prices were triple than if buying a pumpkin at the store. I ended up just going to Fred Meyers, like I do every year lol). We let the kids tire themselves out back on the jumping pillow before deciding it was time to head home.

Playing Around in the Pumpkin Park

 Jumping on the jumping pillow

 Quick Photo Op

 Traversing the Corn Maze

 Back at the Jumping Pillow

 Treated the Kids to some Honey Sticks

 Sweet moment between Peter and Clifford as we head to the car