Halloween 2013

This year I spent very little time planning and preparing for Halloween festivities (especially compared to last  year when I started in July/August!) I did get my decorations out early (in September) which was good, because for most of the month of October I was feeling pretty sick and lazy and could barely keep the house in running order due to pregnancy.

By the end of the month, I was starting to feel better! (Besides a nasty cold) So I was able to enjoy the festivities of trick or treating the night of Halloween and 2 trunk or treats (We went to 2 and neither one was either of our wards! lol So, side note, Francisco is officially in a different ward than the boys and I. He was called as a service missionary to be in the Spanish Branch and serves as the branch mission leader. I had the opportunity to go with him and be in the branch, but I felt strongly that I needed to be in the English ward. Mostly for my own sake. I just didn't think I could handle moving wards AGAIN (we just moved in August) and then into a tiny branch that speaks Spanish! So, it is hard not being with Francisco on Sunday, but the Lord has already blessed us and I know the Spanish branch will benefit from Francisco's service there.)

Luke dressed up as a spider. He really wanted to make his own costume and tried to create it using a diaper box and stickers, but I just couldn't visualize it. So I made him this one instead. The night of the trunk or treat, he was still pretty adamant that he wear his diaper box "spider" costume, but at the very last minute, he decided we could leave it at home. Phew.

Sam was a cute little lion. Already had the costume. You will recognize it from 2 years ago when Luke was a lion! He enjoyed roaring. I tried to teach Sam "Trick or treat" all week before Halloween and he wouldn't say it, but FINALLY on Halloween night when we went trick or treating, he figured out how to say it! and he would say it loud! It was so cute! and of course he'd say "Thank you" at the end. He also always wanted to pick out his own candy from the bowl. He'd often grab a handful and everyone let him cuz he was so cute!

On Halloween night, we finally got to carving our pumpkins! I wanted to do it on an earlier night, but it just never happened. Luke was not thrilled about having to clean out the guts. He wanted us to do it but we stuck to our guns and told him if he wanted it carved, he had to clean it out! Eventually after much coaxing, he got his hand (not hands) dirty and helped clean it out. We planned to make a spider on his, but in the end he didn't like the process of transferring a template onto the pumpkin, so we just did a face. My pumpkin is the monster on the left and Francisco did the zombie graveyard. Sam was happy coloring his with marker.

We also picked up these haunted houses to decorate. They were the perfect size and the same price as 1 big gingerbread house! Luke was totally in his element. As soon as I showed him what I bought he wanted to decorate them immediately. He waited patiently to do it as a family and then we finished them up the next day during Sam's nap. House decorating will definitely be a tradition in this family!

We also made a trip to the Dallas Arboretum where they have a whole area covered in pumpkins. It was very beautiful and Luke loved taking pictures of the pumpkins.

Overall it was a fun and simple Halloween! Now on to Thanksgiving!