Happy Halloween!

I decked out the apartment this year, but only on the inside because we basically have a really sucky front yard. I wish I would have thought to take pictures because it was really cute.  The kids had fun watching me decorate but were disappointed that I wouldn't let them help.  AS IF!  They obviously haven't learned yet that holiday decorating is "happy time" for mommy, not the whole family.  That is why I do 2 Christmas trees now.  Some things I'm not willing to share and my holiday decorating is one of them. Maybe that is wrong, but at least I let them enjoy the view...... :-)

We went to the ward trunk-or-treat.  Our ward put on a really good one.  Very standard with a chili cook off and lots of cornbread.  It was outside and since we are in CA and not AZ, it was very pleasant instead of unbearably hot. There were lots of games in the cultural hall for the kids and the young men did a "spook alley" in the young men's room.  It was kinda lame, but you could tell they worked really hard on it so we made sure to scream a lot when walking through it.  Benjamin must have been really impressed because he thought it was so cool that he spent like 20 minutes just going through the room and trying to just 'hang out' in there.  The kids raked in the candy.  I sat on the hood of my car and since I didn't decorate my trunk, I made the kids do a trick for their treat.  I tossed the candy in the air and made the kids catch it in their sacks.  The distance from which they had to catch it was proportionate to their age of course.... hehe..... and if they came back for 2nds, 3rds or 10ths (as some did), they had to back up a little each time.  Lame, maybe, but I amused myself at least.

Kimberly was a vampire, Benjamin was an Army Guy.  Zachary wanted to be a pumpkin but there were no pumpkin costumes to be found.  I guess traditional Halloween symbols don't make cool costumes anymore.  You have to be Miley Cyrus or something.  So Zachary settled for second best and went as Thomas the Train.  And Nicholas didn't get a costume, just a cute outfit that said "my first Halloween".  Alan didn't dress up and I didn't really either.  But since I had been doing homework and was wearing a school shirt and was tired and looked like crap, I went to the party as a "tired college student".  Mostly it was an excuse to not have to shower or do something with myself.  Oh, and I guess I should mention that I started school last week.  But I'll save details on that for another post.

On Halloween night, I wasn't sure if Alan would have to work late or not, so I made arrangements with my friend Krista for her and her kids to come over to my house.  (I didn't think I could handle the school trunk-or-treat with all four kids by myself.) We watched a movie and ate pizza and Halloween cookies.  The kids played and we let them stay up too late.  Even though we didn't go out trick-or-treating I think they still had fun.  Hopefully next year we can make it back to the more 'traditional' Halloween night festivities.  Although, I'm kind of glad we didn't this year.  There is so much candy in the house I gained 2 pounds over night.  If we had gone trick-or-treating, I'd be in HUGE trouble.....PUN intended!