Happy Halloween!

Getting made up by daddy...

Coby was a "zombie sk8er boy".

John was a wonderful make-up artist and splashed him with blood. He mixed blood with water and sprayed it on his shirt with a straw. He was careful not to drink it.

Brilliant idea John.

Bloody mess!! Next up was Gunnar...

Our werewolf.

John glued hair all over his face and hands.

Gunnar looked amazing.AAAhhhhoooooo!!Scary Gunn!Poor Chance was sick in bed with an ear infection.I felt so sad for him. We got him set up in our bed with Kleenex, water, remote control, telephone, and lots of pillows and blankets.

Happy Halloween Chance!! Every year we drive to the Afework's house and start our Halloween night. This year CarrieLyn and Dustin came with us. Isaiah the Police Officer Chi as Michael Jackson
Beautiful Sophie as Cleopatra
All bundled up. The guys...E.J., Dan, John, and IanThe girls... Me, Romi, and Grandma
Trick-or-Treat!


Look at the full moon...
At about 8:15, Isaiah, Gunnar, Lucas and Dustin headed home but the older kids...Sophie CarrieLyn, Coby and Malachi stayed out for a little bit longer. It was a strange night because more then half of the homes were dark with nobody home. About 1 out of every 7 houses (if that even) were lit with people handing out candy. It was kind of sad. I don't know if it was because it was a Saturday and everyone was at a party or if it was because people couldn't afford candy. There weren't a lot of trick-or treaters either. A lot of the people who were out were teenagers. We made up a few rules for those of you who aren't sure if you are too old for trick-or treating...

#1 If you are trick-or-treating while holding hands with your boyfriend/girlfriend...YOU ARE TOO OLD!!

#2 If you don't need your mom/dad to chaperon you while trick-or treating...YOU ARE TOO OLD!!

#3 If you can drive from neighborhood to neighborhood trick-or-treating...YOU ARE TOO OLD!!

#4 If you are taller than my husband...YOU ARE TOO OLD!!

#5 If you have to shave before heading out to trick-or-treat...YOU ARE TOO OLD!!

#6 If you are trick-or-treating while chatting on your iPhone...YOU ARE TOO OLD!!

#7 If you are dressed as a French Maid (which we saw last night)...YOU ARE TOO OLD!!

#8 If you voted in the last election, chances are...YOU ARE TOO OLD!!

#9 If you are older than Miley Cyrus...YOU ARE TOO OLD!!

#10 If you are not sure who Miley Cyrus is..YOU ARE BEYOND TOO OLD!!

It was a beautiful night. It was supposed to rain but we never even felt a drop...PERFECT.

One of the kids favorite parts of the night is to sort and trade their candy.

I think Gunnar was a little confused on what "trade" meant. Instead of trading he was just giving his candy to people. Oh well, less cavities.We all had a fantastic Halloween. We are so lucky to be able to spend it with family and friends.

We headed home and found Chance like this...

so sorry you were sick Chance. We missed you.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Pumpkin Carving '09

Gunnar was the first to carve his pumpkin this year. Our pumpkins were so big we needed to do them in stages and Gunnar couldn't wait any longer. As I was out trying to find another pumpkin carving kit...John had him begin. I went to 4 different stores and couldn't find one. I guess that is what I get for waiting until October 30th. Oops!

Drawing the face...

The first cut...

Getting out the guts...

Perfect Gunnar. It is wonderful!

I was still searching the stores while John started his. Gunnar was the photographer.

His pumpkin was huge and soooo thick. It was very hard for him to cut it. The little knives wouldn't go all the way through.

I finally returned empty handed. We had a few knives left over from last year and one scraper so we were going to have to make due.

Jack came over and carved with us.

My pumpkin was very tall and slender. It was hard to scrape out all of the guts.
I cut the bottom off my pumpkin instead of the top (I saw it on Martha Stewart and it worked quite well).

Chance was not feeling 100%. In fact he had been out of school for the last three days. We were worried he might have the swine flu. He didn't...just an ear infection. Poor guy.

Making progress boys.

John broke 3 out of our 4 carving knives. Lovely! The funny thing is he kept telling everyone else to "be careful, you're bending the knives...don't break them."

In the process he cut his finger.
He did the exact same thing last year.

Chance was on his way to a party. He claimed he was feeling much better and he hadn't had a fever in almost 48 hours.

He didn't want to dress up in case nobody else was. I was not happy about it. It turned out to be a good thing though because he would have been the only one. Maybe I should listen to him more often. It was a Halloween party though...HELLO.

Coby also had a HUGE pumpkin. He carved as much as he could but then didn't have enough strength to do the mouth. So...

I finished it... then I finished Chance's pumpkin, then...

I finished mine. Did I mention I don't really even like carving pumpkins?

John and Coby were very proud of their creations. They were awesome!!

Our pumpkins... Gunnar

Chance and mine

John and Coby (his eye broke)

We had a great time carving this year.

However, John told me to NEVER let him get a gigantic pumpkin again.

I'm pretty sure Coby feels the same way.