H is for Helicopter, Hillary, and Halloween!

Another full and fun week--mostly with Halloween and all its festivities but we threw a few other things in too. Thursday my sister Hillary was kind enough to be one of our Hs and joined us at the children's museum where we played on the Helicopter.There are two silly munchkins in there

Hillary and Carter

Hillary and Davis, news casters.

The big H this week was of course Halloween. The boys are so into Holidays this year that we have been making the most of each one. Halloween actually started last Saturday with our ward's Trunk or Treat. I love that they do it a week early because it leaves us more time to trick or treat with our family. I got the dogs involved this year:

Oscar was an army dog (in need of a hair cut, they 've had one now)

Maddy was a cutie cutie lady bug, she walked around at the trunk or treat and was quite popular

And Max was a depressed doggy with bat wings on. Oh he HATES being dressed up. I didn't even realize but right after this picture he plopped behind that chair and refused to move until we took off the wings. That was after the trunk or treat because I couldn't find him to make him come. Silly little pouting dog.

Davis after the trunk or treat

Carter too, yeah for candy!

This year we planted pumpkin seeds back in February and hurray (despite my gardening folly and eating an under-ripe pumpkin that I thought was an asian squash) we got 2 good sized pumpkins. The boys were quite proud of growing them themselves.

Davis trying to pick his up

Carter sitting on his

And trying to pick it up

Davis giving up and rolling it into the house (got about 1/4 the way and then Daddy carried it in).

My brother and sisters came over to carve pumpkins and make caramel apples.

Mmmmm . . . ooey sticky goodness. Why do I only make these once a year??

Daddy ready to operate

Hillary and Cyndel with Davis (I had to change that, I first said Carter, it is so hard to tell from the back)

The pumpkin I carved

And Hillary's

One of my co-workers had left over Halloween cookies and stuff to decorate them and was so gracious to bring us some!

Here are mine

These are Davis's (can't say he didn't use everything . . .)

One thumb up for black frosting goodness

Carter gave it 2 thumbs

Here are his "masterpieces"

The night before the big day we went to the Haunted Train in Lindon. If you haven't been it is just a little train that winds through a neighborhood (a bunch of shared backyards) but the work they put into this free event is amazing. It was very well orchestrated with a lot of volunteers. There was a fabulous light show set to music from The Night Before Christmas (we're big fans) and although the ride itself was kind of scary (kids jumping out at you--I didn't know there was a less scary hour earlier in the day) the boys still did very well and loved it. Davis said, "It's just kids dressed up mommy, it's not scary." I was impressed, brave bubba.

I also shot them in their costumes before we went, since it is always a bit hectic right before trick-or-treating.

Woody and Buzz, and yes they will answer to that now

Howdy!

Cutie Carter

To infinity and beyond! Davis

So finally Halloween itself was upon us. We went to Lowell's family's trunk or treat and we were joined by Dinda and Grandma, plus Mike, Sina and the girls (all dressed as characters from Peter Pan). Trunk or Treat is fun and a very quick way to rack in the candy, but it can't replace door to door trick-or-treating so then we went up to my mom's neighborhood and Cyndel joined us as we went around there.

The boys were really into it, running from door to door and then knocking excessively. They are getting so big, I didn't even have to go to the door with them unless it was a scary house. We were out for an hour before they really started to drag so we called it a night.

Check out that stash--full to the brim!

And went back to my mom's for Jack-O-Lantern pizza and cookies. Happy Halloween!

Other noteworthy items for the week:

We had an early snow this year that although I am dreading when it sticks around for a while (too much indoor play time required) we still had fun with it.

Davis eating snow (before we got to the store to buy new gloves)

Throwing snowballs with Daddy

Carter showing me his giant snowball!

I also had the adventure of using an Oprah coupon this week. For those who weren't there, Oprah had a 50% off everything at Payless coupon on her site and since we needed a couple of shoes I thought I would see how bad it was. Man it was packed! Every aisle was nearly cleaned out. (Un) fortunately they still had exactly what I wanted, 2 pairs of snow boots and 2 church shoes in the right sizes (the boys also snagged some light up slippers) so we got to wait in line for 45 minutes to buy them. What a zoo! I am amazed we got out of there alive, seriously, my 2 kids waiting that long with nothing to do, sheesh! But I saved $70! I also got to go to a UVMOM mom's night out and learn about making bread. Lyndsie has the best recipe for a half white, half wheat dough that you can freeze in loaves, rolls, or even cinnamon rolls and use whenever you need it. I can't wait to make up a batch! And the boys had preschool over at Reva's which gave me a blessed hour to grocery shop without them. Ahhh . . .bliss! I'm not even kidding.

I also finally finished The Lost Symbol yesterday (almost a month later, I'm getting slow) and I did like it. Lots of twists and turns, suspense and weird stuff . . .I want to actually "read" it now, I've just listened to it so far. I also finished Dracula somewhere in there and I enjoyed that also. Different than I thought it would be, it is written solely through journals and such and was more of a mystery than I would have suspected. Every dracula costume I saw held a little different meaning to me now. Dracula and Lost Symbol rounded out my 1,000 pages since I read Eclipse so yesterday I got to start reading Breaking Dawn (yes, again). And amazing, I read as many pages in one day as it took me weeks to read in Dracula. Fewer words on the page? Easier reading? Or I just love it? You decide. And since I want to read all the way through to New Moon again before the movie comes out I get to skip my 1,000 page rule and keep reading. Yea for me! After that I will continue with my League of Extraordinary Gentleman reading with Sherlock Holmes, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Anywho, there's my book wrap-up for this month!