Halloween and Stuff

The days leading up to Halloween were super fun and eventful.

Thursday, October 27th, the library had a fun craft and then a fun Halloween parade. All the kids got to dress up and "trick or treat" through the library. My girls had been looking forward to it for quite some time (every Thursday for a month it was announced, so Melanie was well aware). We met up with some library regulars and made friends. One of the little girls was costume-ess, so Noelle donated her wings for the day. Arie ended up making a beautiful fairy!

The library didn't give out candy or toys, but all crafts (which I really appreciated).

Friday, Melanie dressed up as a princess for pre-school. She had a preschool Halloween party and came home with lots of fun treats (which she was nice enough to share with her little sister.) After our naps, we decided to have a mini party at home, and made all the crafts we got from the library the day before. It was extra fun!
They made dancing mummies, which I hung from the fans... so they really DID dance. And they made moons with bats flying across them. The moons where a fun addition to the bats that were flying through our living room and kitchen. We were lucky to have two moons... one in the living... one in the kitchen. When Brandon got home, we went to the pumpkin patch and picked out some good pumpkins. It's a family tradition to do this together... of course, I forgot to get pictures. Go figure.
On Saturday we did a bunch of fun Halloween activities at the house while daddy was at a training meeting. The girls "carved" jack-o-lanterns (I made felt pumpkins and faces so they could make as many combinations as they wanted).

Then we made skeletons and ghosts... spooky fun!

Saturday night, we went to the church building and crashed a neighboring ward's trunk or treat (as our ward does not have trunk or treats). The girls had a lot of fun getting candy, though we need to work on "volume". They didn't ask anyone loud enough to actually hear them... Their "thank yous" where a little better.

On Sunday, after church, we played in the back yard. I love this picture of Noelle. I call her my garden gnome.

And Melanie, or rather, sleeping beauty, apparently slept in this dress... crown... and dress up shoes. Silly girl.

After everyone was wide awake from their naps, we decided to carve pumpkins. Noelle and Melanie were both very excited... until daddy cut the top of the pumpkin off... then Noelle looked like this:

And started screaming "pumpkin patch!!!" She did not like daddy hurting the pumpkin.

She didn't mind the gutting the pumpkin as much... though Melanie was a little grossed out by that.

Daddy cut a face... Noelle still screamed. (It was really hard not to laugh)

Eventually, she got brave and started playing with the guts.

When we carved the face on the second pumpkin, she didn't flinch... then daddy went to cut the top off (yes, he did that in reverse) and she started screaming "Pumpkin patch" again. So, he didn't get his top cut, or gutted. we cut a hole in the back while she slept to insert the flash light.

On Monday we dressed up in the morning and went to Grandma Traci's office to trick or treat and show off our costumes. My mom spoiled the girls by making sure everyone in the office had a piece of candy to give the girls. After showing off the adorable costumes (which, of course, I didn't take pictures of), we went to lunch with Grandma.

Noelle was quite attached to her candy bucket... it took a little convincing to get her to let go so we could have our lunch.

They played in costume all day. Then we went trick or treating... we hit 4 houses, and then went to Grandma and Grandpa Smithson's house.

Grandpa spoiled the girls with candy, and Grandma spoiled them with cookies. Melanie helped pass out candy.
And... yes, I forgot to take pictures... eventually, I had Brandon take a picture of my "costume". Enjoy:

We left all the candy out, and the Great Pumpkin traded it for a two fun movies: Mulan and Tarzan! Thank you Great Pumpkin (I will have to type up the letters the girls wrote to the Great Pumpkin and the letters we wrote back.) Happy Halloween!