Halloween 2014!

Ever since having kids, our Halloween lasts pretty much a full week. Halloween was one of the {many} holidays that wasn't on my radar - except as Chris's birthday - before having children, but is now a pretty big deal. We don't do any kind of creepy, scary, or spooky things, but we sure do enjoy the other activities we do!

I decided that I wanted to do a literary theme this year for Halloween. However, Brianna really wanted to dress as a princess. Fortunately, I was able to convince her to be Olivia the pig from the Olivia books, while Brenson dressed as Max from Where the Wild Things Are.

Funny thing about Brenson: He will often get something in his head and there is NO talking him out of it. He decided that he DID NOT want to dress as Max. Instead, he wanted to be Peter Pan again like he was last year. I had already ordered his costume, so I tried repeatedly to talk about how great Max would be, how he would get candy, etc. But, he wasn't having it. There was no convincing him. Finally, Brianna told him that he could dress as Max and we would call him Peter Pan . . . and it worked! From that point forward, he was happy to be Max (and, he did allow us to call him Max), and truly was the cutest Max I've ever seen! I'm glad she knew how to get through to him, because I was failing miserably!

So, we kicked off our Halloween activities by attending a Trunk-of-Treats event that we go to each year. It was the Sunday before Halloween (October 26th), and is an event where our friends, Wes & Kendall, generally have a trunk. This year, their trunk was a chicken coop (SO cute!), and Wes, Caroline, and Julia were all dressed as chickens! Ha! They were adorable!

Brenson was very serious about collecting candy! Brianna enjoyed visiting a bit more like her Momma. Oh, and it was 90 degrees this day, so still very warm that evening. Poor Bren ended up getting super hot in his costume, but he didn't complain or ask to take it off. Trooper!

Along with the trunks, this event also has a variety of bounce houses for the children. We've never participated in this portion of the event before, but there was no getting out of it this year. Our kiddos love bounce houses, so we allowed them to play for just about 15 minutes. 

We did go ahead and take Bren's costume off for this since it was white!

As usual, we had a GREAT time and got a TON of candy. This is one of our favorite Halloween events!

The following Tuesday night (October 28th), we decided to do our family pumpkin carving evening. I love the our kids are old enough now (especially Brianna) to enjoy the activities and even remember them from last year. 

So excited to carve the pumpkin!

Brenson wasn't sure about cutting into his pumpkin :-).

For the first time, Brianna actually helped clean out the pumpkin goop. Love the look on her face :-).

Brenson thought he wanted to help, but when it came time to put his hand in the pumpkin he started crying, ha!

No worries, as soon as we told him he didn't have to touch it, he cheered up again!

We had patterns to cut, but Brianna decided she just wanted a standard Jack-o-lantern. So, we did it the old school way and just drew a face on our pumpkin.

Then, we started cutting out the pieces!

Chris and Brenson decided to use a pattern and carve a witch.

Brianna was very proud of our Jack-o-lantern!

I thought it came out pretty cute, too!

Of course, I had to compare the pumpkin to my baby belly . . . not too much of a difference!

Chris and Brenson's witch ended up turning out GREAT! I was impressed!

Chris can be a bit of a perfectionist, so I'm not too surprised at how well it turned out.

I think the boys officially won our boys vs. girls carving contest :-).

This is a tradition that we all enjoy, and it just gets more fun as the kids get older!

After carving our pumpkins, we always roast the pumpkin seeds. We all enjoy eating the roasted seeds, and pumpkin seeds are packed with good nutrition. It takes a while to wash and prepare the seeds, but it's worth it to us!

Brianna loves helping me wash the seeds.

After washing the seeds, we lay them out on a pan to spray with olive oil.

My baby bump hits right at the height of the counter top, so it makes standing at the sink really difficult for me. I have to lean way over and it causes my back to ache. So, this year, Chris and Brenson took over the task of washing the seeds. I didn't mind :-).

In the meantime, Brianna and I oiled and salted the first pan of seeds.

Brenson wanted in on the salting process, so he helped with the second pan.

Soon, they were ready to bake! We bake them at 250 degrees for about 2 hours. I like them very crispy, and they turn out perfect this way!

The next morning (Wednesday, October 29th), we wore our costumes to Library Story Time. All the kids in costume looked so precious!

I ADORE this photo of Max and Olivia laughing! My sweeties :-).

Listening intently to the story . . .

For our next activity, we went to the local festival in the town where my sister lives. This festival is called Boologah, and was held on Thursday, October 30th.

Max was way more interested in eating popcorn than in the candy! Ha!

This festival is held on Main Street of the town. Many local merchants hand out candy and there are a few games to play, as well. Don't you just love Max's tail?!?

Playing a few games . . .

Olivia and Chloe the Cowgirl had a great time!

Cutest cowgirl around!

My very favorite photo of Max! Be still my heart!

My sweet Olivia girl!

Love these three!

As our final Halloween activity, we wore our costumes to our Mommy and Me preschool class, Miss Shelly's, on Friday morning (Halloween day). 

Again, all the kiddos looked so adorable in their costumes.

Playing No-No Peeking.

It was hilarious that both of the kiddos sitting by Brenson couldn't help but pet him! His costume was very soft, and that tail was just irresistible to the other kids!

Miss Shelly had a special Halloween treat during this class . . . Halloween cookies!

Once again, we decided that eating a cookie in a white Max costume was probably not the best idea!

Daddy took the day off work to join us . . . we love having him in class with us!

It ended up being really cold on Halloween night, so we didn't go trick-or-treating again. Besides, we had more candy than any family needs!!! Instead, we stayed home and celebrated Daddy's birthday. I'm always feeling really done with Halloween by the time we participate in all our activities, but I am thankful that we get good use out of our costumes! I can't imagine what next year will be like with two more littles added to the mix . . . eeeeep! Thinking about it makes me so excited!!!