Halloween 2012

Halloween is one of my least favorite holidays.  The only thing I really like about it is that Halloween seems to be the end of the warm weather here and the beginning of the Fall and Winter Holidays.  

Okay, I also like how cute my kids look when they are all dressed up.

Can you guess what Annalise is?  Yep, a pink Dino Bat!  That is what she said when she saw this costume.  She went from wanting to be a lady bug or a butterfly to wanting to be a clown.  I couldn't really find anything clown like that would fit her and had pretty much decided just to use one of our past costumes, although that is a little hard to do when she is the only girl.  However, while I was shopping Halloween morning, I saw this cute dinosaur costume at 50% off.  So I bought it.  By the time I got home she had decided that she wanted to be a bat.  I showed her the costume and suggested that she be a cute dinosaur and she said, "a pink Dinobat!"  And so she was for the rest of the night!   She wore this costume and went around waving her arms and "flying" throughout the night.  A Dinobat...who would have thought...

Bryce ended up in one of his past costumes.  As you can see, he was pretty excited about it. :)  One of these years I will get my act together sooner and make him one of those cool wheelchair costumes.  

The whole crew ready to go to the trunk-or-treat. 

As you can see, Annalise's hat came off about 2 seconds after the first picture.  It spent the rest of the night in her trick or treat bag.

The ninjas!  William and Spencer 

One crazy clown!  Jacob had been planning on going as a "Mexican Guitar player" for a long time.  That all changed the night he searched though our neighbor's costume box and found this clown costume.  (Yes, this is where Annalise got the idea of being a clown.  It was the hair that she loved the most.)  

Jacob the clown! 

As we were digging through our box of old Halloween costumes, John found my pumpkin costume that I made years ago during my BYU days.  I decided it would be a very comfortable way to go.   

Friends from our ward 

Janelle and Piper Sherwood

A very grouchy Bryce with Katy Smith and Annalise 

Poor Katy was so patient as I tried to get a good picture of Bryce and Annalise with her at the same time.  Seriously that is almost impossible!   

Kaitlyn Peterson 

 Denise Klein and Bryce

As usual, Denise helped us out a ton the night of the trunk-or-treat.  Bryce was grouchy from the moment we got there.  He did not want to stay still...wanted to keep moving.  Then someone started shooting off fireworks in the neighborhood behind us.  Fireworks FREAK Bryce out.  I took him out of his chair and he was just shaking.  I think the fireworks, all the people dressed up, and all the activity was just a bit much for him.  Denise sat with me and held Bryce while I passed out treats.  John took Annalise around and I just hope and pray that my older three behaved themselves.  I know they ended up with plenty of candy.  

Once in Denise's arms, it didn't take long for Bryce to calm down and snuggle in.  He did not fall asleep, but he was awfully close!  

Overall, it ended up being a good night.  The boys came home and counted out their candy to see how much money they would earn.  The following day, they all chose to have as a candy day.   They ended up eating some of their profits, but still came out pretty well.  Considering that they have not had regular candy or soda since Valentine's day, the sugar, and artificial junk that they did consume showed it's ugly head very quickly.  We had a couple of rough days, but they all seem to be back to their "normal" selves now.  By November 2nd, all Halloween candy had left our house and I was very happy when I could say that I had not eaten one piece of Halloween candy this entire season!