Halloween 2008

We got some excellent use out of our Halloween costumes this year! THREE different events to attend. Here we go...

Monday: 2nd annual playgroup costume/craft party at Candace's house! We also went to a local pumpkin patch the week before that.

This was after the pumpkin patch ladies read a story or two. Some how I deleted the group shot. Oops!

Someday the girls will sit down, smile sweetly and let me take lots of pictures of them before they start eating hay or running after their friends...someday, right??

On to the costume par-tay! They weren't too sure about their costumes. Morgan wasn't having any of it and the sandwich board of foam came off shortly after this picture! I later tweaked her foam and made it a lot smaller with only one "board".

Morgan and Maddie:

The Chick-Fil-A cow (Candace's husband Tim got to borrow the costume) made an appearance at our party! Mallory wasn't scared at all. Hmmm. Maybe we need to rent a Santa costume a couple of times before the actual picture taking in the mall. Maybe she will actually stand in line to see him this year...Tim, are you game???

The attempt at a group shot. With 20+ kids there, I didn't think this was too bad!

The mommies with their respective kiddos

Wednesday: Fall Festival at our church. Mallory only got one piece of candy for us! She would rather just watch everyone else...and dance. They had a really random mix of music playing.

Gettin' her groove on...slowly but surely!

Our new friends (minus Shane and Bella in this picture)! Gunnar (aka Michael Phelps...is that not hilarious??) and Karen

Mallory's new buddy Bella. These girls love each other! Anytime I put Mallory's hair in pigtails, she says, "Like Bella!"

Thursday: We carved our first pumpkin with the girls! I have tons of memories doing this with my family growing up, so it was fun to begin the tradition this year! We asked Mallory what kind of face "Charlie" should have. She suggested a surprise face, so that is why "Charlie" looks a little scared instead of happy:)

The inspiration for our pumpkin:

Before the yucky part!

And, the final product!

Friday: Trick or treating with our neighbors!!

After the 10th picture, we finally got small smiles...Mallory was ready for the candy!

We have finally (after living in our house over 2 years) met our neighbors! They all play across the cul-de-sac from us. It's silly, but I was always intimidated to go over and introduce myself unless I had a real excuse to walk over there. A couple of months ago, we saw one of the couples at Chick-Fil-A and we got our nerve up to meet them. We've played several times now, and apparently they like us....we got invited to their annual neighbor trick or treating! Mallory had a lot of fun with the big girls. She would never sit in the wagon...even if she was the slowest of the pack!!

How Morgan trick or treated most of the time.

Brad said it best when he said Halloween brings out a lot of the "different" people in neighborhoods. This lady had a puppet that gave the kids their candy. That's not bad, but when she started dancing with the puppet and doing hand motions with the puppet, we all got a little chuckle out of that. We also saw a neighbor set up a movie screen, his laptop and speakers for the trick or treaters to watch Scooby Doo Halloween. We think it secretly was just to cure the boredom of handing out candy...he had a Miller Light in one hand and the candy bowl in another!

What a fun and BUSY week it was!!