Been Booed?

At Halloween, we were Booed. I debated for several days who to pass it on to. The rules state that you must act quickly, but I'm not good at that. Finally I decided on two neighbors, one a church member and one not. I made the cookies and plated them. After getting the kids to bed, I slipped out of the house and over to the next-door neighbor (non-member). Their house was mostly dark, but a light was on in the upstairs master bedroom, so I knocked loud and ran for it to hide behind one of the trees in my yard. I waited for a while but they never came. So I headed across the street to hit the next neighbor. They didn't seem to answer either, although they have teen-agers, so they were probably just out. I went home feeling like a cookie-dropping failure and started cleaning the kitchen. A few minutes later the phone rang. It was the next-door neighbor.

"Was it you?" she asked.

"Maybe," I said, not wanting to outright admit to it, but figuring it was pretty obvious. She told me what had happened.

When I "pounded on the door like a mad-man," their 2 golden retreivers had totally gone ballistic. J. came downstairs to see what was up and, looking out the window on the door saw no one there. The dogs didn't stop and the knocking had been pretty demanding, so he started to think the worst - someone was prowling around their house. He checked all the doors and then called the neighbor one house down, a guy with military training and equipment. J. told R. his fears and asked the neighbor to come check things out. R. gathered up his gear and headed over. He did a full circuit of the house before coming up the front porch and observing the plate of Halloween sugar cookies. He had quite a laugh. Then, he knocked on the door and showed them to J.

So, is doorbell-ditching to leave treats a "Mormon" thing?

Halloween

 

I worked hard this Halloween on creating Avatar the Last Airbender costumes for the kids. They got their first showing on Friday, the 29th of October, at the local shopping center's trick-or-treating. We met the Istooks and went from shop to shop collecting candy. We were lucky to have clear dry weather.

 

That night was the Fall Festival at the school. The kids enjoyed it but didn't last long.

Saturday night the ward did a Trunk-or-Treat. We decked the kids out again and headed out to collect candy in the drizzling rain.


William was Avatar Ang.


Anna was the tough earthbender Toph.


Becca was an adorable lemur Momo.

Halloween

We had a great Halloween. We took our time getting going that morning. At 3:00 we suited up in our Halloween best and headed to the local trick-or-treating strip of shops. It's the one in Tanasbourne with Safeway, Trader Joes, Kinkos, etc. It's a pretty popular event. You go in costume with your bags and stop in at each store for a candy. Becca had the cute factor going and got extra here and there. And my definite favorite was the cinnamon bread given by Great Harvest. SOOO good. The kids were forced to share that with me and Kip. We stopped inside Safeway and asked if they had a large sheet of cardboard we could have. I had finally gotten around to reading my Halloween issue of Family Fun that morning. They had a picture of a "house-o-lantern" with a big window in the front filled with a cardboard jack-o-lantern face cut out of cardboard and lit from inside. I just HAD to do it in our window. Luckily, Safeway hooked us up. We took our candy and cardboard home (after a stop at cold stone for some ice cream treats because we hadn't yet had enough sugar) and spent the rest of the evening cutting the cardboard to fit the window and carving a face out of it. It turned out great. And next year we'll even get it up before Halloween day.

Halloween

We spent the afternoon trick-or-treating at the Tanasbourne strip mall with a group from the ward. The kids got some good candy. William got tired quickly but the promise of more candy was too much for Anna to pass up, so we dragged William to the bitter end.


Kip took them out to the neighborhood that night and didn't force them to go as far as Anna would have liked.



Becca slept through the trick-or-treating after the busy day at the museum and strip mall, so I had her pose for some photos later on. I thought she was too cute to pass up on the photo op.

Intel Halloween Party

Intel threw their traditional Halloween party on the 28th. As usual, we dragged ourselves to it, along with roughly two thousand other people. It was dark and crowded, but we came out OK and no one was lost in the mix. The kids enjoyed the carnival games and prizes. Anna really enjoyed the candy table. She was the reason the guy with the mic had to ask kids to not take so much candy. The favorite prize of the night was the blow-up snake swords. They were a ton of fun!


Becca gives a smile.


Super William and his swords of power!


Anna Warrior Princess.

Class Party

I got to host William's class party on the 28th. We had a lot of fun. We made necklaces with reflectors for trick-or-treating. We decorated cookies and did a beanbag toss (thanks Butch and Jo!). We stamped Halloween cards. Things got a little crazy, but I think the kids had fun!

Costume Party

Intel's Halloween party (aka: madhouse of parents with young children vying for cheap toys and free candy at carnival-style games) was last Thursday night. We headed to Butch and Jo's for dinner first and to meet Jo's new little Rachel baby. The baby is adorable and the dinner was good. Before heading to the party, we dressed the kids and lined them up for photos. So, here's a preview of what our kiddos will be for Halloween. William chose his outfit from Value Village and, although he's never heard of a Power Ranger before, he LOVES it. Anna's I found at Goodwill. She wants to wear it all the time and feels very princess-y in it. Butch made the robot costume for Spencer and was the envy of all the Intel parents.