Happy Halloween!

So despite the fact that I live in Colorado, have lived in Colorado for almost 31 yrs now (I was around 5 mo old when my family moved here) I just didn't feel like it was truly Halloween in Colorado. You see, Halloween to me always meant that it was either snowing, had been snowing or there was still ice on the ground from a snow fall a couple of days prior. Heck for years we would have had a snow fall by my birthday on the 18th! This year, we haven't even had a single snowflake hit the ground yet! Weird, very weird. As a matter of fact, it was so nice last night that JR and I only had to wear sweatshirts (matching I might add!) and the kids were fine without having to have layers on underneath the costumes! And typically, here in Colorado, we have to plan costumes for getting at least one warm layer under whatever you wear!

We usually trick-or-treat down our street and then one other street to the east of us. Don't know how we started going to the east except for maybe that you have to tackle a hill, albeit a small one, to go that direction and we didn't want to bother! Anyways, we obviously had Hailey in the stroller because I wasn't too interested in carrying her in the Bjorn. I debated on whether Emma should even participate since is only 2 and won't be eating most of the candy she gets. But I figured since she was able to say "trick-or-treat" and "thank you" that she could go ahead and do it. We started her out in her stroller but as soon as she got out at the first house, she didn't get back in! I think she walked about 3/4 of a mile once all was said and done! And we didn't even do both sides of the other street because it was so late! Of course, Kayla and Eli could have kept going. But every year we go to Nana's house so she can see the kids all dressed up.

Eli's costume from the front view.

And then the side view. That is a green glow stick in the jar to make it look like his head is in formaldehyde. However, it fell out a couple of houses down the street so it was in his candy bag the rest of the time.

Here are all 4 of them all dressed up and ready to start walking! Or riding! Kayla is dressed up as one of those High Voltage boxes, Eli is a man carrying his head in a jar, Emma is a dalmation and Hailey is Tigger.

This was some hard work for Hailey! She had to take a nap after a while!

All in all, it was a good night. Nice weather. Happy kids. Well until the end of the night and Emma was up past 8! JR did have to run back home halfway through to poke some more holes in Eli's costume because it was fogging up from him breathing!

Halloween Partay!

We had our annual Halloween party at work last night and as usual it was a blast. The kids always have such a great time at these things. They had a dessert contest again this year so naturally Kayla and I had to participate in that! The sad part is that Kayla made a cake that dropped right as she was about to put it on the table at the party! So I let her submit my ice cream cake. See what a nice mom I am?! My original intention was to compete against her! :) So she took 2nd place again. She rocks! And I rock! :) The girl that won made these really yummy chocolate chip pumpkin bars. They didn't do the costume contest like they have done in the past. But all the kids ended up in some kind of ribbon.

I forgot to get a picture before we left the house so this was the best I was going to get at the office. As you can see, Emma was a little distracted. This picture doesn't really do Eli's costume justice. I will try to get better pictures on Halloween. Emma is a Dalmatian from 101 Dalmatians, Kayla was a fairy, Hailey was Tigger and Eli was a headless science project!

Mrs. Claus put Hailey to sleep! Eileen is who we can thank for doing these parties.

Emma's bff Morgan as a giraffe. Emma just loves to see Morgan and that was all she could talk about until we finally left the house last night!Eli getting ready to hit the pinata. He had to shed his entire costume just so he could play games. Trick-or-treating will be fun for him!

Trick-or-treat!

For those of you who grew up in Colorado, you know just how cold it can get on Halloween here. If it isn't snowing, chances are it snowed a day or two before and there is still some on the ground, or it will start snowing just as you walk in your door after trick-or-treating. It wouldn't be Halloween for us if one of the above didn't take place. This year was only a little bit of an exception. Here is the funny (not really) part of it.....from Sunday through Tuesday, the temps were in the low 70's. Highly unusual for this time of year but we will certainly accept and enjoy it! Forcast for Wed high only in the low 50's if we were lucky and a cold night! Of course! When we shop for costumes here, we have to find the best ones for layering. They have to allow for at least 1 whole sweat suit to fit underneath. And if the kid is lucky, they might not have to wear their jacket so everyone can actually tell what they are! But, like I said, it would seem weird if it were any other way! This year, Kayla and Eli's costumes worked perfectly for layering and for jackets. Emma's jacket didn't really go with her costume but the baby didn't even get out of her stroller so it didn't really matter. I would like to know what she was thinking about the whole thing though....has to be quite confusing for her. We stick her in her stroller to go for a walk yet we keep stopping at every house. Kayla and Eli go ring the door bell, yell something out, get handed stuff and we do it again at the next house! She was a trooper though and never once complained about being cold or just having to sit! So here are those pictures.
Goth fairy Kayla

Motocross Eli

Ducky Emma

Had to post this one because it just looks freaky!

Getting ready to head out!

This is pretty much what the night looked like for JR, Emma and I......

Halloween Party

OK so I am still a little behind on my posts....but at least I am putting stuff up there! :)

We had a Halloween party at work last Friday for all the families at work. The kids all dressed up....I did not....and I am glad because the only people dressed up were 1 of the sales guys and his wife! They grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and we all brought a side dish. They had a dessert contest too. Kayla made this really yummy carmel apple cake that I forgot to take a picture of. She won 2nd prize for it (the prize was a Starbucks gift card) so the lady that one 1st prize traded Kayla her Starbucks card for a card to the Citadel Mall. And let me tell you, Kayla could not wait to get to the mall on Saturday! She purchased herself a cute pair of shoes and then bought everyone candy from the chocolate store there. She still has some money left on it that I am sure she will be spending soon! They also had tons of games for the kids to play. Kayla and Eli came home with bags full of stuff. And the adults played this game called Bunco. Since Val and I didn't know how to play we decided to sit it out and watch. It is a very fast paced game but looks like tons of fun! We will join in next time for sure!

Anyways, I forgot to take my camera to the event so I had to rely on the pictures that one of the guys took. Here they are.

Kayla the Goth Fairy

Eli the Motocross champ

Emma the duck watching.....

Her BFF Morgan the Red Lobster (who had just finished a bottle as you can see by her lip)!

Carving Pumpkins

Sorry this is so late....attempted to post this earlier last week but blogger wasn't being nice!

JR's friend Mark came down from Boulder last Saturday to carve pumpkins with us. He has done this just about every year with us so he is keeping up tradition! It was messy but fun! Emma even joined in after a bit....and ate some pumpkin too! She got a hold of a hunk that came out of someones pumpkin and gnawed on that for a little while. Here are the pictures from that.

Emma conquering the pumpkins! That baby will sit on anything that will hold her!

The kids with their pumpkins...look at how cute Emma's is!

JR carving and Eli getting the guts out

Emma contemplating digging in

Kayla with guts in her hand....ewww....and the ever mysterious Marks leg......

Emma diggin in...she found that spoon was great for digging seeds to eat! I caught her each time before she could actually do it...I think you need more teeth to be able to chew a seed....

Here are our pumpkins lit up...mind is the dim one on top...it just says MOM...then JR's, Eli's, Mark's, and Kayla's. You can't see Emma's because I didn't carve it, I just wrote her name on it.

The kids and the pumpkins