Tuesday, October 23, 2007

This is Halloween, this is Halloween, la la la

I just love this time of year. Halloween is such a great holiday, and having these two fun boys has made it even better this year. Here's a little overview of our Halloween activities thus far:

Halloween Cookies

Since you are technically not supposed to eat the trick-or-treat candy prior to the 31st, I had to think of another excuse to buy some tasty Halloween candy. I don't know what it is about those candy corn, but this time of year, I just love them.

I bought some of the good stuff and made sugar cookies for the boys and me to decorate. I am not normally a huge fan of sugar cookies, but I used this recipe and they actually turned out quite tasty.

The three of us have distinct cookie-decorating styles:

Gordon: put a lot of frosting and candy on one cookie, eat all of the candy off of that cookie, lick all of the frosting off, and start over, on the same cookie, of course.

Thomas: decorate, eat. decorate, eat. decorate, eat. decorate... "Maybe I'll put this one on the plate."

Elise: "No, no, no... those are for looking at, not eating."


Here is our lovely edible art, which, pretty as it is, eventually did get eaten.


Painting Pumpkins

Last Wednesday, we were supposed to be tromping through a lovely corn maze with Tom's Cub Scout troupe, but it was snowing in Logan. Yes, snowing. Lovely. When our outing was cancelled, Thomas was very upset, so it took some quick thinking on my part to salvage our afternoon. Instead of turning Left toward our house, I took a Right after picking the boys up and headed to Michael's, where we picked out a couple of those foamy pumpkins and some craft paint.

Two foamy pumpkins: $14.00
Craft paint in red, black, white and green: $2.00
Kid-friendly paintbrushes: $1.00

Two kids who forgot all about the corn maze: PRICELESS!!




Although they started out looking very artistic, the thrill of paint soon took over and the pumpkins now look... well, a little scary. But I guess that's the whole point.

The Pumpkin Walk

And finally, tonight the boys and I went to North Logan, where the city hosts their annual "Pumpkin Walk". This year's theme was "Back in the Day..." and all of the displays (all using pumpkins, of course) had to do with some time in the past.


The participants get so creative! My favorite "scene" was the Old West, where they had pumpkins painted like cowboys from old western movies. I tried to get the boys to pose by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but they weren't having any.

So no, Clint, I wasn't feelin' too lucky...


Rather than the pumpkin scenes, the boys actually had the most fun sticking their little heads into these displays. I have about a hundred pictures, but these are the two cutest. May the force be with you.

Halloween Watching, Reading

This is the time of year to pull out our season-specific books and shows. Lately, we've been reading:
  • It's Halloween by Jack Prelutsky
  • Spooky Hour by Tony Mitton
  • What was I scared of? by Dr. Seuss

    And watching:
  • Ichabod and Mr. Toad (which includes the Legend of Sleepy Hollow... a Halloween Classic!)

    Our Halloween adventures continue this weekend when we go to TWO Halloween parties! And I'm hoping we'll have some time to carve some real pumpkins as well.

    As for me, I just finished my Vampire book, and I plan on buying the sequel to read on the plane to Colorado this weekend. How's that for Halloweeny? Woooohahaha!
  • 8 comments:

    becky ward said...

    Wow! YOu have inspired me to get off my little toushy and get some Halloween fun in (my kids will thank you for that)! I guess my diet I was going to start tomorrow will have to be pushed to November. (; Those cookies look fabulous and the pumpkins...what a great idea! I love the picture of the boys in the little displays is too cute. Have fun this weekend in Colorado.

    Caitlan said...

    Ah that looks like so much fun! And haha I liked your comments... I agree with both.:) And yeah- have fun in Colorado!

    Elena said...

    Gordon is about the cutest Yoda I have EVER seen! What fun it sounds like you are having. You're doing much better than me. Way cute cookies, I think you've inspired me to make some myself. Mmmmmmm..... And I am assuming since you are buying the sequels, that you liked Twilight? Here's my take on it, no.2 isn't nearly as good as no.1, but no.3 is the best, so force yourself through no.2. :) Got it?

    Kristine said...

    Cute ideas! I will have to do the cookies with my kids:)

    Christy said...

    I really can't get over that picture of Gordon-Yoda! Just too cute! You have inspired me to make some sugar cookies ASAP. I love sweets, what can I say?

    Amanda and Andy Hansen said...

    Fun Halloween activities. This is one of my favorite holidays too.

    Esther Ogden said...

    Wow, I wish I could be as good of a mom as you, Elise! I love the Yoda and Mickey pictures-they made me laugh out loud! =)

    Becca said...

    Elise DeArton!

    I knew it was you as soon as I saw that "Elise" had left a post on my blog. ("Elise's Pieces" . . . so cute and clever with the rhyming). Anyway, now that I have stalked YOUR entire blog, I must tell you that I love it. I LOOOOOVE the Pac-Man costume, and am excited to see the completed outfit. Are the rest of you going to be the Pac-Man ghosts? You have adorable children. Having two boys is the BEST!

    Also, I loved this quote: "If your sister is in a tearing hurry to go out and cannot catch your eye, she's wearing your best sweater." Hilarious and totally true.

    You live in Logan? How do you like it? It's such a pretty place! ("Elder Perry's fabled Cache Valley") I was sorely disappointed to not make it to the 10-year reunion, but pregnancy and kindergarten and my hubby's work schedules all conspired against me--alas, it was not to be so.

    Also, I have a picture of YOU that I may just post to the blog, if I ever need to blackmail you. It's from a dance class you took with my sister Bonnie and Rivka Satterfield. If you click on "Bex Rex" and then "Quick Funny Fix" you'll see the one I already posted of Bonnie at the bottom. Makes me laugh every time :).

    I want your email address. Mine is becca underscore renfroe at hotmail, so drop me a line and we can totally spam the heck out of each other. It's so good to hear from you, and thanks for writing!

    -Bec