This is Halloween, this is Halloween, la la la

Happy Halloween everyone! I love this holiday-- it's one of my favorites. We've been doing all sorts of fun things lately, so this is going to be a long post!

Last weekend, we went to the American West Heritage Center (awhc.org) to experience their Charlotte's Web-themed corn maze. It was a beautiful day and the boys loved running through the rows of corn. It felt very autumn-y! Afterward, we hung around the AWHC and enjoyed their different displays and farm animals. The boys refused to ride the ponies, but they did love jumping in the hay.



I absolutely love this picture that Chris captured of Tom jumping into the hay pile. Check out that blue sky!




Gord was really excited about finding corn in the corn maze. I have about 10 pictures that look just like this one!




After the AWHC, we went to Macey's to pick out pumpkins for carving. Every year, Chris is adamant that our pumpkins have good stems, but other than that, the kids can pick any type of pumpkin they'd like. Chris chose a huge round one for Neil, Thomas chose a medium-sized round one, and Gordon's is shaped kind of like a skull. Hilarious.

Even though the boys were thrilled about the prospect of pumpkin-carving, when it came to actually helping, they lasted about 2 seconds. Chris, in true character, did all of the dirty work.



For the past several years, Chris has carved this same huge pumpkin grin on each of his Jack-o-lanterns. We love it!



Thomas drew an "M", for Mario, and Gordon drew something that looked like a big blob, so Chris was a little bit liberal with following Gord's strokes. However, Gordon ended up loving his monster/demon pumpkin even more than the blob.




Late Saturday afternoon, our good friends, Ryan and Nicki Stanton and their boys, Jacob and Brody, came to visit us. Nicki has a rocking Halloween party every year, but we weren't able to make it to Pocatello on Friday because of the piano recital, so she was kind enough to bring the party to us! We always have such a fun time with the Stantons and it's especially fun to see our boys having such a blast together. We had a tasty pizza dinner, then played a balloon tossing game and frosted Halloween cookies, courtesy of Nicki's party leftovers. We ♥ sprinkles!





Finally, on Tuesday, Chris and I took the two little boys to the North Logan Pumpkin Walk. Tom's class participated in making a display and Tom and his class got to go on a field trip to the walk on Monday.

I love the Pumpkin Walk-- it's so clever. My favorite display (aside from Tom's, of course) this year was the pumpkin hospital. I especially liked the little newborns.



Tom's class did a "Under the Sea"-themed display. Thomas made a "vampire octopus" pumpkin, but we weren't sure which one was his. The whole thing was very cute, though.



We also had fun putting our faces in these cut-outs. We all know who the princess is around here!



You've gotta love my Yoda.



There will be many more Halloween pictures from our adventures today. While Thomas parties at school, Chris and I are taking the little ones to the mall for some quick and easy indoor trick-or-treating. Then, we're having our traditional tasty chili dinner (yum, I am excited!), then old fashioned trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Thank goodness Chris has the night off!

Digital Scrapbooking Day!

If you've ever wanted to get into Digital Scrapbooking, this weekend is the time to do it! There are some incredible sales going on at PGD-- including the chance to save up to 90% on Friday morning!!



If buying the whole store doesn't work, come on over on Saturday and save up to 75% off-- either way, you can't lose!

YC Halloween Carnival

On Friday night, the boys got to test out their costumes at the Youth Conservatory's Halloween carnival at Utah State. They were so excited-- especially about the make-up and black spray-in hair dye. Gordon was quite serious about the whole thing. He wouldn't smile for the camera, instead giving me his best menacing Luigi face.


Watch out, you Bowsers and Donkey Kongs! The Mario Brothers are here!


The carnival itself was pretty fun, though very crowded. The boys' costumes were most appreciated by the college students and other parents, people who remember and appreciate classic Nintendo. I'm not biased or anything, but I think my kids had the best costumes there!




There were a bunch of games for the kids and lots of candy for prizes. Thomas also played his recital piece and, as usual, did a great job. He forgot about the "bow at the end" part, so after he played his song, he just sat on the bench. His song was a kind of strange, off-key one (for Halloween, of course), so the audience didn't know for sure if he was finished or had forgotten the next part of the song. After about 30 seconds of complete silence (it seemed like longer), I went up to Thomas and patted his shoulder and quietly asked if something was wrong. He looked at me like I was crazy and said, "No, I'm just finished." I reminded him to bow and we both went back to our seats. I was a little bit embarrassed, but Thomas didn't think anything of it-- funny, huh?

All in all, it was a fun night and a great start to our Halloween festivities!

Trick-or-Treat Prep

Who doesn't love a great Halloween? We're getting very excited around here, especially about the boys' fantastic costumes. I finished buying the odds and ends earlier this week (Hooray for DI!) and tonight will be the big debut at Tom's piano recital/carnival. I think I mentioned what they're dressing up as earlier, but if not, here are some clues...




I'll have my camera out tonight, so I'll be sure to post some great pictures of my little Nintendo stars tomorrow!

It's been a busy week. In addition to the costume finalization, we've also been to the library, the park, piano lessons, chess club, and the doctor for Neil's 2 week visit. Little Neil is working diligently to not be little any more-- in a little more than two weeks, Neil has gone from less than 6 pounds to 7 lbs 7 oz! He also grew an inch and is otherwise perfectly healthy. Of course you want to see some more pictures of the little man.

Tom and the artist

For quite a while now, if asked what he wants to be when he grows up, Thomas' reply is: "an Artist." Imagine his delight when today, a guest artist (I'm guessing a USU art major, but I could be wrong) visited his school for an assembly and selected Thomas as a volunteer for a drawing. When I picked him up from school, he told me all about being picked and how he told the artist about his own artistic aspirations. Apparently he was the only volunteer, so it was an extra special day. We found a great little spot for our custom art downstairs-- Thomas couldn't be more proud!