Happy Halloween From Hogwarts!

Love Harry, Hermoine, Ron, a witch, and a couple of dementors.

Halloween

This year's costumes included:

A Superhero. At the last minute Isaac told me he wanted to be a super hero, not Lightning McQueen like last year (wha?) Luckily a friend had a spare Captain America costume that she graciously gave to Ike. He was overjoyed.

A Chicken who is currently so obsessed with winter boots that it is the first thing he asks about every morning ("Botas, mama!?! Botas!?!?!").

And a princess. Here is Rapunzel, laughing at the crazy chicken. 

Our trunk-or-treat was cancelled because of a crazy snow storm, so we did a Halloween candy search and ate chili at our house instead. 

On Halloween night we met up with some friends and tried most of the night to keep up with our kids while on their quest for candy. East coast trick-or-treating can't be beat---all the houses are extremely close together and no one has long driveways or walkways, so that equates to a lot of houses in a short amount of time. Ike and Maddie just kept go-go-going until their buckets were pretty close to overflowing, at which point Isaac exclaimed that he was "out of energy." We called for back-up and Ryan and Davis (who had headed back to our friends' home earlier with the younger crowd)  came and saved us from anymore walking. It was a great night and now we are all in desperate need of a chocolate detox.

The Race Car, The Explorer, and The Lion

My cute little Lion.

This costume only cost me a $2 (for a black permanent marker)
thanks to Becky and her never-ending resources.

My mom makes a pretty cute witch along side Mags, Ian, and Liv.

This Lion looks like a scaredy-cat.

Dora the Explorer. 

Davis and Liv chillin' before the trunk-or-treat.

Right before trick-or-treating. Ike was a dinosaur that night because it was cold and rainy and  Lightning isn't waterproof.

I could get used to this Place

I can't believe we've been in Colorado for 3 weeks. Time has gone by so quickly and we've really enjoyed living with Gavin and Becky and their family. They have kept us busy with many fun adventures. I for one am completely sold on Colorado as great place to raise a family. Maybe someday we'll get to return as permanent residents.

Katie and Maddie playing the piano together.

Ike, Ryan, and Maddie on one of our Saturday adventures. If you are ever in Boulder, you simply must eat pizza at Beaujo's--pretty sure it's one of the best pizzas I've ever eaten.

Picking out pumpkins at a nearby pumpkin patch.

The kids and I outside a museum in Denver. Check out that beautiful skyline in the background. We had to cut things a little short because big D was not as into the museum as the rest of us. 

Pumpkin decorating/carving for Family Night.

Ike painting his pumpkin his favorite color.

Shirts were optional. Maddie took care of the hair on their pumpkin and Ike painted the face.

.

Gavin's "pumpkin pi."

Becky's Mrs. Potato Head Witch Pumpkin.

I went a little unconventional and painted my pumpkin blue.

Eleanor went with a beautiful and colorfully painted pumpkin.

Here is Isaac and Maddie's finished product.

Halloween 2009

How did the chicken cross the road?

On her bicycle!

Firefighter Isaac

Playing with friends at the church trunk-or-treat.

Doing the chicken dance?

This was pretty much the view I had while trick-or-treating. She is getting fast and we can't figure out how to contain her. Tonight she had to go on trunk or treat probation for running away from me too many times. It didn't slow her down as much as we would have hoped.

After walking up to the first house, Isaac figured out the fun of begging for candy pretty quick. So did Maddie. She tried to take off with the entire bowl of candy instead of just the one piece offered to her. That's my girl. Now, if I could just train her to choose the Snickers over the Smarties...

The entire chicken suit.

This picture is blurry but I love it because he's holding her hand. How did the chicken cross the road? The firefighter helped her, of course!

Isaac crawling through the tunnel at Ryan's school party.

She's currently fascinated with balloons.

Painting a pumpkin.

We've had way too much sugar this weekend.

Shoveling it in as fast as she can for fear it will disappear.

Happy Halloween!

Making Caramel Apples

Here are some pictures from this year's caramel apple making. We make them every year in October, and it was fun to have Gavin and Amanda, our next-door neighbors and good friends, join us. I made them do all the work while I barked out orders and took pictures. They didn't seem to mind too much.

Isaac and Gavin dipping the apples.

Maddie anxiously awaiting a taste of the goods.

Ryan was in charge of crushing the Reese's Pieces--both delicious and appropriately colored in orange, brown, and yellow--the perfect Halloween candy.

Here is Amanda with the semi-finished product. After the caramel, we dipped the apples in white chocolate and then either cinnamon sugar or Reese's (or both). Sadly, I never did catch a photo of the completely finished product---we ate them all before I realized it. You'll just have to take my word for it when I tell you that they both looked and tasted amazing.

Chocolate for Breakfast

That's what I ate. I gave Isaac fruit and yogurt (because I'm a responsible mom like that), but I kept sneaking little snack-sized Kit Kats from the trick-or-treat stash every chance I could. Pathetic, I know. I have no self-control when it comes to sweets. Even if it means stealing from my own child.

I asked my mom this morning if she used to steal my trick-or-treat candy when I was a kid, and she admitted to mowing down all my Almond Joys back in the day. I must get it from her.

Here are some pictures from the trunk-or-treat/chili dinner at our church last night.

Who would have guessed that the temperature would be in the 70s on October 31st? I sure didn't when I bought Maddie's costume last year on clearance. She was toasty warm, to say the least.

Little Georgie and Maddie were born a month apart and had identical costumes

They didn't like the idea of this photo as much as we did

Jenni made the most amazing chili I have ever tasted. I would have eaten that for breakfast if I could have.

Getting excited for more candy

Ryan started out by taking Isaac to the different trunks...

...and Maddie and I passed out candy. As you can see, she wasn't quite as excited about Halloween as I was. I'm sure she'll change her mind soon enough.

Good Bye Halloween, Bring on Thanksgiving!