Halloween Festivities

I had intentions of this being several different posts, but it just didn't happen. So here is our week of Halloween Festivities:

First was the Costume Parade at Grandma and Grandpa White's House on Sunday:

Kayden dressed up as a cow and Skyler, his cousin, dressed as Superman.

Josh loved being Curious George last year and insisted on being Curious George again this year.

Jaxon dressed as Santa.

And McKay was Anakin Skywalker.

All of the White Family Cousins dressed up: Ben (Spiderman), Maddie (Tinker Bell), Nick (Batman), Emma (Indian), Josh (Curious George), McKay (Anakin), Tre (Transformer), Skyler (Superman) Jaxon (Santa), Olivia (Cowgirl) and Kayden (Cow).

After the Costume Parade we went to Grandpa and Grandma White's neighbor's "Spooky House". This neighbor goes all out each year and puts on quite the spooky show in his yard.

Here is Josh in front of Frankenstein that is at the "Spooky House".

Kayden and Jeremy by the spooky bats and mummy tomb.

Jaxon, Weston, Olivia and Jennise with the witches making their brew behind them. Olivia did not like the "Spooky House".

Josh being "spooked" in the zombie corn patch.

The next night was Family Home Evening so we carved pumpkins.

McKay taking the time to draw on his pumpkin face to make sure it is just right. He carved his pumpkin by himself this year.

Kayden and Josh made a BYU carving in their pumpkin.

Jaxon looks as if he is out to really out to "get" his pumpkin. Between the two of us Jaxon's pumpkin looked great.

Jeremy is one serious carver.

Here are all the pumpkins lit up and the pumpkin carvers. (Bummer that the picture turned out blurry.)

Thursday night we went to ride the Stringtown Railroad with Grandma and Grandpa Haacke. It is a free train ride in Lindon that runs the week of Halloween. While it is still light out the ride is very mild, but apparently when it gets dark the train ride gets quite scary. Mostly we just waved at a bunch of monsters who waved at us first.

I love this picture of my dad all squished up in the train. He is such a trooper. He has a couple of bad knees and I know this wasn't the most comfortable position for his to ride in. But he was smiling and enjoying the ride none the less. My mom is right behind him all smiles.

Way back there on the tail end of the train is Jaxon and McKay. They had a great time but said the back of the train was a bit bumpy.

Josh was positioned right in front me (which made it hard to get a picture). He was very nervous about the train ride but loved every minute of it and can't wait to go back and ride it next year. Kayden and I rode the train together, but no one got a picture of us.

On Friday I went to the school for the boys' class parties.

Here is Jaxon at he second grade party playing Halloween Bingo and also showing off the spider that he made during the party.

I am McKay's room mom this year (What was his teacher thinking?) so I was in charge of his party. I had one mom and a dad come in and play a couple of games with the kids and one mom come and do a craft. I help the kids make these spooky edible chocolate trees with a candy corn fence and pumpkin patch. Surprisingly the party was a success and the kids had a great time.

Finally: Halloween! The whole family dressed up for Halloween this year and went trick-or-treating. My parents came out to celebrate the holiday with us. My mom came trick-or-treating with us and my dad stayed at the house to pass out candy and toothpaste. (Yes, you read right--toothpaste. It was a success until the end of the night when someone graciously returned their toothpaste by placing it on our top stair. It was like they said "No thanks. I didn't want toothpaste for trick-or-treating." At least we didn't get toilet-papered.)

Getting ready to go trick-or-treating: Jeremy (The Man in the Yellow Hat), Jaxon (Santa), Kayden (Cow), Me (Professor Wiseman), Josh (Curious George), and McKay (Anakin). We posed in front of the dinosaur that McKay earned at school. He spray painted it black and red with the help of his brother and dad. Then they hung it in the front of the house. It looked awesome! It was a successful Halloween week and we loved every minute of it.

* What were you for Halloween this year?
** Did you give or receive anything unique for trick-or-treating?