CAIT loves NATE: Halloween

Halloween 2012:

Every year we like to squeeze in as many holiday-related activities as possible.

This year we went to Cornbelly's, Hee Haw Farms, the Nightmare Express Train, Gardner Village Witch Hunt, and a few more.

Then, the Sunday before Halloween we had a Halloween feast.

I made jambalaya dinner in a pumpkin and a traditional beef dinner in a pumpkin.

We had Halloween punch that I found on pinterest

(Sprite Zero, Pineapple Juice, Orange Sherbet...it was really supposed to be Orange Fanta but that sounded like a sugar overload to me).

We had S'mores brownies for dessert and then carved pumpkins.

The boys wanted "Nightmare before Christmas" themed pumpkins this year.

I googled it and there was a website that had designs, but you had to subscribe to get the printout of it to trace. We didn't want to do that, so Nate just free-handed it.

He did a great job!

Bridger's was a "vampire" (actually it was the face of the pumpkin-king on the door to Halloweenland), Saxon's was ZERO, Jack's dog, and Dalton's was Jack the Pumpkin King.

He loves Jack. He asks all day long to watch either "Pete's dragon" or "Jack the Pumpkin King."

On Monday we went to Bridger's Halloween Carnival at preschool.

On Tuesday I volunteered in Saxon's class and we tried to get everything ready for Halloween. Someone "Booed" us so I had to make a Halloween cake, divide it up, copy the "boo" sign, and have the boys deliver them to neighbors. But first, I had to have the boys go check that the neighbors hadn't already been booed.

*Being "booed" is leaving an anonymous treat and note on someone's door saying that the treat is from a ghost. Once you've been booed, you hang the picture of the ghost on your front door and then you have 2 days to make a treat for two different neighbors and leave a treat and the "boo" ghost on their door. Pretty soon everyone has received an anonymous treat from a neighbor.

And on Wednesday (Halloween) we had a crazy-busy day.

First we went to Saxon's class to watch the Halloween parade.

The kindergarteners went last (who planned that!) but Dalton loved getting to sit by Saxon and color and read books.

above: Saxon's kindergarten

below: Saxon in his Darth Vader costume and his friend Claire was Princess Leia in front of him.

And Saxon's whole class including his cute teacher Mrs. Spaulding.

After the parade I had to run Bridger to school.

He was an hour late LOL. Luckily Ms. Nettie likes us anyway :)

Then Dalton and I ran to Papa Murphy's to pick up some Jack-o-lantern pizzas for later and then had just enough time to put them in the fridge before we had to go back and pick up Bubs. My neighbor brought home Saxon for me.

Once we were all home, I had to rush them through lunch because we had an appointment to get our teeth cleaned! What terrible planning on my part!! As if we didn't already have enough to do that day. Luckily they were very quick and no one had any problems.

Then we went back home and I had to make pumpkin-banana muffins because my neighbor gave me some super-cute Halloween cupcake liners and I didn't want to wait until next year to use them. I had to make up my own recipe because I wanted to use the least amount of sugar possible since everyone was going to get more than enough sugar later that night.

Mike and Brittany came over and we rushed through dinner and then got ready for the trunk-or-treat.

Here's the whole cast:

Nate - Jabba the Hut, Me - Princess Leia, Saxon - Darth Vader, Bridger - Obi Wan Kenobi, Dalton - Yoda.

First we went to our ward Trunk-or-Treat to see all of our neighbors.

Then we went up to Cedar Hills to go trick-or-treating.

Mike got the boys glowing light sabers in the right color for each character.

Not only were they cute, but they kept them safe and glowing so cars could see them.

(Actually, because it's Utah, the biggest danger was the 4-wheelers zooming around the streets).

The boys favorite house was one where they family was playing Just Dance on the kinect and dancing to Thriller. It was really cute and Saxon was dying to play too.

Once it got dark, Saxon had trouble seeing out of his helmet.

He came back from a house and said

"Do you want to know what candy she gave me?"

I asked "what?"

"I DON'T KNOW BECAUSE I CAN'T SEE!!!"

LOL.

So, he took his helmet off.

The boys looked so cute that a few people asked to take their picture when they were at the door. I think Nate's costume was the biggest hit though. Everywhere we walked people were shouting "Look! It's Jabba the Hut!"

We kept reminding the boys to say "Thank you." Bridger just kept glaring at me. Then at one house, all on his own, he says "Thank you! Have a Happy Halloween!" It was so cute!

After trick-or-treating for about an hour, the boys were done.

Well, Bridger and Dalton were done. Saxon could have gone longer.

Dalton was also attacking everyone and everything with his light saber and yelling "Stab. Poke. Hit." Finally, he slammed it into the ground and shattered it. Without a light saber, he didn't want to trick-or-treat anymore.

So we decided to go home and count our candy.

The boys got started eating right away.

Saxon didn't though because he wanted his teeth to stay clean from the dentist.

What a champ!

After resting for a half-hour, Nettie called and invited us to go to IHOP with them.

Since all the boys were up, we decided to go :)

The boys had a blast!

They ordered a ton of food (which they didn't eat) and got to go check out a gorgeous yellow Ferrari that was parked outside. The owner was nice enough to take the boys out to look and show them how the top lowers down and let them touch it.

Dalton was literally bouncing off the wall.

And bouncing all over Nettie. He loves her!

We stayed at IHOP laughing and talking until 10:30!

The boys had a blast and fell asleep right when we got home.

Today,the boys are eating themselves into a sugar-coma.

For lunch we had a caramel apple from my neighbor Becci.

She made it.

Amazing, right?

I think it might have been the best treat I've ever had in my life.