Halloween Cuties

 Today was the annual Trick Or Treat Fest at Mark's Office at the Church Office Building here in Riverton. The office totally shuts down at 2 pm and the families of the employees come in and trick or treat to all the cubicles and offices there at the building. The kids loved the Trick or Treat Fest last year and have been looking forward to going this year for as long as I can remember. After Kaleb got out of school and off the bus at 2 pm, I got the kids dressed in their darling costumes and we headed out. The kids had a blast visiting all the cubicles and filling up their buckets. They really got quite a load, in fact, while we were waiting for one of the elevators to go home, we got talking to a family who said that their daughter got 7 lbs of candy last year! Wow! We didn't get that much because we were only there for under and hour but the kids had plenty of candy. I am pretty sure they would have stayed longer if we had let them. Karmindy really got into it this year and loved going from cubicle to cubicle. 

 The kids and Mark on the lookout for Cubicles with Candy!

 Mom with her cute little Spooks!

Dad with his lil' Munsters!

It was so fun to go and visit Dad at his work and have another Halloween activity to do as a family and make  fun memories.

On another note, the kids have been so excited for Halloween this year!! Kaleb has enjoyed changing our family Count Down to Candy Countdown and will proudly tell me each day how many more days till Halloween. Karmindy will tell me everyday that Halloween is coming and that it will be "Very Sppppooookkkyyy! She says it in her very spooky voice and It makes me giggle.

The kids have also been super excited to dress up. Kaleb chose to dress up as a Jedi Knight  this year and he is so handsome in his costume. Karmindy has been so excited to dress up in the Bee Costume that I found last year. Karmindy has loved dressing up in it and pretending to fly around the house buzzing and pretending to sting Kaleb. She has such an active imagination and it makes me laugh. I have to wonder where she comes up with the stuff she says! :)

The kids are so eager for Halloween to come and truth be told, I can't wait either! I love the whole excitement of Halloween- the weather, pumpkins, candy, yummy baked goods, decorations, and dressing up! Such Fun. It truly is one of my favorite holidays!

The Buzzy Little Bee is Off to Get More Candy!

Halloween 2011

I can't believe that October is winding down! What a fun month we have had as a family. It has been  so nice to have Kaleb home for most of the month(off track-school), so we could get out enjoy the beautiful fall weather, as well as participate in some fun family outings. It has been so fun to see the kids get dressed up in their costumes and enjoy all of the activities this month. Kaleb wanted to be a knight this year, Karmindy wanted to be a princess, I dressed up as a witch, Mark dressed up as a creepy warlock and I dressed up Kozy as a flying monkey/dragon. It is truly so much fun to see the kids get so excited  and enjoy the Holidays. I am pretty sure they get their enthusiasm for holidays from me! I hope they always have fond memories of the holidays and remember that their mom made it fun for them!

 Our Halloween this year was a laid back one. Mark went to work, Kaleb to school and Karmindy and I just chilled at home. For dinner I made Navajo Tacos and we had an Apple Crumble Pie for dessert. After dinner, the kids got into their costumes (so did Mark) and off they went to trick or treat around the neighborhood. I stayed home with Kozette and we answered the door for the cute trick or treaters. The kids got a haul of candy and really enjoyed themselves! After the kids went to bed, Mark and I raided the kids stash and watched the old 1980's movie, "Watcher in the Woods!" It was as good as I remember it... just not as scary now! :) Halloween is truly one of my favorite Holidays! We hope all our friends and family enjoyed your Halloween Holiday! 

Carving Pumpkins

This year we decided to carve our pumpkins the night before Halloween so they wouldn't get moldy and shriveled. The kids were so excited to carve them. The moment we brought our pumpkins home from the patch the kids have been pestering me to carve them. This year while we were at Target browsing through the Halloween decor we came across some darling Mr & Mrs. Potato Head Pumpkin kits. They were adorable. Kaleb found a pirate one and Karmindy a princess one. They are just like Mr. & Mrs. Potato head pieces... you just poke them into a pumpkin. I figured that these were a little safer for the kids then handing them a knife and letting them whack at their pumpkins.  The kids were so excited to buy their pumpkin kits and they carried them proudly out of the store. 

On the night of carving pumpkins, we invited Kevin and Kayla over to carve pumpkins with us. We all had fun carving our pumpkins and eating some Baked Pumpkin Donuts that I made. It was a really fun evening. When it came to the kids' pumpkins, Mark only helped the kids a little bit by drilling a hole for the pieces. They kids really enjoyed using the Mr and Mrs. Potato kits. I love that they can use them again next year!

Mark and I carved our own pumpkins. Mine was a little mushy on the bottom but we made mine work. I think our pumpkins turned out great! I loved Mark's evil pumpkin face the best! We can't wait to carve pumpkins next year!

A Pumpkin Hunting we will Go!

Since moving to Northern Utah three years ago, we have made it a family tradition to go to our favorite Pumpkin Patch and get our Jack O' Lanterns for "All Hallows Eve." The kids really look forward to our annual pumpkin hunting tradition and they talk about it for weeks before our outing. Every year the kids really enjoy sitting on all the old vintage tractors, going through the mini corn maze and using miniature wheel barrows to place their desired pumpkins in.  This year's outing didn't disappoint- the kids had a wonderful time!! When I asked them what their favorite part of our Adventure was, they said they couldn't choose "just one" activity. We are so grateful that we live so close to such fun places! Now, we are all counting down until we get to carve our pumpkins!

Little Halloween Chefs

My kids love helping me in the kitchen! There is just something so special about being in the kitchen together. It has definitely been a way for me to spend quality time with  Kaleb and Karmindy and hopefully make lasting memories with them! I hope they will always have pleasant memories of these times/traditions. One of our family traditions is to make Pumpkin shaped sugar cookies each year around Halloween. My mom made sugar cookies each year around Halloween and Valentines Day and I wanted to keep the tradition going in our family.With Kaleb being off track from school for the past couple of weeks, it was a wonderful afternoon activity to keep his mind and hands busy.  (He is truly my little busy body.) Both Kaleb and Karmindy loved helping me roll out the dough and enjoyed using the cookie cutters. They also thought it was fun to smear flour on each other, which turned into a mini flour fight. We all had fun putting flour on our faces! This year we decided to get a little more creative and we used a ghost cookie cutter and a cat cookie cutters. All of the cookies turned out so cute looking. After baking and frosting them all, Mark, the kids and myself took a few around to neighbors (for Family Home Evening) to spread a little Halloween Cheer!

Fun Halloween Projects...

Kaleb's first break from school started at the end of September and goes until the week before Halloween this year. That ends up being 4 whole weeks that he is off track from school. To prevent the kids from getting bored and annoying the heck out of each other, I knew that I would have to have some awesome Boredom Buster Activities on Tap to prevent them from "killing each other." I have found out from last year's year round school breaks, that it is fun for the kids to have an activity to look forward to each week when there is no school.. It also has been a great way for me to get the kids to clean their rooms and help me out around the house. The fun activities have been great incentives!

So far the kids have enjoyed helping me decorate for Halloween inside and outside of the house. Since my Halloween Decorations are limited, the kids and I made a Skeleton out of paper plates. There was a cute tutorial online that I found and I just tweaked it and made it our own. I tole painted a face and hat and tied a bow tie for the skeleton's neck. Kaleb enjoyed cutting the jute to tie the skeleton together and helping me cut out the bones (paper plates). Karmindy enjoyed handing us the supplies we needed and enjoyed picking up the scraps for the garbage. It was a fun joint effort and our homemade skeleton turned out great. The kids just adore their creation and it is fun to see how proud they are of our skeleton. We decided to hand him on our front door so we could see him all month long.

Another project that we have enjoyed making were little edible graveyards. The kids truly enjoy getting in the kitchen and helping me cook and make yummy things to eat. We made our own personal graveyards out of pudding, crushed oreos, gummy worms, and Milano cookies with RIP written in chocolate frosting. I placed all the ingredients in the kids own personal ramekin. The kids were so excited to make and eat their creations. We made the graveyards on a Monday afternoon, so we enjoyed them that night for a Family Home Evening treat. The kids loved them! 

During this particular FHE, we read a spiritual story and then I introduced to them a favorite Cartoon that I enjoyed watching when I was there age around Halloween- "Garfields Halloween Adventure." The kids enjoyed their treats and loved watching the movie. When I was younger, Me and My brother's and sister's, watched "Garfields Halloween" every year during the Month of October. It was a fun family tradition that we always looked forward to. We loved that cartoon and we all knew all the funny parts by heart. I have always wanted a copy of the cartoon for my own DVD Library but could never find it. Luckily this year while I was perusing the internet, I found a copy on ebay and bought it. I was so happy!! Since that FHE, the kids have watched the cartoon several times over the past few weeks and really like it. It has truly been fun to watch them get excited over the things that I used to enjoy when I was little. 

 Last year after the Halloween Holiday my mom found a chocolate kit on clearance last year and thought me and the kids would like to make them this year. We decided to put our chocolate candy making skills to the test. The kids loved squirting the chocolate into the molds. Kaleb especially enjoyed making the chocolate candies. We got pretty creative with the different colors of chocolate. We enjoyed making skeleton hands, ghosts, spiders, pumpkins and cats. We are looking forward to making more chocolates with our Halloween molds next year!

 I have a few more fun things on tap while Kaleb is off break and we are looking to spending time with each other and doing some more fun things together.

The Witches are In Town!

Tonight I took the kids to Gardner Village to see the Witch displays while Mark was attending the Priesthood session. To start off our evening of fun, the kids and I met up with some friends at Chick Fil-A for dinner before heading to Gardner Village. The kids were so excited to play in the play place  and go see the witches that they hardly touched their dinner. Typical!

After dinner, we headed to Gardner Village. I was just as excited as the kids. It is always fun to see how the Village is all decorated and we always enjoy finding our favorite witches. The witches are never in the same place as the year before. It is almost like a treasure hunt to see where they are hiding each year. When we got to Gardner Village the place was packed. It seems like the past two year the number of people that go has increased over Conference Weekend. It makes it a bit CaRazy! 

After looking around for a bit we headed to Afton's Sweet Shoppe, so the kids could pick out some candy. They kids really look forward to picking out a candy they don't usual get. I love seeing all the vintage candy. It makes it fun. The kids picked Jelly Belly Beans and Gummy Worms. After the kids picked their treats, I headed to get some fudge. This visit I decided on Pumpkin Walnut and Cinnamon Cumble Cake Fudge. Both were delish!

After the Sweet shoppe we walked into several boutiques, took some pictures and then headed to ride the ponies.The kids even got to see a witch and get their picture taken with her! It was the perfect finish to a fun outing.

Kaleb and Karmindy sitting for a spell!

Emilia, Kaleb and Karmindy hanging out.

Karmindy loves animals and she had a blast riding "Rusty!" Look at the grin!

My little Cowboy!

Two Cute Little Monsters

October is finally here! I absolutely love fall and October happens to be one of my favorite months for several reasons: cooler weather, cozy sweaters, changing leaves, General Conference, making yummy food, Halloween, Thanksgiving, pumpkin patches, decorating for the holidays, and getting involved in all the fun events that Northern Utah has to offer.

Kaleb just happens to be off track (school) for 4 weeks, and I can't think of a better time to have him home with me. One thing that I certainly have passed down to my kids is my love for the holidays. They get just as excited as I do. I love making it magical and fun for them. One of the traditions I have is getting the kids a Halloween shirt to wear throughout the month of October. They enjoy wearing their cute shirts when we go out and do fun family activities together.

Tonight, while Mark is at the General Priesthood session it has been a fun tradition for the past 2 years to take the kids to Historic Gardner Village. It is a fun activity to do with the kids to get in the mood for Fall. Of course the kids had to wear their new Halloween shirts and I just couldn't help myself from taking some adorable pictures of my two little Monsters. The are truly the cutest little spooks!

Halloween Pumpkin Cookies and a Little Haunting....

Its a tradition in our family to make sugar cookies each year for Halloween. I just couldn't wait till the end of the month, so Kaleb and I put on our chef's hats and went to work making these beautiful pumpkins.

One thing that I started this year was a Phantom Ghost in our neighborhood. You secretly deliver some goodies, along with this poem and a clipart picture of a cute ghost:

The Phantom Ghost has come to town,

To leave you some goodies, I see you have found.
If you do not wish a curse to fall,
Continue this greeting, this Phantom's call.

First, post this Phantom where it can be seen,
And leave it there until Halloween.
This will scare other Phantoms who may visit.
Be sure to participate, you don't want to miss it!

Second, make two treats & two copies of this Ghost with a grin
Deliver them to two neighbors where this Phantom hasn't been
Don't let them see you, be sneaky, no doubt …
And make sure they put their Phantom Ghost out!

Next, you have only one day to act, so be quick!
Leave it at doors where the Phantom hasn't hit.
Deliver at dark when there isn't much light...
Ring the doorbell and run, and stay out of sight!!

And last, but not least, come join in the season.
Don't worry, be happy, you need no good reason.
This is all in good fun and we are just trying to say...
HAPPY HALLOWEEN AND HAVE A GREAT DAY!!

I used this cute clipart for Neighbors to hang in their window or on their door to let everyone know the Phantom Ghost has Haunted their home:

I love getting into the Holiday spirit!