Halloween!!

Ready and waiting!!

Trick or Treat!

This year for Halloween Ella was a cow, Cole was Optimus Prime and Makenna was Rapunzel. The kids were so excited to go out trick or treating. They were all waiting with buckets in hand at about 5:15. I told them we had to wait until at least 6:00. We actually left at about 6:15 and I took the kids around the neighborhood for about 45 minutes. I definitely wasn't doing a good enough job because then Adam took them out and stayed out until about 8:40 and the haul they brought home was crazy. Adam had those kids running from house to house while he ran with the stroller. He would run up to the door ring the doorbell and put Ella on the front porch and by then the older kids would be up to the door. He ran them until they were exhausted., laying on people's grass trying to rest. I started to get a little worried, but Adam wants them trained well for years to come. In all the haste, Makenna's jacket fell out of the stroller along the way, a minor casualty in the collection of candy. Luckily, I found it this morning laying on the side of someone's yard. The kids were exhausted and I thought that maybe they would sleep in today, but no such luck. Ella was still up at 6:08am. Maybe she will have a good nap today. Here's hoping...

"Please Daddy, no more. Our feet are tired." Out in front of someone's house.

The total haul. Not including the candy they received at the ward trunk or treat. Ridiculous.

My favorite picture of the night!!

Leaves!!

We went up to my parents house last Saturday to help them rake up the enormous amount of leaves they get in their yard every year. The kids love to play in them and even help put the leaves in the bags. They actually ended up helping more than I thought they would. Makenna was a real trooper and helped to the end. We lost Ella after about 45 minutes. I guess Mickey Mouse Clubhouse sounded more fun than working... It took us about 2 hours to rake up the backyard and we got about 10 trash bags full of leaves.

Carving The Pumpkin

As I previously wrote, we decided to let the kids paint their pumpkins this year. Adam had one pumpkin that he carved and let the kids help. This was the first year that they were actually interested in it. Every other year, they lose interest in the pumpkin after about 3 minutes. The older kids loved playing in the pumpkin guts.

Ella digging in the pumpkin.


All three of them, no matter how hard we try they all won't look at the camera at the same time.


The finished product. Love Cole's freaky eyes...