I was so proud of Natalie for making her costume entirely by herself! She decided she wanted to be Rey from Star Wars. She asked for grey fabric, which she found in my fabic bin. I love how she did her hair, too! What an awesome girl!

Mark the Shark

Mark’s nickname is “Mark the Shark” and I’ve been a sucker for shark paraphernalia for a long time. I had to have at least one year where he was a shark for Halloween.

Jon was his victim (though in the family picture above, we hadn’t yet spray-painted and cut up his shirt).

I bought a grey sweatshirt, sewed on teeth and eyes, and cut up an old grey sweatshirt for the fin (which I stuffed with a sheet of plastic mesh and some batting).

Tyler ~ Obi Wan Kenobi

I painted his face grey and added gills, which was a cute touch. Mark loved his costume!

Tyler had been saying for weeks that he wanted to be Obi Wan Kenobi. I didn’t think we had anything for that costume, and he excitedly told me that he had it all figured out. All I did was draw on his mustache and beard, and pinned a piece of felt on his pants.

Andrew and Adam ~ Bushes

Natalie ~ Rey

Amy ~ Pirate

Amy couldn’t figure out what to be for Halloween, so we went through our costume bin and found this pirate dress. She looked super cute and loved it.

Adam was the first to ask for a ghillie suit and paid half. The boys all (including Jon) loved it so much, that Andrew also begged for the same deal. Adam decided to stay home with Natalie this year while she passed out candy and he jumped out and startled people. He was super happy that he got a few of his friends! They had a great time!

Andrew wasn’t sure if they’d allow him to wear the hat part of his costume to the school Halloween parade (whether they would consider it a mask). Thankfully they allowed it, and he loved it!

Andrew

Adam

Happy Halloween!

Festivities

Natalie was the cool sister and helped Tyler and Mark carve their pumpkins after school. She was so patient and sweet with them. It was awesome!

I wasn’t sure if Andrew would be able to wear the hat part of his ghillie suit since there is a rule of no masks. He didn’t want to dress up at all if he couldn’t wear it. He decided to bring it just in case. And when I saw him happily bounding down the hallway, I was so pleased!

Mark felt pretty special to get a hug from Andrew! Siblings are awesome!

Mark and I enjoyed the elementary school’s Halloween parade - its first in the new school. We took advantage of the seats lining a hallway, so weren’t crowded at all. As a bonus, Edith Romo sat by us and I got to chat with her the whole time. It was fun!

Tyler’s

Mark’s

Simple Halloween meal of carrot soup, yummy mummies, Jello and apple juice. (I tried adding home-juiced apples, but it didn’t work out super well.)

Ready for the night - Andrew is in this picture... as a bush. Natalie and Adam stayed home. She wanted to pass out candy, and Adam wanted to scare people. Amy was in-between, but her friends all wanted to come trick-or-treat in our neighborhood.

As always, Jon makes trick-or-treating fun for all. He hooked up his trailer with a strand of lights that cycled through various colors. I hopped on and off with Mark. (Dean’s dad a.k.a. Hagrid joined him in the front seat.)

Amy’s friends loved it and said our neighborhood was a lot more fun than theirs (they live on steep streets, so their ward just has a trunk-or-treat). Ours has lots of families and kids walking around in costume, trick-or-treating. It is pretty awesome.

This is definitely the way to go in our neighborhood. The houses are a bit spread out, and with empty lots here and there or people who aren’t home, it takes the tiring element out of the event. Even so, after a while, Mark started asking, “Is this the last one?” and then finally, “I’m done getting more candy, Mom” and he stayed in the Ranger with me while the kids ran up to more houses. We did make our annual stop at the Middletons’ amazing display of carved pumpkins, and Sister Kemp’s homemade root beer in her cauldron.

By the end of our trick-or-treating, we had gained many more friends in the trailer and had a great time! I was so grateful for the beautiful weather!

At home, Adam had great success in scaring a few of his friends. He vowed to not surprise any little kids and held to that. When one family walked back to the sidewalk, he just lifted his head to watch them. The mom noticed him and told her kids, “Did you notice that one of these bushes is alive and looking at us?” Adam loved that!

The kids ate some candy while finishing Ant Man, which Natalie and Adam had started. It was a really nice night!