post-Halloween wrap up

Well, one of my favorite holidays is over.  It all seems like a blur of time, but we had a lot of fun this past weekend! 
On Friday night our friend Whitney and her girls Abby & Maddy came over and helped us decorate for our party on Saturday, the girls colored pumpkin faces on orange paper cut-outs while we strung fake spiderwebs and caution tape saying "beware" on it.  I don't like being scared, but I love all the semi-spooky decor that people bring out for this holiday! 
On Saturday I rushed around like a madwoman trying to finish up all of the last minute things for the party and for my costume (Alice Cullen, apparently no one sells her replica choker necklace anymore, go figure!), until 5pm when friends started arriving for our party.  This was SO much fun, and absolutely an annual event in the making!  It was potluck style so there was lots of yummy food....

Almost everyone was in costume, kids and adults alike!

mama as Alice Cullen, Libby as Tinkerbell

the best friends club (minus Liberty)

Chrystie Pirate and Turner Batman! 

Sean's default costume for the past 5 years (since he got home from Iraq), what a cheater!

The kids got to bob for apples....

The grown ups got to have some drinks....

And the baby slept for the last half of the party! (even with the crazy amount of noise)

On Sunday we all managed to get up on time and head to church for their All Souls Day service and Harvest Fest for the kids.  The service was beautiful, I brought a picture of my mom to place on the table they had set out with candles and flowers.  I like that they took the time to honor and remember the dead as many cultures around the world do on these few days in the fall. 
During the service the preschool kids got rice krispie treats for a snack and went on a "ghost hunt", which was a tunnel made out of chairs and sheets with lights and shadows around it, it was their super cute little kid version of a haunted house!

After the service we all headed out to the patio where there were games, crafts, food, and a haunted house set up by the teens with a canned food drive for the "entrance fee".  It was a lot of fun!

August & Miss Heather going into the "scary" haunted house, August is daredevil!

Libby & Callie enjoying Harvest fest

making egg carton spiders

the girls and their spider creations!

After church we stopped to visit Grandma and Papou to show off the girls' costumes, headed home for some soup for dinner, and headed back out for Trick or Treating around the neighborhood. 

 

the loot, most of which was recycled to other trick or treaters!

At first it didn't seem like anyone on our street was home or had candy, but after heading up the street a little ways we found lots of houses to stop at!  The girls LOVED yelling "Trick or Treat!!"  and always said "Thank You, Happy Halloween!" after.  <3  Overall, we had a great Halloween, and now we look forward to the rest of fall and the winter holidays fast approaching!

the girls eating cheese and crackers after ToTing, so their bellies were not just full of candy!