Halloween play group, pumpkin carving, trunk-or-treat, Halloween night

 Time to get the rest of October/Halloween blogged.

random picture: Brooklyn playing school during nap/quiet time.  Her favorite thing to do right now is play school.  I love how she lines them all up and they each have a chair.  

Our ward did a Halloween themed play group.  My friend Allie put it all together and did a great job.  The kids decorated Halloween sugar cookies, went "fishing", there was a photo booth, and tossed bean bags in the hole.

We carved pumpkins that night for FHE and invited Tal and Alison over to do it with us (or mostly to help us :))   I carved out most the guts of 4 pumpkins, but Brooklyn and Jake each got their hands in there and helped.  Brooklyn thought it was cool.  Jake, not so much.  He kept asking me to wipe his hands. 

Then it was Tal and John's job to carve...the free handed everything and did a good job.  The kids were happy with how they turned out.  I forgot to take a picture of the finished product.

random picture:  Brooklyn having a play date with her friends Madison and Reese.  They all had babies under their shirts and asked me to feel them kick :)  

another random picture:  Brooklyn took a pumpkin to preschool and painted it.  She insisted on picking the perfect spot outside for it.  I didn't realize she was only in underwear until I checked on her.  She was out there for a solid 15 minutes.  Good thing we have really nice, understanding, non-judgmental neighbors. 

This year our ward didn't officially do a trunk-or-treat because it was stake conference that week (along with the temple open house) and I guess there is a rule you aren't allowed to have any organized church activities that week.  So my friend Rachael put together an "un-organized" trunk-or-treat in the church parking lot.  There was still a good turn out and the kids had fun going through all the cars 3 times.

This was the first year we took the kids trick-or-treating on Halloween. (except when we took Brooklyn at 9 months).  We went to our bishops neighborhood and had so much fun.  Arizonians sure know how to do Halloween!  Tons of houses were decked out, some had music playing, some were handing out drinks and bottled water, and everyone sat in their driveways with a big bowl of candy.  The kids got tons of candy and we were only out for an hour.  The weather was perfect.  We went with our friends Jon and Mandy.  The kids were so cute at saying "trick-or-treat...thank you...happy Halloween" every time they went up to someone.

When we got home they dumped out their loot (my favorite thing to do as a kid) and picked one to eat.  They happily shared with John and I and everyday since ask for one piece a day.  

Holidays are so fun with kids!