It's Halloween, It's Halloween!

 It's Mario and Luigi!  Many months ago, Luke had the great idea that our whole family should be characters from the Mario games.  We couldn't figure out how to do Bowzer, and Gracie didn't want to be Princess Peach, so that left us with just the two brothers.  I bought the costumes early in October. Caleb could see them sitting in their packages on top of the washing machine for weeks and didn't understand why he had to wait! After days and days of asking if it was Halloween yet, he could hardly believe it when I actually handed him the costume to put on.  He did not take it off the entire day!

 Gracie has been studying the American Revolution the past few weeks, and loves her "Felicity" doll, therefore it made sense for her to pick a colonial outfit for her costume.  Aunt Gail outdid herself this year with a beautiful dress and hat that matched her Felicity doll.  Dylan got into the spirit of things and decided to be a patriot soldier.  He wanted the gun so bad, I think he would have worn almost anything that came with it!  Grammy got into the spirit of our "Little House on the Prairie" books we have been reading and dressed like Caroline Ingalls.

 Grammy brought a basket full of fake eggs to complete her costume, which led to an impromptu egg hunt before everyone showed up for the party.  What else are you supposed to do with pretty colored eggs in a basket?

 Caleb and Grammy closing their eyes while Luke hid the eggs in the backyard.  It was a beautiful morning for fun outside.

 We are so thankful for Grammy's best friend, Grandma Delena.  The two of them come to almost all of our get-togethers and help us so much.  On this particular day, they helped me prepare for the games, prepared the food, and cleaned up afterwards.  I am so blessed by their wonderful examples!

 Laurie made a game about pumpkins where the kids had to search for answers hidden all over the backyard.  Did you know that 80% of pumpkins are bought and sold in October each year?  Did you know that Native Americans used pumpkin seeds as medicine?  Did you know that pumpkins are rich in Vitamin A, potassium, and high in fiber?  We learned new things together.

 The kids were thrilled to have Bill home from work and helping them with all of the games.  Even though we aren't thrilled with furlough days, we love having him home more!

 Did you know that pumpkins are grown everywhere in the world except Antarctica?  Did you know that Christopher Columbus carried pumpkin seeds on his return trips to Europe?

 At the beginning of the party, Laurie noticed that we had more grown-ups at the party than kids!  We both talked about how blessed we feel that so many of our sisters in Christ have taken such an interest in our kiddos, and love spending time with them!

 You can take the coach/athletic director away from the school, but thanks to phones, you can't keep the school away from bothering the coach!

 I didn't get a picture of all the different types of breads that we tried.  (Thanks Molly for the fun idea!)  Each mom made a bread from a fruit or vegetable and we had a taste test to see if we could figure out which item was in each bread.  Grammy put chocolate chips in her apple bread, so hers was the hardest one to figure out, but probably the one everyone liked the most.  I loved the sweet potato bread, the pumpkin bread, and the extra loaf of zucchini bread that Marilyn left for us!  What a treat for breakfast the next morning.  We also did a memory game, a puzzle, and the egg race.

 This picture cracks me up as Gracie is trying to hold her dress with one hand while carrying the egg in the other!

 I was amazed that we only had one dropped egg for the entire race!  Everyone took their time and did a great job.

 The three oldest kids relaxing on the swing waiting for their turn in the race. 

 We also did a game with throwing pennies into the pumpkin bowls.  When I thought of this game I didn't think about how well pennies blend into the ground.  I had to double check we didn't leave any on the ground to mess up Bill's lawn mower!

 Our group!

We met Emi and Abby at Molly's house to begin our night of trick-or-treating.  From there we went to Len and Shirley's and then ended with Bill's mom and dad's house.

 When we got to Diana's house, her place was decorated as usual and Bob was in the Halloween spirit with his gorilla mask.  Bill, Bob and Clay took the kids around the neighborhood while Lori, Caleb and I hung out with Diana passing out candy.

After a fun night, everyone relaxed on Diana's couch and watched some "Tom and Jerry" cartoons.

Here's my favorite picture of the day.  Thanks to Joy for catching a moment while Bill was running around playing pirates with the boys at the party.  Several people mentioned that they were surprised to see Bill acting so silly.  It's funny because that's one of the many reasons that I love him and the way he seems most of the time to me! :)