Halloween 2015

    Halloween is always a fun time at our house. We all get into the spooky spirit as the leaves start to fall. I thought my obsession with the holiday came with having sons. My boys got really into the ghoulish and gory, even from a young age.

    This year, I was reflecting on all the memories with my mom from Halloween. She was always having us trick or treat our house before we went out into the neighborhood. She answered our door one year with panty-hose on her head! She would craft my sister and I whatever costumes we dreamed up. I am sure she sparked my love for Halloween.

 It is most definitely Collin's favorite holiday. He was helping me set up little vignette's all over the house. And the kid is not wrong, it all about free candy people!

   We headed to two trunk or treats before the 31st. Each time the costumes changed a bit for some of us. Here we are as Medusa, a cowboy, Elvis, and Raphael.

   Aden "clowning around" with a friend from church. (check the Cookie Monster trunk in the background, so cute.)

   Grandma Ellen's painted pumpkins sure beat the hassle of carving up jack o' lanterns.

   This was the trunk or treat that the City of Meridian hosts. We went as a witch, a cowboy, Elvis, Enderman (it's a video game thing), and Parker's costume was an ensemble of bad life choices including a neck tattoo that read "NO REGERTS."

   HUGE-ly upsetting moment for me to see Kaleb warmly embrace this fellow.

   Even though the house had been decorated for a month, at the last minute I made this bloody rag and smeared "HELP" on the mirror. The boys lost their mind. They thought it was so creepy and funny and wanted cryptic messages on all the surfaces of the house. It is such a delight to gross THEM out every once and awhile. I'd like to think it was my panty-hose on the head moment. :)

   Hands down my favorite TV show of the year is the Neflix series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. I knew I wanted to dress up as her this year and I was quite pleased with how it turned out.

   Matt was a rodeo clown. When we first met, he told me he was going to be a rodeo clown when he grew up. Let us all hope this was the moment he was referring to!

Thank ya, thank ya very much.

One of the Men in Black, watch out for the neuralizer.

   Holding. Penalty is 5 yards, automatic first down. Or something like that. Kaleb looked great and barely annoyed me with that whistle at all. (Recorders and whistles are Satan's instruments in the hands of children.)

   Collin had his heart set on being an Enderman from Minecraft. An all black costume with a box on his head. Yikes. I tried to convince him on so many occasions to switch but he held his ground. And he was not alone. We saw many other characters from this game and he was a huge hit with kids his age. Many asked to have his costume!

   One other thing about all these costumes worth noting; I did not have to spend a dime! Thank you dress up box and a grandma who frequents the thrift store.

   Parker's friend joined us for the night. They were often thought to be the Blues Brothers or LDS Missionaries.

   Our group met up to trick or treat with Aden's friends. The night was perfect Idaho Halloween weather. So pleasant!

   And now, if you will allow me one rant: No one that is considerate and costumed is too old to trick or treat! Your only vote, in my opinion, is to open the door or not. To single out siblings that seem too old or too tall is just mean. Maybe there would be less teenagers smashing pumpkins and terrorizing animals on Halloween if they were welcome to trick or treat with their families. UGGGGGH.

UPDATE***** My friend Hannah sent me this post on Facebook yesterday. Very well said and I completely agree! I need to map out a route of these folks for next year.