Halloween 2016

Halloween was a rainy one this year and kind of anti-climatic.  We never managed to carve pumpkins together and no one seemed to care, but we did make haunted candy houses for the second year in a row so this tradition is a keeper. 
The boys dressed up in their costumes for the first time when we went to the trunk-or-treat at the church a few days before Halloween.  The rain was pouring down so hard that even though I was sitting under the open trunk door of my van, I was still soaking wet as I gave out candy.  The poor kids in their costumes looked like they'd gone swimming with their clothes on.  They were shivering, makeup was running down their faces staining their costumes, and their candy was a soggy mess and had to be thrown away.  I was laughing that no one thought to have the kids stay inside and trick-or-treat in the church hallways.  I guess when you live where we do, you get so used to doing everything in the rain that you don't even try alternatives. 

Marcus dressed up in one of Randy's old uniforms.  Those combat boots look huge but they fit.  The back pocket has Ball embroidered on it so he was the real deal

Parker the Ninja.  He saw all the weapons on the costume and knew he had to have it

The BEST costume at the party!  When you opened the door the guy would hand you a tootsie roll.  It was hilarious!

The day of Halloween started out wet and windy.  After running a few errands I'd had enough of my cold, wet feet and got online and ordered some rain boots.  This has been a record breaking rainy October so I have a feeling I won't regret my purchase. 
Halloween night was fun and chaotic.  I've learned from years past that making a fun, spooky-themed Halloween dinner is a total waste of my time.  My kids are too excited to get outside and trick-or-treat to notice my extra efforts so this year I picked up a couple pizzas and loved the simplicity of a fast meal before we raced out the door.  Marcus went to a party instead of trick-or-treating so we dropped him off with his friends before meeting up with our friends to trick-or-treat in their neighborhood.  Our 'hood only has 15 houses and they are spread out with long driveways so it's a kid's worst nightmare as far as getting lots of candy in a short amount of time goes.  Parker really got excited about running from door to door and quickly won everyone over with his cuteness as he shouted, "Thank you!  Happy Halloween!"  from the top of his lungs as he ran away.  It started to sprinkle on us about halfway through the night and just as Landon and Parker were nearing complete exhaustion, the clouds opened up and the rain dumped down.  The streets cleared out pretty fast after that.

Ethan the hammer head shark

Landon, the knight in shining armor, at his school parade.  His costume came with a sword which is why he picked it of course

trick or treating before the rain came down

The Great Candy Swap of 2016

Landon picked out his favorites and left the rest in his bucket for Randy to eat

And lets not forget about our awesome graham cracker haunted houses.  This is the easiest thing to do when you pre-make the houses using burnt sugar to glue them together.  All the boys have to do is stick the candy on.

Assembling the houses

Randy's house blew us all away.  He's got skills.

Landon was dancing to the Halloween music.  It was quite the party!

Marcus set a new record for catching candy in his mouth (all while Ethan shot at him with a gun because that's how things go at our house).