Happy Halloween!

Spooky!  What a Halloween night!  Technically this picture was from like... 2 am... so welcome to November!  There was a chance of Aurora Borealis, so I set an alarm to at least check.  If it was visible the clouds ruined it, but I still thought it looked really cool outside and perfectly Halloween, so I grabbed a picture.

I had a visitor stop by at work for a few days.  I first saw this snake on the top of the screen to my window (it's bent a little up there) and it ended up falling in.  Jelly spent a lot of time by the window over the next few days, and I tried putting in a stick and a net to let it climb out.  I haven't seen it since, but I don't really know if it made it out, or died huddled up close to the house for warmth...  At least I didn't drop the lawn mower in on it!

Look at this happy 1 year old!  I was feeding Grayson and the greatest game in the world was grabbing my finger!  Then I'd shake my hand, and then he'd shake my hand.

We had a LOT of Halloween this week.  On Thursday night Brooke's school had a trunk or treat.  Here are the girls in line waiting for their turn.  The teachers decorate the cars, and they go all out!  They have a contest for best decorated, but they were ALL super great!  I thought I saw some good stuff at our ward trunk or treat in the past...

In addition to the trunk or treat, there were food trucks and we had dinner from the Mac n Cheese truck (surprise!).  I got a wrap, which was actually a burrito...  It was good, just not what I had in mind.  There were also a few things to do there, like cake walks and an inflatable slide, but it was also quite cold.  While Monica took the girls to do the cake walk, Grayson's hands started to get cold, so into my jacket he came!  This jacket was NOT supposed to be this large when I bought it, but it's coming in handy, so I won't complain.

Brooke really wanted to do the slide.  It had an obstacle course and then the slide.  She happened to be right next to a girl in her class in line, and they got to go together.  Here Brooke's climbing up to the slide, and the girl in her class is up at the top.  They went down the slide together holding hands.

There was a nifty trunk or treat sign put up that I wanted to get a picture at.  We ended up staying a lot later than we intended, and people had gotten cold and sad at this point and just wanted to stay under a blanket in the stroller, so I got a picture with those that were willing.

On Friday night was our ward trunk or treat! I think this is the first place we all wore our costumes to.  They were a hit, and the girls had a lot of fun.

On Saturday, Brooke wanted to make some signs for the trick or treaters who would be coming the following day.  I loved them, and so here they are for all of you too!

Saturday night we drove around to look at Halloween decorations (and to possibly see Aurora Borealis if it was out that early (it wasn't)).  While we were out, we happened upon a quidditch house.  Monica didn't see it, but when I mentioned it she stopped, put the car in reverse, and then we slowly inched along by their house.  The garage was also getting set up to be a potion shop, and there was a big cardboard cutout of Snape in there.  We had a lot of fun seeing decorations and will definitely have to do this again in the future.  The town had a decorating contest this year, and we didn't think about it in time, but people can submit their addresses so we could have even had an address list of best houses to see!

Here's Monica and Grayson at church.  Grayson wore his Halloween-y shirt, and... we're at church.  The end.

After being inspired by all that we saw the night before, we finally built up the energy to decorate on Halloween.  We really just have stuff for our porch, but are talking about getting more.  Brooke helped Monica get it all done!

On Halloween night, some friends from church invited us over for chili and to go Trick or Treating.  We went by and spent some time with them, and then headed around their neighborhood.  Everyone had a lot of fun, and of course the girls got a LOT of candy!

When we were heading back home, I was telling Monica I was a little bummed cause I love going trick or treating with Brooke.  She is the queen of trick or treating.  Two years ago her friends came and did our neighborhood, and about half way through, everyone else split off and headed home for bed, and Brooke and I continued on until she was done!  She's always loved it, and I have really fond memories of it, so I was a little bummed we didn't get to go together (I did follow along as the group of kids dashed between houses, but that's not really the same).  Well, when we got home, Brooke did still want to go out for more, so with Monica's permission we did a loop of our neighborhood.  We skipped a lot of houses since it was pretty late, but we had a great time!

I think that's all my news for this week!  Hopefully I'll actually write the next post this Sunday and get back on schedule!  Have a great 2-9 days!