Halloween 2018

It seems so odd to be posting about Halloween in January, but we have been THAT busy.  I don't ever feel like I have a minute to sit down and keep up this blog as often as I would like.  But I do like to print off a book every year from the blog, so here I am playing catch up.

Our 2018 Pumpkin Pick contest happened and the kids were as creative as ever.

Bronson decided that he wanted a camp trailer pumpkin.  We got an old used camp trailer this year and it may be one of the best things that has ever happened to this boy.  He was just a baby when we sold our last camp trailer.

Charlotte found a bumpy pumpkin and decided that it would make the perfect witch.  I love her little gourd pumpkins running away in fright. 

Ian was really thinking outside the box here and came up with a "Wheel of Fortune" type pumpkin.  The concept was that he could stick it out on the porch and kids could spin it to pick their Halloween prize.  He engineered and built everything himself.  It was really quite an impressive feat. 

Ashlyn took an art class this year and is in a very artistic mode.  She decided to make a night time city-scape and of course added lots of glitter for night time stars.  My house was glittered for weeks.

And Tanner is about all things fishing right now.  It's all he thinks about.  So naturally, he went with a fishing theme.  He is also in a "I don't want my picture taken." phase, so.... no picture of Tanner with his pumpkin :(

Whitlee is obsessed with unicorns and princesses right now, so of course she wanted to make a unicorn pumpkin.  She loved those jack-o-lanterns and kept them in her room for weeks, packing them around and loving on them. 

We put the vote to Facebook and this year Whitlee took the prize and will get to retain the trophy in her room for the year!  She was thrilled.

Zac and I had our competition too.

This year Zac decided to go for special effects over artistic integrity.  He created a pretty impressive gif file of a volcanic exploding pumpkin.  His original idea included Mentos and Diet Coke, but with technical difficulty after technical difficulty, we never could get those to explode!  We finally had to go with some vinegar and baking soda, which still ended up being pretty cool...

But not cool enough to defeat Lori's "The Birds" pumpkins patterned after the freaky Alford Hitchcock movie by the same name.  You better believe when those gourd eggs hatch that there will be heck to pay. 

Winner, winner chicken dinner!

We had some pretty amazing Harvest Moons this Fall making it a spooky Halloween night. 

I actually do still do some fun stuff for my kids every now and then!  This was the Halloween lunch that I packed for school.

Bronson made the perfect ninja because he has been practicing being sneaky and spying and ninja moves all his life.  The costume was a natural fit. 

Charlotte made an adorable gumball machine.  She even made the costume herself! 

And this is what Ian wore to school.  He was Benjamin Franklin.  Of course, my kids often change costumes with every different carnival and party that they go to.  So, Ian was also an awesome fisherman, but I didn't get a picture of that. 

Whitlee was a beautiful Anna from Frozen this year. 

And her best friend/ sister Josie was Merida from Brave, so they made two darling princesses.  And I am totally kicking myself, but I made myself an Olaf costume to take them around trick or treating with, but never got a picture. 

And I also missed Zac and Benjamin Franklin at the ward party.  He never ceases to amaze me with his creativity.  I didn't think he would even have a costume this year and then he showed up at the Ward Party in full Benjamin Franklin mode.  It was priceless.

And the saddest thing this year is that I couldn't get Tanner or Ashlyn to dress up or take pictures. (other than Tanner wore a hat for a minute and called himself Abe Lincoln and Ashlyn put on a camo shirt and said she was a soldier).   This teenager business is tugging at my heart strings.  They are growing up too fast!

We really had the best Halloween and can't wait to get started on our pumpkins and costumes for next year!