Trick-or-Treat

Following our tradition, we carved jack-o-lanterns for Family Home Evening on the Monday before Halloween. It is always an adventure doing any type activity with our big family but, the end result is always fun to see. Our costumes this year are as follows: Esteban was a dementor (a character from the Harry Potter series), Ethan wanted to be a Peregrine falcon but, I didn't know how to make a Peregrine Falocn costume that looked like a Peregrine falcon. After I tried for days to no avail, he decided to be a vampire. I spent the next few days searching for vampire teeth. Of course, I didn't find any until I sent him to school as a quarterback (a big quarter on his back). I finally found some vampire teeth on Halloween morning so, that was his costume for that night. AJ was a pirate. Savanah decided she didn't want to be a princess (she is in a princess gown on a weekly basis, so maybe she doesn't count it as "dressing up"). She was also a pirate complete with a beard. She would say, "I'm a pirate. Arg!" Vanessa was a butterfly princess. Sarah means princess. Vanessa means butterfly. She refused to wear her crown and she was afraid of Esteban, so she ran out of the picture. Aaron was going to be a Mexican, with his Mexican shirt and sombrero, but he opted to stay home and hand out candy in the warm house. Vanessa liked wearing his hat.
My sister came over for dinner. We had hamburger jack-o-lanterns (a slice of cheese with a jack-o-lantern face cut into it on top of the hamburger) just like we did every year when we were kids. I also made cupcakes, but the picutre in Family Fun Magazine looked much better than my version.

In Texas, we had a trunk or-treat at the church on Halloween night. Here, we had it last Saturday. After a long and stressful day, I was happy that it was Halloween and I could go to a church activity in my pajamas. My sister and I took the kids out trick-or-treating for the first time in their lives. We went to the nearby neighborhood. You would never find this sign and a bowl of candy sitting on the doorstep in Texas. Maybe the sign and an empty bowl.

We only went to about 15 houses when the boys asked if they could go home and eat their candy. It was cold and I think that had something to do with it. Either way, I was happy to oblige. I decided that Halloween is a lot of work for us moms, but when all is said and done, it's all worth it.