Halloween is here

So, it is officially close enough to Halloween for me to be willing to dress my kids up.
Our first Halloween celebration this week was another package in the mail. This time it was from Grandma Allred and had some fun stuff inside. We LOVE getting packages in the mail.
{Brandon, getting in to the sugar cookie}
{This picture is for Dad since I realized there are no other pictures of me. This is where I sit while the boys open packages.}
Next was our official pumpkin decorating night. You would think that boys could handle the goey mess from inside the pumpkin, but they kept asking if they could wash there hands and then come back and finish their pumpkins. So, I made a one time hand wash rule. Once your hands are washed no more pumpkin cleaning for you!

The pumpkins turned out great, and the boys are so happy to have them on our front porch.

Last night was the ward Trunk or Treat. Definitely one of our favorite church activities. There always seems to be a chili cook-off competition with these events, and most of you know how much Steve LOVES to cook. Especially for other people who are going to tell him how Dang good it is. So, he made his chili Tuesday night so we would be able to get to the church on time after work Wednesday. About half hour before we left I put the chili on the stove to warm it up. (It was delicious by the way, we had some on Tuesday night.) Well...... after turning the stove to HIGH, I left the kitchen and started getting the boys ready for the evening. Steve was busy cutting a Halloween costume for Nathan. After some time I start smelling something pretty bad. So, I run in the kitchen and immediately start stirring the chili. Big mistake. The bottom was SOOO burned, and I was just stirring the burned pieces in with the rest of the chili. So this huge pot of award winning chili worth at least 20 dollars of ingredients was ruined along with an awful smell in the house. I was very upset that I didn't follow my first thought which was to let it warm up on a more reasonable temperature. I do have to say though, Steve was so nice about it, he of course was disappointed, but just said there is nothing we can do about it, and that was the end of it. This is usually my philosophy on things, but this time he took the laid back approach while I was pretty bothered by it. :-)

Now back to the costumes. The boys all got to choose what they wanted to be this year except for Jacob. He was the right size for my German costume that I had and he was going to be my model whether he liked it or not. Luckily the people at church thought he was adorable, and that was what he wanted. He kept telling me that he wanted to look cute. haha I honestly think this is the best costume any of my kids have ever dressed in. I LOVE IT!
{He gets two pictures for being the cutest}{Steven - Ninja}
Ok, now this is another story. Nathan had been saying all month that he wanted to be a ghost. I looked online and at the stores for a typical white ghost costume and did not find one anywhere. So, Steve willingly said he would cut Nathan a ghost costume out of a white sheet. Well, he got a little scissor happy and cut that thing to shreds! They finally decided Nathan looked more like a mummy than anything. But since Nathan couldn't eat with his hands and mouth covered, the costume didn't last more than 20 minutes. You will probably be seeing him in something different on my Halloween night post. :-){Brandon as a knight}To finish the evening off I was so excited to see Nathan sit down, dump out his candy and separate it in to piles. Do you remember doing this!! What a great Halloween tradition, and he knew just what to do without any suggestions from me. Apparently he was looking for gum and was a little upset when he had No gum pile.