Halloween Week!

This was was very full, and I have way to many pictures. I have made a couple slide shows just to try to simplify the uploading, but I still have a ton. There were so many activities for Halloween, and so many treats. We had very full days almost all week.

Monday was our only day that wasn't jam packed. I did a few errands with the kids, but we spent a lot of time at home.

Linda brought over cookie supplies for Keira while I coached, and she enjoyed decorating them with her.



Cristina came with me to GOTR today since my assistant, Carla, was out of town. It was fun to have her workout with the girls, and they really liked her. They are just a little older than her boys, so I felt like she did a better job with them than me. That evening, I started my Halloween treat making, that seemed to last all week. Ryan also worked on Bobby Flay's chili recipe for the ward party on Tuesday

On Tuesday, the Halloween and Fall excitement was in full swing. After Keira came home from school, we had a great time playing in some leaves that I raked up for the sole purpose of playing. Since the condo provides yard service, they could just spread them out as much as they wanted.

We also hit Maybury in the evening. It was so beautiful, I wish we had gone a little earlier so that I could have taken some pictures of the trees with more light. The colors were just so beautiful. Then went to the church Trunk or Treat. Keira had a great time, and there were some great costumes. We were disappointed that our chili didn't win, but we really liked it. When I came back, I did a bit more treat work, including making cookie dough for cookies for Keira's school party.
Avery, Asheley, and Keira
Bishop Scissorhands
Octomom


On Wednesday, we had a more low key day, but our evening was pretty packed. I finished up my Halloween pops that I had been working on the past few evenings so that I could take them with a meal to a friend's home and Ryan took them home teaching. I had a brief but nice visit with Rebecca when I brought her dinner, and Ryan and I were finally able to eat our dinner once the kids were in bed. Then I had to make the cookies.


I added cats to my Halloween pop assortment this year. They were very tasty since they were covered in real chocolate instead of candy melts.
Here is the finished product, wrapped and ready to go.

Thursday contained more Halloween fun. It started with Keira's "Black and Orange Party". Costumes were not allowed so that the children were not afraid of each other. They sang Halloween Songs before breaking into their "centers", where they decorated the cookies I brought, counted pumpkin seeds into bags, and glued paper pumpkins to sticks for a poem. Keira is pictured with Charlotte in all of these photos. They are really becoming good friends.




Once we got home, Keira decorated the remainder of the cookies, which was a lot less than I thought.

I also got a couple pictures of them clowning around in the kitchen.


We went to Maybury in the evening, and the kids enjoyed the leaves. I was happy to finally take an evening off of treat making.


Friday was a fun morning at home. I watched Kate (Valerie and I have quite the nice child swap worked out, although I feel like I have the easier end with Kate playing so well so far), and managed to keep all three kids entertained for the morning in our kitchen with the help of lots of toys.
Soren had a little mishap with the largest bin. He was unhurt, so it is OK to laugh.


While the kids played, I baked skull cupcakes to take to a party in the evening. I got this idea from cupcakes I saw at our trunk or treat. I had initially planned to take the Halloween pops, but we had given away and eaten too many to bring what we had left at this point, and we were also nearly out of cookies already as well.


The party this evening was a combination birthday and costume party. It was Ella's first birthday. The kids had a great time, and Keira won the best costume for the children. Here is the birthday girl, Ella.

Soren had a fun time trying on the cat ears. He put them on his head his self for this shot.

Saturday was yet another big day. I started the morning with an 8 mile run with Valerie and Barb in the neighborhood, and then got signed up for a gym membership at a new local gym. Ryan went for a ride at Novi Tree Farm. While Ryan was gone, I was able to get our pumpkin carved. I was really pleased with how it turned out.
Here we are in our skull tees before changing into costumes.

Then, we had to hurry to get ready for trick or treating. We went to downtown Northville again this year, and Kris and Linda met up with us. We started at the fire station where we got our Parmenter's cider and donuts. Keira had the drill down this year, although was frightened by a few homes. Soren, on the other hand, did not want to be carried, nor did he want to walk from house to house. He just wanted to run around the streets (which were fortunately closed off) and play in the leaves. Eventually, we got sick of dragging him around and put him in the stroller for a while, and then once we took him out, he let us carry him. After about an hour and a half, they were "done" so we headed home so each could have one treat before bed. We also got on our skeleton pjs.

Sunday was the time change, and of course, the kids didn't sleep in at all. Today was also my first time doing the "Sharing Time" portion of primary all by myself. I was just a little nervous about it, and had a rather stressful start when more teachers were missing today than expected, but it went fairly well once the initally start up issues were resolved. We had a great dinner and dessert at Kris and Linda's right after church. It was great. Keira and Soren both really enjoyed playing with the rocking chair, and I got some cute pictures.

Keira and Soren both squeezed into the chair together. Soren preferred to sit and stand on it alone.
He was very pleased to be able to get in and out by himself.

Up for next week, I am hoping to get into a good schedule with my gym membership, especially after all the treat making and eating. We will also need to adjust our Maybury trips with the time change causing it to get dark even earlier than before. We are looking forward to a less busy week for sure.