Trick r Treat

A few highlights from our Halloween...

I don't like to spend a lot of money on costumes. ( I know I'm cheap, but it adds up with four kiddos.) But I also like my kids to be able to pick out what they want to be...within reason. Sometimes that means we get creative. This year Maren really wanted to be a dolphin...and she decided this a week before hand. (Before this she wanted to be Annie from her beloved magic tree house series. Hmmm, and I wonder why I have a few grey hairs). So back to the dolphin. I bought a few pieces of craft foam and stapled them together to look like a head, flipped it inside out and put eyes on it. Viola a dolphin head. But the body not so much, I tried stapling a few more pieces together and even made flippers and a fin. But the problem is, Maren NEVER stops moving, so by the time the first costumed activity was over, it had been re-stapled twice and was apparent it wasn't going to work. We made due for the church trunk r treat, no time, and she didn't wear it half the night. So by the time the school activities rolled around, I had to get those creative juices flowing and opted to pin the said flippers and fins on a sweatshirt, which luckily worked beautifully and she was able to wear it all day for school and trick or treating that night.
Lesson: Maybe buying would have been easier this year=)

This is the cute game she and a few friends were in charge of at her school.

Amanda opted to use a gift card she had earned for reading last year to buy her a Cleopatra costume...it was cute, and she loved it. Couldn't resist a princess and her toad picture.

Jacob was a cute monkey,

This was a Christmas gift from the kids cousins a few years back...he looked so cute...
when he would put it on.

And Spencer was a pirate,

I did spend a few dollars on the hat and hook, but he'll use it a ton at home, so well justified. It was a good Halloween, nice that is was cool enough to not be sweating in our costumes this year. And, I think my favorite part was the costume parade at school. The kids haven't had that activity at any school they have attended in the past, so it was fun to see them so excited about being able to wear their costumes at school.

And to burn off all the energy from the sugar rush we took them for a good long ride along the Colorado river. Actually we have done this a few times lately, as we bought Spencer a tag-along, and we can now make some long distances without the two boys fighting in the trailer. Yeah! I was very impresses when the kids made it seven miles one day.

And because they still have more energy to burn off...
We have this enormous tree in our backyard that has given us tons of shade this year, and now we love jumping in it's leaves. The kids have been climbing up on the lower branches and jumping all week. .


They also fastened this jumping ball to one of the branches with a jump rope today after the leaves had been raked and left out for collection...I guess they have to have something to do right?