Trunkerfest at Church

(This post is also out of order and should have been posted last Friday, October 28, 2011.)
AHHH! It is the Pumpkin Monster Taryn. Taryn scared the crap out of me this morning when I walked into the kitchen. Little stinker. She had found her treat bag and her pumpkin mask and decided to scare me.

Not that we haven't been having lots of Trick-or-Treating, but we had the church's Trunkerfest tonight. The kids could go and play games, trunk-or-treat and then the whole family could have dinner. Sounded great to us. Once again the kids were able to use their costumes. I love it when they are used and not just worn for a few hours. (makes the cost of them, worth it)

Vaughn decided to give Tyson a little "trick". He held up the treat bag and said, "Get it!" Yeah right. Poor kid. Vaughn is such a tease with the kids.

The many, many curls of Taryn Jackson's head. I am so blessed to have a little girl who will hold still while mom takes 30 minutes to make lots of little curls all over her head, and then pulls it all up. WHEW! We have performed this small feat for the past 2 nights. I was glad to see that she would let me keep doing it.

I always dress up like a witch because the costume is easy, but this year I decided to break out of the mold and be something else. I chose a cowgirl costume. I was told I cheated because I used to be a cowgirl and had everything for the costume at my house. What can I say? I go for the easy costumes.

We added a little flair to Taryn's costume and put a little sparkly eye shadow and black jewels on her face. She liked it!

My Jedi in training. He had more fun with this costume. He loved pretending that he was Obi-wan Kanobi. I love it when they use their imaginations to have fun.

Just a cute photo.

The church had rented a BIG blow up, double slide. Taryn wanted me to take her down. It was a rush and I inherited a nice burn on my elbow to slow us down, but it was still fun. After I took her down the first time, she decided that she was a big enough girl to go down herself. She went up and down at least 100 times. No exaggeration there. It was another fun night.

BOO at the ZOO

(This post is out of order. It should have been made several days before, but when one looses the pictures, things like this happen.) Don't they look ready to ask for candy? Our fun filled time with Kariann and Grace Ann is still going strong. I decided that they needed to get some use out of these Halloween costumes more than once so we took them all to the "Boo at the Zoo".

Certain nights during the month of October the local zoo has an evening event where the price is half off and the kids can come trick-or-treating at the zoo with the animals. We didn't make this event last year, but I was determined that we were going to go this time.

Our first stop was the Scary-go-round. Their merry-go-round was decorated all Halloween style and instead of going forward, it went backwards, hence the "scary" part of the ride. The kids all had a ball, I about threw up, but didn't. I don't do well with things that go around and around, but I took one for the team and braced for the wave of nausea to be with my kiddos.

Throughout the zoo were all kinds of people dressed up as all characters. Tyson was thrilled to see a fellow Jedi master and storm trooper. We had to get a photo.

My kids love Looney Toons. A picture with Bugs and Sylvester couldn't be passed up.

The cat in the hat with thing 1 and thing 2. Grace Ann didn't want to be near them. Kinda funny.

Watch out for the camels they spit!

The "belly" dancers. There was a group of real belly dancers at one of the animal stations and they allowed the kids to dance with them. Taryn was less than pleased that her mother shoved her into this situation just to get a picture. She will thank me later.

Scooby, dooby do!

They even had the tradition Halloween graveyard decorations. It was nice weather, so walking around the zoo at night was pleasant. No one complained. YEAH!

The princesses. We couldn't pass these three ladies up without taking a photo with them. Tyson was a little scared to sit too close to Snow White. Such a boy!

The kids trick-or-treated down the trail and ended up with lots of candy and toys. Then it was off to the big white tent for some Monster Mashing Dancing. All three of them were dancing fools. Tyson is especially talented as a dancer and I am not being bias. The kid has moves and rhythm. HA HA HA. His dad will love that!

After several long dancing songs the kids were pooped! It was past every one's bedtime and so we packed it up and headed home. I am glad we were able to go and experience this fun time at the zoo. We will definitely be going back next year.

It's HALLOWEEN!!!!

After a full week of playing Halloween the "Official" day has come. We were fortunate enough to go trick-or-treating with our good friends the Thompsons. They said their neighborhood was a great place to let the kids go door-to-door asking for candy. (You never know these days where a good, safe place is to trick-or-treat) So we jumped at the offer. I got some action shots of the kids saying trick-or-treat and then "Thank you". We really practiced the last part.

Some of the home owners were even dressed up, which makes it all the more fun.

Tyson said he had his light saber out to warn off any bad guys in case they came to steal their candy. My little hero. Always looking out for everyone. Love him.

Ella the mermaid and Taryn the pumpkin fairy. Two cute little friends. They enjoyed riding in the wagon when their little legs started to give out from all the walking.

It was a faboolous way to end the Halloween Holiday. We now have two grocery bags full, and I mean full, of candy. Thank goodness I can hide it and ration it out a few pieces at a time. Although, Vaughn seems to find the stash and takes a good share of the candy. HA HA HA Gotta love it! Happy Halloween.

Trunk or Treat at CBES

Are we ready to trick-or-treat? Tonight was the annual Cedar Bluff Elementary School trunk-or-treat fest. One damper was the rain, so instead of trunk-or-treating outside they changed it to an inside festival. Each class is asked to decorate a trunk for the kids to trick-or-treat at, and since I was over Tyson's class last year I knew what a BIG deal this was going to be. It started at 5:30 in the evening but we were standing in line at 4:45 and there was already a line to get into the school gym. Luckily when the rain started, the kids and I were standing under the walk way's over hang and we stayed dry. I asked Melody and the kids to come with us. It is always more fun when you can do things together with others.

It's the Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi. I went to great lengths to procure his costume this year and the reaction on his face made it all worth it. He loves Star Wars and dressing up like a Jedi was pure fun.

As we got into the school there was a station where the cat in the hat was serving green eggs and ham.

Taryn was looking at him like, "I might like to try them here or there." HA HA HA. It was great.

The Jedi and the pirate. The kids enjoyed trunk-or-treating together.

Princess Belle and the Pumpkin Fairy. Two cute little friends.

Not the best picture, but the gym was so dark and my less-than-wonderful-picture-taking-skills and camera weren't up to par. I just wanted proof of her trunk-or-treating. We had practiced saying "trick-or-treat" and then "thank you" all afternoon. She did it well. I didn't even have to remind her about it.

A princess, Jedi, pirate, and pumpkin fairy all happy about their candy loot. Now the question was, "When can I eat my candy?" I was thinking the same thing!

Halloween at the Library

It is Halloween time! Yes! I love this time of year. It is my favorite holiday and I have made that impact on my kiddos too. They like dressing up for the season. Once again, the Cedar Bluff Library had a Halloween party/story time. The kids are allowed to dress up. Last year it was packed with all kind of cute kids dressed up in costumes, but it was different this year. Taryn and a few other kids were dressed up and the rest were in their regular clothes. Party poopers. It didn't bother Taryn, she loves to dress up no matter what the occation.

Her is Taryn and the story time lady. (Funny thing is, I don't know her name. We have been going to story time for over a year and I don't think she has ever said her name). Taryn loves to listen to her tell the stories and sing the songs.

Before we went to story time, the Pumpkin Fairy had to get all dolled up. This is last year's costume, but she wanted to wear it again, and who am I to get in the way of that. It actually fits her this year and so looks so darn cute!

She wanted an orange wig, and we could find all colors of the rainbow, except orange. So mom had to come up with a different plan. I told Taryn we would puts lots of curls up on top of her head. 30 minutes later, this was the result.

She was satisfied with the end result and forgot all about the wig. WHEW! I dodged a tantrum on that one. The Halloween story time was just as fun as last year. Bring on the rest of the week of Halloween fun. Taryn has her costume all worked out and all is right in the world.