Halloween partying

 All told, we participated in five Halloween parties. No, seven. Apparently we know people who love Halloween. That includes a party with each of my extended families, a preschool party, a first grade party, a Barton party (pictured), my witches party, and the kids having a party with grandma and grandpa while Levi and I went on a date.

 At the Barton party, we made spiders and monster puppets, and played a spider web game, before dinner and trick or treating.

 Sadly, these are the only pictures I managed to get are blurry and terrible. This year, we had a storm trooper, witch, bee, and dinosaur or Pete's Dragon, if you will. And the best part is, I didn't have to make any of them. I found them all at a consignment sale. I paid less than 10 dollars for all of them, total. I did make Nathan's storm trooper helmet, relying extensively on a pinterest tutorial. Nathan loved it, so it didn't matter so much that it looked a little wonky. Wish I'd gotten a better picture.

 The bigger cousins quickly outpaced the littles, so Levi went ahead with Nathan and Clara, carrying Peter, while I stuck with the slower Alice and the twins.

Alice was, in a word, adorable. She was too shy to speak for most of it. I'd ask her to say thank you, and she wouldn't. But at one house, she got brave. We got halfway back up the driveway, having gotten her candy, before uttering a very soft thank you. Then she piped up louder: "I did it, Mom!" After that, she'd always say it after we left the door, making sure to tell me she'd done so. By the end of the night, she said it so someone could actually hear her.

The evening was beautiful; the temperature in the sixties. Once it got dark, Alice saw an aspen tree with orange lights. She stopped. "Mom, that tree is all... Christmas! I want to touch it!" And she did.

Farmington trick-or-treating is a far cry from our neighborhood. We went to one especially posh house where a lady dressed as Cinderella opened the door, revealing an entry tiled with marble, crystal chandelier, etc. Clara later told me about it and asked, "Was she REALLY Cinderella?" Just think, a real princess castle right here in our state.

 

So, Halloween, we did you up right this year.