Incredible Halloween

Halloween season started this year with our beloved Edwards Eerie Edibles.  It is hands-down my favorite of the traditions adopted from Brady's family.  We invited the Stebbins and Clarks over, who brought tons of creepily-named food to pile onto our bar.  

Brady and the kids worked diligently on decor while I cooked.  Or was it napped?

The 2018 Menu!  I love that Brady scorches it every year just like Dad Edwards.

Mummy wraps baked from dragon breath:

Tenderized and baked ogre toes (toe hair still intact) sourced from the swamps of the famous Breckenstien.

I love Heidi's pumpkin!

One of the best names of the night: Adolescent Dragon's heart

The girls dressed up and so did the boys.

The kids ate the ax candies on top of the pumpkin bars.  Before Halloween, you take any sugar you can get.

 The following weekend, I helped the PTA with the 2nd Annual Fall Fest.  I was in charge of advertising and prizes.  I told the kids they would each get one squishy for assembling these buckets of prizes without realizing it would take a full 90 minutes for them to complete.  It baffles me that I offer them $2 to vacuum my car (which would take 10-15 min), but they will work for a solid 90 min for a $0.10 squishy.  I also hired Kate's playdate with the same bribe.

Brady needed to be in Oahu that night so I was flying solo for the pumpkin painting contest.  If I'm keeping score (which of course I never do), this is the second time I did this event solo.  Zachary and Kate get invested into the pumpkin contest, and plan it out weeks in advance.  Sadly, it started to rain hard during the outdoor festival, but that did not stop Zachary from working inside the cafeteria for an hour almost by himself to finish his half-possessed Minion.

Owen loved playing the games at each booth, grabbing my hand and asking to do the sucker game:  "Again!  Again!"  He also kept his glasses on for a solid 10 minutes.

Spook photo booth: Zachary was still in the cafeteria.

Kate and Owen finished their pumpkins quickly--shave ice, anyone?

Nothing quite like the gut bomb you get from food truck grinds.

Two years ago, Kate's Cinderella pumpkin won the grand prize from Keoki's--a $50 gift card.  Zachary was a really good sport, but has never received recognition for his creative pumpkins.  When they started announcing winners of the three categories, Zac listened and hoped for his name to be called.  He stood and clapped when Kate won 2nd prize for creativity, even though he knew that meant there was only one prize left and not likely him.  I felt some mama angst in my heart as I watched him across the table, looking a tiny defeated but still clapping and cheering on everyone else.  Then, he won 1st place.  Hooray, Zachary!

Owen loves nothing more than princess dresses, but also wears this Cat Boy costume most days of the week (the days he is not wearing his Paw Patrol costume).  Saturday mornings are packed with sports: Zachary playing in the Papalina basketball league, and Kate with her soccer games.  This year, Kate's team was undefeated and she scored at least 1 goal in every game but one.

He makes this shot!

It is equal parts annoying and adorable when Owen demands that I hold him during the games and practices.

My Purple Pixie!

This particular Saturday, we barely squeezed in an hour at the beach.  The ward trunk or treat means lots of cooking and preparation.  I was getting pretty uptight and then I got in the water and it all went away.  Ocean vudu!

Zachary's friend David suggested that we be the Incredibles for Halloween.  I was not sure if Owen could pull off an 18 month costume in his 35 month old body, but when it mostly fit, we went for it.  We also bought into this costume even knowing that we would likely boil alive.  October is notorious for loss of trade winds and this October was no different.

We are still smiling big because there is air conditioning in the car.

Owen was thrilled to be Jack Jack.  We showed him clips of his character and he was an ace at posing and telling everyone who would listen about his character.

We only caught one family picture and our backdrop is pretty filthy.  The best part of our costumes was our footwear.  We did win that night for family costume.

The haul from that night made me want to force the kids to stay home on Halloween night.  I will never understand why there is an annual Trunk or Treat.  I love the Halloween party part but when the neighborhoods are safe, it seems ridiculous to do both.  Zachary spent the next day organizing and reorganizing his pile.

Owen joined in on the organizing, too.

Zachary has been on a kick, dressing this teddy bear and leaving him in random parts of the house.  I love coming around the corner to his surprises.  My favorite was when I went into the living room and found teddy watching TV with a bag of skittles and the movie blanket.

So much rain in October!

Snagging a picture of my daughter's long locks.

More Sunday fun.

We still watch America's Funniest Home Videos every Sunday night.

Matching fall toes:

Halloween Day started with the costume parade at school.  Kate was so excited to have Owen and Zac dressed up with her but almost cried when the school assembly lasted 45 minutes and she sat in the hot sun, fully costumed.

Owen refused to wear his costume's mask, and begged for Brady's gear.  It fit perfectly.

Aunty Vicky dressed as Penelope from "Wreck it Ralph":

Halloween was on Wednesday, and the kids were dismayed that we still had piano lessons.  We made the day festive afterwards by carving our peppers into jackolanterns for our quinoa-stuffed peppers.  Owen wanted to make hats.

We only had one photo and it was bust, so our neighbor was kind enough to snap a few photos before we took off to trick or treat in the 85% humidity.  Brady refused to dress up for the night but then reconsidered when he realized it was a huge deal to me.  I would love to say I would never sign up to wear something this hot again but I'm so happy with the pictures that I'm sure it will happen.

We spent to a candy swap with friends and came home to find that someone stole the table off our lanai, along with the candy and bowl.  Dang it!

It's happening!  The holidays are here.