Halloween 2016

We had such an amazing Halloween season this year full of so much fun and last night was the perfect ending with my Cinderella, gus-gus and prince.

Every year we head over to the Lake Nona area and trick-or-treat in a little town that is just absolutely adorable.  The first year we lived here I wanted to trick-or-treat there because I didn't know the areas around here very well but I felt like that area seemed safe...and the scenery didn't hurt either.    It ended up being so much fun and the sidewalks have tons of cute kids and lots of the home owners end up going all out with their decorations and then sit on their porches handing out candy.  

After about an hour (when it started to get dark) we met up with some friends  to finish up the houses on the way back to our car. I am bummed because I forgot to get a picture with them... but here Jordan is on the phone with them. :)

Also note Myra's concerned face because Max was holding her Nerds... hahaha

Now we have candy coming out our ears and I have no idea what to do with it all....any ideas?  It's quickly disappearing into the tummies of Myra and yours truly.... which is NOT what I want.  

When we got home (far past their bedtimes) we finally sat down for the dinner I made.  We were in such a rush to get out the door for trick-or-treating that we didn't get a chance to eat.  I have been on  the hunt for a delicious Halloween dinner that we can keep for a tradition and I just haven't seemed to find "the one"... I liked what we had this year, but I am not sure it is "the one".  We had a pumpkin chili with extra sharp shredded cheese on top and a delicious pumpkin salad from Trader Joes.  

Once the kids were down Jord and I put on Hocus Pocus (I have watched this movie every year since I was very young), ate some of our children's candy and then went to bed.  

So sad to say goodbye to the Halloween season but extra excited to say hello to Thanksgiving and Christmas.  This time of the year is the best!

Trunk-or-treat

Saturday night our church had their annual Trunk-or-Treat and we had so much fun!!! 

We all gathered for a fun BBQ at the beginning and Myra ran around with her cute friend...he was dressed as a pumpkin and I had to laugh because he totally fit into our family Cinderella theme!

Myra desperately wanted to be Cinderella for Halloween and when I asked her what she wanted me to be she declared, "CINDERELLA".  So i give you, Cinderella (pre sister abuse), Cinderella, prince charming, and gus-gus!.

Saturday morning I realized... "Wait a minute, I think we are supposed to decorate our cars for this...?"  Unfortunately Jordan was busy studying at school all day and I still had to finish up some of our costumes so I quickly whipped up a carriage for our car.  I wanted to add a bunch more to it but it ended up working great and Myra LOVED it.. (she cried this morning when I threw it away).

That laugh!!!! hahahaha I love that girl.
She is usually SO painfully shy and can't even look and smile at a person she doesn't know super well let alone TALK to them but just like last year for trick-or-treating she smiled, said "trick-or-treat" and "Thank you so so much!!!!" to everyone!  I was really proud of her.  The candy helps I think :).  She is very excited to go door to door tonight... As am I!
SaveSave

Looking back on halloween

We are so excited for Halloween!!!  Myra keeps saying to me, "Trick-or-Treat pleaaaaaase?".

Last night Jordan and I were getting some of our costumes made and I started thinking back to Myra's very first Halloween and had to dig through our photo albums on my computer so I could find them and look at her cute chubby cheeks.  I have to stop myself from looking at old baby photos too often because it makes me get really emotional and sad that she is growing up.  She was such a delightful baby with yummy yummy cheeks... BUT on the bright side it is so so fun to see her excited and really get into the spirit of it.  And while she isn't a delightful chubby baby anymore she is a hilarious toddler that I simply ADORE! ( I just have a thing for babies...ok?!)

For her first Halloween the two of us were in Newport with Jordan's family (but without him) and we went trick-or-treating at Balboa Island.  It was a blast and SO fun because they REALLY get into decorating over there.  

Unfortunately not too long into the fun Myra vomited ALL over me (two posts in a row about her with a tummy bug? haha oh my!) and I had to endure the rest of the night like that because we were on an island with a large group of people.  

Here is a picture of us on the ferry boat on our way back with me covered....
It still ended up being really fun but I felt so bad for her.
I caught the tummy bug not too long after.

Anyways, I am so excited to dress up as a family this year for our ward trunk-or-treat AND trick-or-treating.  TWICE!!!!??? YAY.  And Jordan is really grateful I am not making him wear any face make-up haha.

"Carvin' Punkins"

I absolutely just LOVE this time of year.  The pumpkin spiced everything, Halloween movie and decorations, costumes and  creativity everywhere and the glorious weather... While we may not be where there are beautiful leaves, the weather here has been dreamy the past few weeks.  And by dreamy... I mean PERFECT!  SO for family home evening last night we went out front of our home and carved a pumpkin while basking in the perfect weather!  

Myra chose a kitty cat to carve and was SO funny about the pumpkin slime.  She absolutely refused to touch it.  I was all over that stuff when I was little!  

Her little hand on his shoulder.... HEART MELTED!  

These two together are so adorable! 

Max just sat there and chewed on pumpkin most of the time.  

The carving of the pumpkin was taking awhile and my little one is not so patient... So we found other activities to do while Jord tried to quickly finish it up.  Here is Myra admiring the cloud formations and jet plane flying by...

And.... the cat.

Then of course we needed a picture all together with the self timer... I was trying to do it quickly with the camera on a chair so the top of the pic is a bit cut off.... but at least we are all in it :).

When I was growing up we carved our pumpkins pretty far in advance to Halloween but I am starting to hear that lots of people do it on the day of Halloween.  In Utah the pumpkins last pretty long after being carved but as we are learning here, they mold super fast.  When do you usually carve pumpkins?  Do you have any fun traditions with it?