A Wizard of Oz Halloween

Halloween was never my favorite holiday. I'm not super crafty, I'm too cheap to buy anything super cool for a costume; and I found that it took too much effort to come up with a different cheap, clever costume every year.

But now I have kids. And Halloween is suddenly so much more fun! I'm still not crafty, but I'm willing to put forth some effort. This year I was determined to do a family theme - I have so many fun ideas and I know I won't get the chance to use them all (ya know, kids having opinions and all that jazz...). Luckily, Steve trusts me and he lets me choose the costumes - he's so good to just go with it.

A few days before Halloween, we carved our pumpkin. Ellie chose a sad face for our pumpkin this year. She also ventured into the pumpkin and wasn't so afraid of the guts this year. Hunter on the other hand...he was having no part of it :) Sounds familiar.

Our friend Amber Anderson was in town for a few days, so she held Dallas, Steve and the kids cleaned out the pumpkin and did the carving, and I kept the Michael Jackson tunes going while prepping the pumpkin seeds for the oven.

 Hunter "helping"

 Ellie wasn't afraid of the guts this year!

Amber taking care of Dallas

 Dallas with the finished product - can you tell he's loving his first Halloween?

What a sad pumpkin face

The weekend prior to Halloween, I won tickets to an event called the Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead: Night of the Living Farm. Steve and Ellie went one night for their daddy/daughter date.

For this particular event, Ellie wore her Dorothy costume and Steve was a cowboy.

Ellie posing with the ghosts around a campfire

The next night was our ward trunk or treat. For Halloween this year, we all dressed up as characters from The Wizard of Oz.

All dressed up at the ward trunk or treat

The carnival was fun this year because Ellie was big enough to play the games. Hunter just enjoyed running all over the place while munching on apple cider donuts. And Dallas...he just slept in the stroller like a good baby :)

 A scarecrow and Dorothy with the yellow brick road

"If I only had a brain..."

Halloween Night:

 Just leaving for trick or treating - in the chilly 38 degree weather

Dallas and I stayed home to pass out candy. However, after two or three houses, I took coats to our freezing children. Hunter wanted to show me his favorite treat - a bouncy ball - one he never let go of the entire time he was trick or treating. This is him saying, "Uhhh?!" (If you've heard how he says it and his crazy-awesome inflection, you know exactly what I'm talking about!)

All in all, it was a fun Halloween!