Halloween 2013

I'm lumping all of our October adventures into one big post...get ready to be inundated with pictures! =)

Ezra has been planning out how to decorate our yard SINCE we moved in!

 HA!  

When I finally agreed to pull down the decorations on October 1st, he was ECSTATIC!

Of course, October is the month of crafts at our house.  This kid LOVES Halloween crafts! 

To shake things up a bit this year we tried a new one...sun catchers! 

Ezra was a HUGE fan of watching the plastic beads melting in the oven, and they didn't turn out half bad. 

Can you see his vampire bat's red eyes?

I know I joke a lot about how "season-less" the bay areas is, but if you look for it...

...signs of the year passing can be found in the most random places.  

We discovered this amazing fall view at the lake by our house.

Junie had her first play date ever with her friend Madeline.  

They both slept the morning away while their mommies chatted away and strolled along the lake. 

We were excited to wake up to a few REALLY cold mornings.  

I taught Ezra the "blanket over the heater vent trick" and for some reason it made me heart ache.  

I remember sitting on the heater vents in Utah in the early morning watching the snow fall.  

Oh my little baby, you are getting so big!

We had SO much fun carving pumpkins with the Marceys family in their new place (well...not so new, they've been there for a while now, but it was our first time visiting).

At first Ezra wanted NOTHING to do with the pumpkin innards...

...so he sat with me and ate Dee's AMAZING caramel popcorn while we watched Daddy carve.

I love that Talin can just free hand amazing things like this!  

Mine would have been all lopsided and wobbly.

After seeing how much fun everyone else was having, Ezra finally decided to jump in on a design that Daddy helped him make. 

(See those scars all over the pumpkin face, he thought of those all by himself and was SUPER proud).

We used glow sticks to light them up in different colors. 

(such a fun idea Dee!)  

Where was baby June during all of this? 

Asleep on the couch, surrounded by pillows. =)  

She is SUCH a good baby!

Then came the day I was looking forward to the most....the SCHOOL PARTY!  

We were almost late for the parade but we got there just in time to see this cute little policeman pass by.

Junie thought all of the kids in costume were hilarious!  

She spent the entire morning giggling at warriors, princesses, and creatures.

Back in the classroom, each kid got to stand up and describe their costume and why they chose it. 

 5 year olds are SO funny!  

Ezra said he chose his costume becuase he wants to be a policeman one day and chase down the "Joker"....wait what? 

 I have absolutely NO idea what he's talking about! 

HA HA!

Such a fun group and kids!

After costume sharing it was time for snaaaaaaaaaaaacks.....

.......soooo many delicious treats!  

Ezra's favorite was the Frankenstein cookie that he saved until very last to eat.

Once everyone was sufficiently high on sugar, they played a game to one of my favorite stories, "The Little Old Woman Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything."  

It was so fun and creative!

The next day, Halloween, started with cookie baking (of course!)....

...using Great Grandma Christensen's honey cookie recipie.  

EVERY time we make these cookies I'm trasported back to my mom's kitchen and my sisters and I sneaking dough trimmings when she wasn't looking. 

Mmmmmmmm cooooookie dough trimmings.

While Ezra decorated his cookie bats and pumpkins, I finished up June's costume (SO many glue sticks this year.....) Then we waited for the sun to go down.

By the time Talin got home from work, Ezra was dressed, ready, and nearly frothing at the mouth to start trick-or-treating in his very own neighborhood!

After a SUPER quick chili dinner, we put out the pumpkins....

...and away we went

But, not before I made everyone sit for a family photo of course!  

HA!  

Every single one had blurry children in it.  

I'm pretty sure June could feel the excitement...she was a wiggle worm!

I did get a cute one of the family out on the prowl though! 

( I submited this picture to our pediatrician's costume contest and we won first prize!  Woooooo! This was by far the MOST laid back I have ever been about Halloween costumes...who knew?)

We walked ALLLLLLLLL over our VERY hill-filled neighborhood.  

Talin and I assumed that Ezra would peter out after a bit but he was like the energizer bunny...

"Must get all the candies!"

Junie and I stuck around for a few houses on the block, then we headed home to pass out candy while the boys hit every house they could.  

People went ALL out with their decorating (including this strange shadow puppet show).

It was fun to see how Halloween is done up here!

Eventually, the boys straggled in with a HUGE bucket of candy and one tired little policeman.

Our first Halloween in our own place was WONDERFUL. I had forgotten how much fun neighborhood life can be!  

Happy Halloween Castro Valley!