Happy Halloween!! And Walk-A-Thon

On the night before Halloween our ward held a party in a members yard and it was really great. There were hot dogs and chili and a bunch of little booths - it reminded me of a school carnival, only it was free! Awesome for a cheapskate like myself! It was really fun, and there were some great costumes. One dad was a "tooth fairy" in a sparkly white tutu, and two different couples were Napoleon Dynamite and his girlfriend, and one of them did the awesomest rendition of Napoleon's dance I've ever seen! It was hilarious! The kids got to wear their costumes and win candy (Thatcher would just walk up and take it without waiting in line or playing the game) and got their faces painted.

I am having such a hard time feeling the season cause of the warm weather. What? It's fall? No, it's summer! I did, however, let Gretchen decorate the pumpkins (probably only cause Grandma Holmes bought the pumpkins while she was here!) She obviously can't wield a knife, so we let her paint them. She loves it - especially 'cause I'm a lame mom that doesn't let her paint any other time!

So Gretchen particpated in the school walk-a-thon Friday morning. She was pretty unsure of it at first and didn't want to do it. But by the end of the hour she was having fun! Slow to warm up that one is. It was a pretty fun little deal - they had a DJ and decorations and otter pops to eat after.


They did a great little warm up in the middle of the field.
You can see her in the pink capris and black shirt (which she got for acquiring pledges - Thanks grandparents!) and her overly excited expression.


This was held on Halloween, but they didn't wear costumes to school, although they did have a little party. Something about a pagan holiday? More politically correct blah blah. Oh boy.

We did some trick or treating, well actually a friend in the neighborhood invited us over for soup and talked the men into taking the kids trick or treating so the wives could chit chat! What a FABULOUS idea! The kids had a great time, as did we. Here are some pics of batGIRL and robin!



Gretchen is a bit of a tomboy and insisted on being Batman - but allowed batGIRL (although I am not sure this character really exists. Don't tell her, she is convinced of it and constantly asked me about details!)
I am so grateful for amazon.com and their costume selection! Luckily I needed only a minor adjustment to create batgirl, which was FAB, seeing as I don't sew!
They both had a blast wearing the costumes and had a hard time taking them off at the end of the night!
You can see how much he LOVED the mask! He says, "NO eyes! No eyes!"