Halloween

 I know I say this every year, but Halloween with little ones is just the best. We really love that they have so many opportunities to dress up and I feel like we've fully embraced the holiday by the time actual trick or treating happens! This year the real Halloween festivities started on Thursday with a carnival at Kaysville Elementary, where Nana teaches. Since I was still feeling sickish from the flu, my mom and Pam took the boys to the carnival and they had a great time!

 On Friday they celebrated at school. First there was a costume parade. Each kindergartener was paired with a 6th grader and Chase got lucky to be paired with cute Averee (who was in our old ward). Apparently he didn't want to hold her hand because "my hands get too sweaty!" and compromised on just holding one finger. After the parade the 6th graders put on a spook alley and party for the kindergarteners! Needless to say, Chase had a blast!

Friday night (when Ben was finally back in town!) we had our ward Halloween party! It was amazing! They had a delicious dinner, the whole church decorated, and lots of fun games and activities for the kids. Our boys had a great time. The only picture I got was Chase and his buddy Porter, who was wearing the same costume (thanks Costco!).

 I loved how cute they looked in their costumes this year! Chase saw this costume at Costco back in August and he loved it so we bought it. I've only now bought a grand total of 3 costumes EVER for my kids (all for Chase actually) and then each costume has been worn multiple years, by both kids! Hudson, magically and happily, has always been excited about wearing the hand-me-down costume, and this year was no exception. He was thrilled to be a fire-fighter!

 Saturday night we went to the trunk-or-treat in my parents ward, which is also our old ward. It was so fun. Chase loved running around with all his buddies and it was a beautiful, warm night!

 I love this picture with their cousins. Nora is super into Monsters Inc these days, so she was thrilled with the idea of wearing the old blue monster costume both my boys have worn and loved. So Anna was a tiny Mike Wizowski, Kate was Roz and Will was Mr. Waternoose. These boys love their cousins and it's so cute to see their bond grow!

 Monday, finally it was Halloween. We finally got our pumpkins carved. Ben figured out last year that it's easiest and fastest to use a drill, which is how we did most of their pumpkins which delights the boys. The boys picked out their pumpkins weeks ago with their grandparents, Hudson grabbed the first one he saw, and Chase carefully searched the pumpkin patch for the biggest one.

I decided to try to make "dinner in a pumpkin" for our Halloween dinner. When I explained it to Chase he gave me a huge hug and told me that I was the best mom in the whole world! And it was actually tasty and we all enjoyed it. I was also glad to get a good, healthy dinner in them before the deluge of candy. 

And then it was time for actual trick-or-treating. We stopped up at Nana's first, and did a few of their neighbors who love the boys. This Halloween was super fun because Aunt Heidi flew in for a few days, so she came trick or treating with us! Then we hit up our neighborhood and the boys pumpkins quickly filled up! Some of our neighbors really go all out- our favorite is the house that does homemade scones and hot chocolate! After trick-or-treating we snuggled up at home and watched "The Great Pumpkin" just like we did last year. It surprises me with how old that movie is, but our boys LOVE it. They think it's hilarious. It was a wonderful Halloween! 

Oh, and Hudson had me draw a mustache on his face for trick or treating because "I just need one, okay!"