Halloween Weekend

We had such a fun Halloween weekend, it was so busy with lots of activities. Too bad Daddy was in Camp Ripley to miss most of it. Thanks to Auntie Sara, Uncle Jeremy, Papa and Mimi and Auntie Naomi Momma made it through the weekend with some sanity left...;)
We carved pumpkins on Wednesday cause Daddy would be gone for the weekend and I had to work on Thursday night. I drew and Daddy carved the babies pumpkins, I traced and carved Grace's pumpkin and Joseph drew a face on his pumpkin and Daddy carved it. They loved doing the pumpkins, digging into it and the end result. After it all Daddy let them have their pumpkins in their room lit when they went to bed. (don't worry, I went in, shortly after and blew the candles out..:))
Friday Grace had her "Noah's Ark" Party at Preschool. They could dress up like an animal if they wanted to and when she caught wind of an animal costume party she immediately wanted to be a flamingo. We put together the costume on Thursday with pink things from all over the house. It worked! She had a lot of fun. On Friday night we went to the Reformation Party at church and played games and walked around a bit. Auntie Naomi and Connor came as a Bees! Joseph was a "Snake Eyes" from GI Joe, Grace was a flamingo, Livy was a Love Bug and Emily was Little Red Riding Hood. I dressed up in a blonde long wig and had a mask and just looked goofy. Amy couldn't get over it cause she said she thought I dressed up like Lady Gaga and it disturbed her! Oops. After the party we all went to Uncle Jeremy and Auntie Sara's house for a bonfire and sleepover. The girls didn't go to the Reformation party because they were getting ready for us to come! Uncle Jeremy had a fire going and Auntie Sara had the food on trays, hot dogs, chips, marshmallows for s'mores and hot cocoa in a thermos, what a treat! We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and enjoyed being together. It was a perfect night. The weather was perfect and we all had so much fun. Uncle Jeremy even played his guitar for us around the fire. Emily sat next to him and would put her hand on the guitar as he played, it was so sweet. She loved it! Connor did too!  We had a sleepover which was fun too. Brianna, Joseph, Bridget and Grace all piled into Brianna's room and Me and the babies went into Bridget's room. I think the kids got some sleep at least! :) When the Gardas family comes we sure know how to fill up a house! :/
They were up bright and early the next day! We had the parade to go to in downtown Anoka. Sara went at 9:00 to reserve seating for us at the parade. She came back so disappointed cause there were no more spots the whole parade route! They had room for only 2 chairs. We got ready to go, Joseph was a ninja, Grace a fairy princess, Livy was Dumbo, Emily was a Chick and I was a witch. Brianna and Bridget were also fairy princesses. Connor was sick with bronchitis so he didn't get to go to the parade. Papa and Mimi came to the parade too. We had so much fun there, even little Livy and Emily were clapping to the music and yelling at the floats and waving to the princesses!! It all worked out in the end, we had enough room, the kids were able to see the parade and catch some candy. It was another good weather day.
After the parade we went to Papa and Mimi's house for a Halloween party. Mimi had so much wonderful food there! She had little tacos, sloppy joes, spider web dip, pumpkin cheeseball, witch hat rolls, fanged apples and dip, bone breadsticks, witch finger cookies, popcorn balls and pumpkin cut out cookies to name a few things! It was fun! The kids enjoyed playing and eating. Connor came as a Giraffe, Brianna was Tinkerbell and Bridget was Belle.  They were so cute! We had a great Halloween party at Papa and Mimi's.
I stayed with the kids at Papa and Mimi's and I thought the kids would sleep in the next morning.  So, with Emily being up early, I snuck out of the room. About an hr after lounging around Grace came out of the room saying something about Livy and poop....no good...I ran in and here she had had poop all over the carpet, herself and objects in the room. I know she had eaten A LOT of candy the day/night before and so she had diarrea. She must have tried to take her jammies off once she had already pooped her pants and tripped and who knows, it was a complete mess. I felt horrible to say the absolute least. I put her in the tub and have probably scrubbed that carpet and room for hours since.  We hung out and I got the kids ready to go trick or treating. Daddy came and met us at Papa and Mimi's and from there we went to Grandpa and Grandma's house. She had pizza's for us all there before we went trick or treating. For Halloween Joseph was a Ninja, Grace was Pocahontas, Livy was a Love Bug and Emily was Piglet. We all went on a trailer that Grandpa pulled with the four wheeler. Reese was Supergirl, Gavin was a chicken and Brooke was a flower. Baby Graham, as a mouse, stayed back home with Uncle Jason and they handed out treats to the trick or treaters. We went to the "haunted house" right down the road where the people have a whole production set up with fake/live people set up along a path that you walk to the house. They must have 50-75 pumpkins lit everywhere and even a bonfire with a witch and her cauldron handing out candy. They were all so excited! Emily was so hyped and she would try to say trick or treat! Olivia was thrilled at each stop and was so busy with it all forgot to chow down on candy, she must have had her fill the day before! :) Grace and Joseph were down to business, they had a lot of fun. We ended up running down a few driveways, kids squealing and I cackled my witch cackle.

Pumpkin carving!

The Flamingo with Noah and Mrs. Noah

I guess Lady Gaga with her gaga's?! At the Reformation party

Roasting hotdogs!

So much fun at the bonfire!

The kids at Mimi's party ( I see I am missing a chick...)

The kids on Halloween 2010

Oops, sideways, but the witch of the bunch *cackle cackle*

Getting ready to go trick or treating

I wish I could bottle up their excitement, their smiles and laughter from the whole weekend. It is seriously priceless to see joy in a child, their excitement for life. They were so good (despite the poop incident) and loved every minute of it. Livy asked me when we left Grandpa and Grandma's when we can go trick or treating again...I told her she had to wait a whole nother year!!  ;)