Halloween 2020

Gotta start Halloween week off right with a super cute dance routine. Sarah and Erica did MMHS dance team's clinic. Erica did it last year but Sarah couldn't because it conflicted with piano. This year it didn't conflict with piano so they both got to dance all week long. Well for an hour for 4 days. Thursday night was their performance. 

Erica got pretty nervous while we were getting ready to leave. She says she wanted to do it as much as she didn't want to do it.

I don't think Sarah gets nervous to do stuff in front of people.

Cute face Jamers.

A week later, last Thursday, was our ward trunk or treat. For the first time ever Justin and I both stayed back with the car (with a broken handle so we didn't even get to use our trunk) while James went off with the kids. This way I got to see all the cute primary kids that I miss so much. I was just beginning to learn all their names when we closed up in March so there was a lot of greeting "cutie" and "bud" on my part. 

Sarah with her ward friends Izzy and Addie.

This is my Alaska moose hat that I got from my mom when they were living in Alaska and Justin and I were just dating.

These are the Rohatinsky boys that moved in 4 years ago and are moving this week. Henry and Sarah are good friends with both of them and will be sad to say goodbye. They may be the only boys in the neighborhood more obsessed with sports than Henry.

Wednesday we carved pumpkins. I don't feel like moving all the pictures so out of order they'll remain. This is the face James drew for his pumpkin. I put the paper on his pumpkin, pressed hard as I traced it and wa-la! How'd I do?

I asked him to make the face his pumpkin has. These might be my favorite pictures of him in a long time.

Here's the face Erica wanted. I didn't trace it but did my best to recreate it.

Here's the backside of Henry's. My favorite part is the shadow it cast on the wall.

Sarah wanted a polka dot pumpkin so she got to use the drill to make hers. She chose a small pumpkin because she does not enjoy scooping guts.

And Justin's spooky pumpkin rounded out the bunch. Henry announced awards before bed. James-cutest, Erica-most human like (because it had teeth?) Henry's-the biggest mouth, Sarah- most creative, Dad's-most scary.

Saturday, real Halloween, Justin was hunting. After we cleaned the house we made sugar cookies. James was last to frost his because he was last to finish his jobs (he spent most of the cleaning time whining on the floor). 

I'll be glad when he outgrows this weird smile phase.

Much better.

The only candy corn I could find was Trolli sour candy corn which made my stomach churn just looking at the bag and eating one made me gag. My kids thought they were awesome so whatever. Although it's been 2 days and no one has eaten the ones with the candy corn.

James is a decorator after my own heart. Double frosting, double sprinkles.

He's so cute.

Then we loaded up a few that I frosted and took them to my parents. Erica carried them in her basket just like the real Little Red Riding Hood.

Sarah also wore this costume when she was 6. It's my favorite out of all the costumes I've made.

You may think this is James's Halloween costume but this is actually his October costume. Once I learned how to make a ninja mask from a long-sleeved shirt, he has had a shirt on his head since. Works great for a pandemic.

Here he's showing off his sweet ninja moves.

Sarah was Nancy Drew. We had to buy a magnifying glass and borrow some shoes but everything else she had in her closet.

And Henry was a skeleton. I painted his bones with glow in the dark paint but it wasn't until much later that it was dark enough to notice. He wears them for pajamas too so he uses his book lamp to make them glow under his covers.

And then my nephew, also a ninja, joined us for trick or treating which was awesome because I got to chat with my sister and brother in law who I haven't seen much lately because of social distancing.

I'd say there were less trick or treaters than usual in our neighborhood but the same amount of people handing out candy. Those that were handing out candy had their lights on so it made it really efficient. 

Plus those that did want trick or treaters were extra excited it seemed. I'd say overall it was one of my favorite trick-or-treating years. 

These townhomes aren't in our ward anymore so it was fun to see people I hadn't seen much of in a while, pandemic or no pandemic.

James was done by the time we circled back around near our house but Erica and Henry took two more stints down a couple more streets before they were ready to come in. Sarah chose to go with a couple of her friends in Legacy Farms so that was sad. This very well may be her last year trick or treating so part of me wanted her to spend it with us but it seemed more fair to let her go with friends. 

Sunday afternoon I took down all the decorations. I'm looking forward to November--to just being grateful and making lists for December. That's all there is to it. (Knock on wood, something crazy is going to happen, just watch.)