Nerd Dinner.

Once upon a time, Texas Roadhouse sent out an email saying that if you dressed up like a nerd and came to dinner, you would receive a free appetizer and be entered into a contest for free steak for the rest of the year.  To encourage participation further, it was noted that the wait staff would also be dressing up like nerds.

Um, okay.

Plus Regean who was visiting from Vernal.

Let it be known that we were the only ones in the restaraunt dressed like this.

And let it be known that somehow, we did not win free steak for a year.

The family that dresses up like nerds in a public setting together, stays together.

Steak or no steak.

Tricks and Treats 2013

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This morning I sit and think about the last week and smile.

I love Halloween.

Which is funny because I used to despise it.

Having kids changed my perspective on the matter, I think.

We started out by hitting a local corn maze and checking out the fun stuff they had at that place.  We only had Cas, Brynn, and Sean on that trip.  Jayme, Tayler, and Cali went to a Halloween party with Granny Suzann.

We had a theory that if we followed one of the walls and turned whenever it did, we'd find out way out.  So we followed the right wall and made every turn that the right wall made.

Turns out that was a pretty good theory, we made it out in 20 minutes.  Which kind of sucked as we planned on spending at least an hour lost in that thing.  Our new plan will be to wander around aimlessly, until we're good and annoyed with the the whole thing, and then pick a wall to follow until we get out.  Because when you're following one wall all the time, you don't end up going on the same path twice.

Who knew that racing plastic ducks would be so entertaining for "bigger" kids?

We hit the haunted houses and blow up mazes there and wandered around until it was time for us to take the kids home and meet up with friends for the Haunted Forest, which was pretty lame this year.  But the company was good and I managed to freak myself out over nothing at all.

In those respects I call it a success.

Also, Casidee and Sean braved their first Haunted House this year, Castle of Chaos.  The story Casidee tells has Sean clinging to her.  Sean's story doesn't agree to that detail.

Cas is a pretty good sister, letting Sean tag along with her friends to the Haunted House.

We have good kids.

We carved our pumpkins.

And Jayme crafted the Corpse Bride out of clay:

I got a wild hair and bought a storage rack of a yardsale website and went to town hanging up years of costumes so all the parts would be together and they'd be easy to pull out and find.  It seems we use various costumes all throughout the year and I got sick of lugging the totes in and out of storage.

We stayed up late on a school night *gasp* and decorated the tables for the church's trunk-or-treat.   I didn't get a picture of them, but they were purple and black with spider webs and spiders and looked pretty good, even if I do say so myself.

I told the kids I wouldn't have time after work to do a lot of makeup on costumes before the tunk or treat so they were welcome to try the makeup themselves or wear a different costume for it.  I came home and found Brynn had tried her hand at her own zombie makeup (she ended up accidently glueing her eye shut when she put a fake tattoo over it instead of getting it on her cheek), Tay had tried her hand at her own clown makeup,  and Cali opted for easy devil makeup.  They all did  a great job.  I helped Jayme with some Queen of Hearts makeup, Sean pulled on his mobster costume, and Cas dressed up like Sherlock Holmes with her pea coat and blue scarf.

Finally it was Halloween.  For the big day we had:

Zombie Cinderella:

Jayme spent Halloween with her mom as this Queen of Hearts:

A Clown:

 A Zombie Nerd:

And a Gangster:

A Sugar Skull:

After searching for a cheap Snow White costume so Casidee could be a zombie Snow White, she decided last minute to borrow my leather jacket, throw on her fedora, and just have me paint her face.

Teens.

Turns out I was asked to do the makeup of two of her friends as well, but I didn't get a picture of them.

I seriously love Halloween makeup.  I should have worked in Hollywood.

I cheated and just went with some awesome, purple feather eyelashes that I'd found at Wally World.

And even wore them grocery shopping, where a lot of people starred. :)

It was all good until I tried to wear my sunglasses:

We set the kids loose on the neighborhood and they brought back pillowcases full of candy, and completely exhausted.

Tayler managed to walk blisters into her heels.

The Man and I tried to watch Gremlins while we passed out candy.  I've never seen that show before, but seriously, it was cheesy and we didn't make it very far into it.

And with that it's over.

It's time to focus on Thanksgiving dinner, which we're hosting this year, and Christmas for our Circus, as well as The Man's and Jayme's birthdays, New Year's Eve, and our fourth wedding anniversary.

The next two months will be full of the focus of love and family.  I'm hoping to create that atmosphere anyway.

I hope your haunting was fun, and as your holiday season begins, I hope it's full of love.

Halloween 2012

I've been spotty with the posts these last couple of weeks and I'm sorry!  Work has just exploded and with my own homework and then everything with the kids and just being a wife and mom, I've been a little short on time.

Hopefully I can pull it back together because I love posting and I have so much that I don't want to forget.

Can you believe that in a blink of an eye October is over? 

It always seems so surreal to me that with all the time spent prepping and planning for a holiday, it's just over with the snap of a finger.

We've gone from pumpkins and costumes to Chritmas lists and trimming the tree. 

We had a great Halloween.  I would expect nothing less.  I got up before the sun to help The Circus with costumes.  I watched them parade around their school, I slipped over to the temple for a bit of "me" time, and I made a surprise Halloween dinner.  I hung my witch curtains up on the porch and thought about Cas while she was at her first Middle School dance.  And then I sat on the couch with The Man while trick-or-treaters rang our bell and our kids ran amok through the neighborhood. 

Here's our pictures from the day.  Hopefully next week I'll be back on schedule with the posts.

Brynn the Purple Witch.
I love how she used the beads from a flapper costume to spice up the boring witch costume.  She looked great and I love purple for a witch.

Brynn trick-or-treated her way across the neighborhood to her friend's house so I had to go retrieve her at the end of the night.  I let her trick-or-treat on our way home by driving her from house to house along the way.  Cali was with us and it was a fun little bonding time.

Casidee the Vampire:
Who thought she was too cool to have the fangs drawn on her lips, but decided after it was all done that mom might have had a good idea after all.

Cas who went to her first dance at the Middle School on Halloween and came home looking like a train wreck.  Which meant that she had a lot of fun running around and dancing with her friends.
Oh, and her boyfriend Max was there.  You might recognize him from having some pretty nice dance moves in our front yard in THIS post.  They danced once. (Breathe Mom, it's okay). This picture is courtesy of my friend Natalie, who is Max's mom, who got it from Max himself. 

I also might add that this picture has not been Casidee approved, so we'll see what she has to say about it when she realizes it's here.

Tayler the black cat:

Who had to be twins with her best friend.

Cali as Sarah Sanderson (from Hocus Pocus):
I sewed that cape all by myself, without using the hot glue gun once.  I'm so proud.

Sean as the Mad Hatter:

Jayme as a dead Hula Girl.
She's had her heart set on being this for two years now so we made it happen for her.  I think her blue eyes are perfect for it.

How insanely crazy is it that we were sitting on the porch on Halloween night in short sleeves and bare feet?
It was the perfect night.