Halloween Time!!

We had a fun Halloween/fall season this year. We started off with the Apple Fair at my brother's housing community, whilst Paul's parents were still out visiting.

Alec loved the games and cookie decorating-keep in mind he took two bites and was done, he's not quite the sugar-a-holic his mom is. James & Kayden got matching fake ladybug tattoos & he wasn't a huge fan-probably a good sign.

We went from the Apple Fair to the Pumpkin Patch, which Alec LOVED!! Our little daredevil tried out all the rides and especially loved the harness/trampoline jump. I was totally expecting him to pee his pants, but he had a blast!

I was trying to pose the boys and get a cute pumpkin shot with both of them...several screams later...this was the best we got:

One family night we carved small pumpkins and I made some baked apples. Alec really enjoyed playing with the pumpkin innards and randomly carving scratches into the side of the pumpkin.

My little beaver & Buzz Lightyear:

We took the boys to my brother's ward's trunk-or-treat so they got to spend time with monkey Kayden & then to our ward's with their other cousin, Ben the Lion. :)

Alec did really good with the candy. Chocolate triggers his reflux, so we don't allow him to eat it, so he refused to eat any chocolate, even when unknowing people tried to give him some. His daddy happily took all the chocolate bars he'd gotten and we handed back out the majority of the candy he'd earned.

Here's Alec enjoying the trunk-or-treat, then going around on Halloween to trick-or-treat. Since Halloween was on a Sunday we let him go to our friend's house & my aunt's only.

Halloween night we also carved our HUGE pumpkin and put James in it:

Weeks of Halloween...

Alec got to be a train conductor this Halloween (it just HAD to involve trains, right?). He loves pumpkins and anything to do with Halloween, so we really spread out the fun this year. 3 weeks before, he got to attend my parents' 8 year old Sunday School class party...which he also got uninvited from, for chasing one of the boys around.The next weekend was Uncle Christopher & Auntie Joleen's community Apple Fair. Alec got loads of cool toys and had a blast playing all the games.Catching butterflies with Uncle Christopher:Later that afternoon was Border's Halloween Party for kids, so I decided to take Alec. The games were designed for older kids, though, so he had a hard time trying to participate. He loved the stories, cookies and treat bags though!Finally, on Halloween weekend, we took him to the ward trunk-or-treat. Alec loved the cake walk with Uncle Christopher and games with his daddy, but his favorite part was definitely trunk-or-treating for candy.Posing with his buddy, Cannon:Finally, on Halloween night he got to carve a pumpkin with daddy and do some trick-or-treating.Whilst trick-or-treating with Auntie Kelsey he had 3 houses mention they'd worked at railways or as a conductor and those families gave him extra-way to work it!Despite all the candy he got, we've been limiting him to a piece a day and he seems happy with that. :) Actually, most of it got recycled as we were bombarded with trick-or-treaters this year!

Happy (Early) Halloween!

Alec is really into Halloween pumpkins, so we let him pick out some Halloween pajamas-he chose a skeleton and LOVES them. He looked so cute in them I had to get some early photos, so Happy (early) Halloween!!

Halloween

The week before Halloween, Alec had been invited to Catherine's Halloween party. It was a bit hot to be putting him in the tiger costume I'd bought him (when we were planning to be in Colorado by Halloween), so he wore his lovely Chinese pajamas. Thanks Ong family!!

The party had a lot of age-appropriate crafts and Alec enjoyed coloring his candy bag & decorating a pumpkin face:
Halloween night we had a party with my siblings (& spouses!), uncle & cousin where we played games for an hour, took Alec trick-or-treating around the block, then watched 'Hocus Pocus'.

I hadn't planned costumes for Paul and I, so at the last minute I became 'blackmail' and he became 'God's Gift to Women' (which Paul thought was blasphemous and immediately took off after pictures).

It was cool enough for Alec to wear his tiger costume part of the time! He looked so darling in it!
Alec really enjoyed trick-or-treating and was polite enough to remember to thank people!
It was so much fun for us this year, as he really got into all the games and decorations. He LOVES pumpkins, especially a ceramic jack o'lantern my grandmother made him with his name in the mouth. She bought him little battery-operated tea lights for inside it that he insists on switching on each morning and lovingly placing in the pumpkin. Thanks, grandma!

Gilcrease Orchard

Whilst Paul's parents were still here, we were able to meet up with Hilary & Catherine at Gilcrease Orchard. Now, I know you're all thinking, "what's an orchard doing in Las Vegas?" The answer is...catering to families with small children for an extremely short time period. Arriving about 2 weeks before Halloween, we expected to find some good pumpkins and were sorely disappointed. The few we could find were incredibly squishy, green or mangled. Regardless, we plunged on, determined to get a cute photo shoot of our adorable children and managed to find several respectable candidates for photos.





Paul managed to find a 'Thomas the Tank Engine' outline for a pumpkin, so I carved Alec his first jack 'o lantern...with a Thomas face. I guess it was all right as he kept pointing at it shouting, 'Choo choo' or 'Eh! Eh!' (his current sound for pumpkins and all things Halloween, I guess it sounds spooky to him).

The jack o' lantern shrank in on itself within 2 days (sigh)...

Happy 'Beaver-Toothed' Halloween!

Alec enjoyed his first Halloween as a beaver, and all the attention his cute costume brought him. He loves being in his car, so we all took turns pushing him around the house. His first tooth pushed through as well, so it was a busy night! We tried getting pictures of it, but he wasn't having it! (It was his bottom, left incisor).



We held a pumpkin carving party for the family and it was a lot of fun. Kelsey and I spent the day bonding over baking 'tombstone' cupcakes, 'mummy' hot dogs, etc. My parents came, Christopher (my brother) and his wife, Joleen, Kari (my sister) and her boyfriend Ben, Kelsey and John and my cousin Colin and his fiancee, Sarah. Between the large amounts of trick-or-treaters, we all carved pumpkins, decorated sweets and passed Alec around for cuddles.

Sarah, Colin, Kelsey, John and Kari all busy decorating the haunted house and some sugar cookies.