Happy Halloween

When I was growing up, Halloween had officially arrived when my parents brought down the Halloween box from the attic.  It was an extra large cardboard box filled with Halloween costumes and decorations that we could keep out for the whole month of October.  It was always fun to try on old costumes and play dress up with what we could find.  I remember it had a distinct smell, a good smell that reminded me of a craft store.  It must have been stored near a good smelling candle up in the attic.  

I have since made a Halloween box for our family and the boys were very excited when I pulled it out.  We actually keep most of their old costumes in a box in their room.  They get it down almost every single day to dress up and fight bad guys.  So this Halloween box doesn't have many costumes, just decorations, pumpkin carving supplies, etc.  The boys enjoyed helping me set up the decorations and insisted on using their Halloween plates and cups at almost every meal.

The Monday before the big day we had our Halloween Family Home Evening, with a spooky themed dinner and pumpkin carving.  The boys did a pretty good job cleaning out their pumpkins and Ryan used his sweet hand skills to carve some pretty cool faces.

 Grant wanted a Wolverine pumpkin just like his costume.  As a side note, Grant and Tate have both taken to going shirtless as often as possible. 

 We were not short on the treats this year.  The Ward had a trunk or treat at the church on Tuesday and then we did some trick or treating in our neighborhood on Wed.  Above, Ryan went as an orthodontist vampire (he got home from work with only enough time to put on his cape and get in the car).   Below, you can see the real vampire outfit he wore to work (along with the fierce scream and red eyes).

 Here is our mismatched, but scary, super-strong, cute family.

 

 Those are my bat wings on my head.  Really creative, I know.  But Luke makes a pretty darling skunk, doesn't he?

 Our loving vampire and adorable skunk.

I had to include this so you could see the skunk tail in it's full glory.  With each kid sporting the skunk costume for their first Halloween, that has to be the best costume we have ever purchased.