Spooky Dinner!

October 2012

I've been so excited for my kids to get old enough to host a Spooky Dinner for their friends.  I've done a few before for family and such but this was Cole's first Halloween party.  Thanks again to Connie, aka c-dogg for teaching me so many fun traditions!

I found these cute invites at Target, of coarse.

Two of his friends couldn't make it.  I felt a smaller group would work best for this age.  So much energy! :)  The invite suggested to wear a costume.

We jazzed up the dining room a bit. Cute-spooky.

I hung fabric in the doorway to hide the kitchen from sneaky 4th graders.

I seem to have a lot of Halloween fabric on hand.  Good to put it to use.

Cole so badly wanted to do a mad scientist thing for his friends.

So we set up this table for them to feel eyeballs, brain, guts, fingers etc...

I just put fabric over plastic cauldrons and pumpkins and cut a slit on top.

They had fun with it.

Each kid had a menu at their seat once they sat down which explains how we do the dinner.

We served:

Spaghetti - Guts

Meat Balls - Blood and Eyeballs

Ghost Pimple - Parmesan 

Witch Fingers - bread sticks

Wart Twins - Corn

Stink Bombs - Olives

Dirt - Brownies

LapOver - Napkin

Spikes - Fork

Digger - Spoon

Spider Spit - Sprite with a plastic spider glued to the bottom of cup.

Festive!

Once the kids filled out their menu, Kevin and I dished up their plates according to their order.

Coarse by coarse. 

It was SO funny to watch these kids eating like this.  Some without utensils, plain noodles without their meatballs.  Everyone had to clear their plate before we moved on to the next coarse.

Good times I tell ya!

Afterward, we played a few magic/brainteaser games and then went to a neighborhood haunted house up the street.  It was such a fun night that I can't wait to do it again!!

As a take home, I made some yummy caramel popcorn and stuffed it in these bags that I got at the party store.

This party was so fun for this age! And it was quite easy to throw together.  The menu was simple.  I hope I can get a few more years out of it.  I love Traditions!

Halloween 2011!

What a beautiful warm year Halloween was!!

Our day started off by watching the kids school parade.

I LOVE that it is outdoors!!  My neighborhood is so charming.  Makes for a cute parade!

The costumes in the parade are always amazing!  So many creative ideas.  

We ended up with the non creative, commercial cheap costumes.  Couldn't get easier than that!

I LOVED having aunt Jill here to share the day with us!

Frankie wondering what happened to Cole. :)

No coats to hide the costumes! 

Ready to get started!

My cute neighbor made us these darling owl cookies.  Yum!

Jill brought two movies the kids hadn't seen yet.  

Sound of Music (which they LOVED)

and Wizard of Oz.

After trick-or-treating we all cuddled downstairs and watched The Wizard Of OZ.

Cole always likes to sort his candy. 

The girls were too much into the movie.

I wish I could link to Jill's blog (it's private :( ).  She did such a cute post of all the fun things she did with the kids while she was here visiting.

The day after Halloween we met up with my cousins for lunch and gave them a little tour of my world here in SLC and the cute homes on tree lined trees.  

We ate at Eggs In The City and then went to my favorite store across the street, Jolley's.

It was so fun.  I can't wait to get together again!

It was fun to spend so much time with my sister this trip!  

We are so excited she will be here again soon for Christmas!

  

Family Halloween Party

Sweet little MaryJane all dressed up as a mermaid for her preschool celebration.

Why not be the same thing her big sister was the year before?

Anything to be like Sadie.   

This cute little face didn't know that while she was at school, I was picking up Aunt Jill at the airport.

Jill came to town for Halloween weekend!  Yay!  We were so excited to have her!

She was so happy and surprised to see Aunt Jill with me when we picked her up.

She loves her so much!

We had our annual family Halloween party on Saturday night at my house. 

Everyone knows how much I HATE SPIDERS!!  

So the kids got a big kick of Jill dressed up as a black widow.

The gang, minus my brother taking the photo.  

Cousin Kate's costume hadn't arrived yet.  Grandpa a serious GI-Joe and Nana as Mary Poppins.

My little fireman was so serious trying to figure out why everyone he knew looked so silly.

That darn hat wouldn't stay on him.  A little on the small side.

We ate soup in cute bread bowls bought from the store,

 had a coloring contest,

 donuts on a string,

and pumpkin carving.  

My camera was having issues that night.

I made my favorite Candy Corn shortbread cookies that I made last year.  Yum!  I got the recipe from Morgan at One More Moore but I also saw the recipe all over pinterest this year.

The kids pumpkins-

Sadie's, Cole's and MaryJane's

It was fun to host the party at my house this year.  

I probably wasn't the best host because all I remember from that night was how darn tired I was! 

Too many fun late nights hanging out with my sister I guess.

Halloween 2010

Sadly this years Halloween was so rainy. 

We quickly snapped a few pictures as the clouds were rolling in.

It poured as we began.  But thankfully it calmed down and allowed the kids to cash in on some serious candy.  

After pictures, we bundled up in coats and went on our way with our umbrellas. 

Mermaid, Barbie and Harry Potter

Every year the kids love to organize and count their candy.

Sadie is one silly girl when it comes to candy.  The pile on the right is her dislike pile.  

She's often not in the mood to even eat the candy in her like pile.

The most candy Cole has ever collected.  The Kit Kat's won with a total of 22.  Cole was out for 2 1/2 hours.  He really got into it this year.

MaryJane doing what she does best and copies her siblings for a picture with the candy.

All that candy.  Whoa.  I get sick looking at it all.  After eating my fair share on Halloween night, I've tried so hard to resist it.  Despite my efforts of keeping the candy out of sight or limited to a few a day, everywhere I turn in my house I seem to be faced with candy.  I couldn't take it any longer.  So I let Cole pick out 10 of his favorites and bought all the rest of his candy for $5.00 and got rid of it.  The best money I've spent this month!  The girls, don't even ask for it.

I Love you Halloween,  I just don't like all the candy you leave behind.  I like it all too much.

Halloween Festivities...

Cousin Party

Luke Skywalker, Teen Wolf, Harry Potter, Frankenstein, Barbie, Fancy Nancy,  a Mermaid

and Frankie was a froggie (in his Carters outfit).  Kevin drew his eyebrows with a green marker and Sadie just cried and cried.  She was not a fan.  Neither was I.

So we washed it off. :)

Frankenstein and his Bride

Antoine Dodson, The You Tube hit Bed Intruder. The song is the best!

My brother has his impression down!

Hysterical!

The Flintstones

My Staple, a witch and a scary bride. 

(the cape I made from last year)

Mermaid and Fancy Nancy

Barbie

School Parade

Sadie's cute Kindergarten teacher.

The parade goers...

and watcher.

One of my Young Women, Hannah.  Best costume ever!

Pumpkin Carving

So focused

 

Carmel apples.  Yum.  

Especially when you cut them up in bit sized pieces loaded with all that carmely sugar goodness.

MaryJane's Kitty,  Cole's Harry Potter and Sadie's traditional pumpkins.

Followed by a fun little movie...

We LOVE the Shrek movies!