Halloween has come and gone this year. But we sure had alot of fun creating memories as a family. To kick off the season, we went to our friends, Joe and Alyson's, Halloween party in West Plains. It was an Old-time Academy Awards themed party. Jake dressed up as Howard Hughes and I dressed up as his date, basically dressed in formal attire. (Pictures to come later.) It was so much fun. At the party, we played a murder mystery game throughout the night. There were two murderers who were supposed to wink at others and "kill" them off throughout the evening. Those who died then were supposed to shout out a clue about who killed them as they dramatically died. I was actually the first one of the evening to die. We were playing a boys vs. girls movie quotes game and I looked over at Jake and there it was, a sly wink. We had three minutes to plan out our death and we were supposed to die by a certain way (given to us on cards at the beginning of the game). I was supposed to die by rapidly talking myself to death. So at a point in the game, I started cheering on one of my teammates "you can do it, you can do it, you can do it" until I was standing up talking so rapidly then I collapsed shouting out "blonde hair." My death was so well-played that I won the best actress award!! If that all wasn't funny enough, talking to Jake later, he had forgotten that winking was how the killers were supposed to "kill" and he had actually innocently been winking at me to say hello from across the room!! So, I died in vain, but thankfully both of the killers had blonde hair. :)
We also attended our Ward Halloween Party, well, actually we planned and attended the Halloween party. After that experience, all I can say is, there will be one big advantage to moving out of this ward in a year and a half...being released as the activities chair!! :) All playing aside, it did go rather well. Calvin wore his adorable pumpkin costume and was so good for mommy and daddy all night. Jake wore his old standby costume, Jack Bauer from CTU. (It is definitely time we ventured out a bit!) For the activity we had a dutch oven dinner/cobbler, little games for the kids to play and a pumpkin patch and trunk or treating outside. And barely a breather after that activity is over and now I'm on to planning Christmas's already! But that wasn't our last party for Halloween, we made it a month long celebration this year. We also went to surprise birthday party a few days before Halloween, the invitation said we could dress up, so we did. But we were the only ones to dress up other than the kids. But thankfully our costumes weren't so elaborate that we felt too awkward. We both wore all blue and wore name tags saying "Hi, my name is Gene" and "Hi, my name is Jean." Yep, you guessed it, we went as a pair of blue jeans!! haha! But funny thing was, half the people at the party didn't know our real names so they kept thanking us for wearing nametags and kept calling us Gene/Jean. :) Calvin went dressed up as Samurai Jack and was a huge hit! Up until halfway through the party, he decided he would rather be a screaming banshee and proceeded to act out that role instead. So we left the party, and as soon as we were outside, he again became the little angel we sometimes know and always love. We're guessing he had been overwhelmed by all the noise and commotion.
And finally, Halloween day came!! From a month's warm up of parties, costumes and treats, we were ready to really live up the day. We made pumpkin pancakes with buttermilk syrup for breakfast, and if that doesn't sound sweet enough already, Jake added chocolate chips to the pancakes! Yumm! Definitely a new family tradition on Halloween. Following breakfast, we went for a walk. It had been raining all week long and finally we had a beautiful sunny morning. It could not have been more perfect. Then in the afternoon, we went to a volleyball game at the university. We are friends here with a couple and he works as an assistant coach for the volleyball team here. He actually used to play for BYU and was on the team the year they won Nationals. Anyhow, we went to the game and hung out with his wife and their little boy, Brock, who was dressed up as Bam-Bam. So cute! Calvin loved being at the volleyball game and was charming all the girls he could! :) In the evening, we went to a family's house for a taco soup dinner before trick-or-treating. They had about six families over, most of us being the new ones to the ward, so it was fun to get to know everyone a little better. While all the moms took their kids out trick-or-treating, we put Calvin down for a nap and played games with the dads back at the house. We played "Ticket to Ride", which is a new game we've been introduced to out here. It is alot of fun! Finally, we headed home to tuck our little pumpkin prince into bed and say good-bye to all Hallow's Eve for one more year.
We also attended our Ward Halloween Party, well, actually we planned and attended the Halloween party. After that experience, all I can say is, there will be one big advantage to moving out of this ward in a year and a half...being released as the activities chair!! :) All playing aside, it did go rather well. Calvin wore his adorable pumpkin costume and was so good for mommy and daddy all night. Jake wore his old standby costume, Jack Bauer from CTU. (It is definitely time we ventured out a bit!) For the activity we had a dutch oven dinner/cobbler, little games for the kids to play and a pumpkin patch and trunk or treating outside. And barely a breather after that activity is over and now I'm on to planning Christmas's already! But that wasn't our last party for Halloween, we made it a month long celebration this year. We also went to surprise birthday party a few days before Halloween, the invitation said we could dress up, so we did. But we were the only ones to dress up other than the kids. But thankfully our costumes weren't so elaborate that we felt too awkward. We both wore all blue and wore name tags saying "Hi, my name is Gene" and "Hi, my name is Jean." Yep, you guessed it, we went as a pair of blue jeans!! haha! But funny thing was, half the people at the party didn't know our real names so they kept thanking us for wearing nametags and kept calling us Gene/Jean. :) Calvin went dressed up as Samurai Jack and was a huge hit! Up until halfway through the party, he decided he would rather be a screaming banshee and proceeded to act out that role instead. So we left the party, and as soon as we were outside, he again became the little angel we sometimes know and always love. We're guessing he had been overwhelmed by all the noise and commotion.
And finally, Halloween day came!! From a month's warm up of parties, costumes and treats, we were ready to really live up the day. We made pumpkin pancakes with buttermilk syrup for breakfast, and if that doesn't sound sweet enough already, Jake added chocolate chips to the pancakes! Yumm! Definitely a new family tradition on Halloween. Following breakfast, we went for a walk. It had been raining all week long and finally we had a beautiful sunny morning. It could not have been more perfect. Then in the afternoon, we went to a volleyball game at the university. We are friends here with a couple and he works as an assistant coach for the volleyball team here. He actually used to play for BYU and was on the team the year they won Nationals. Anyhow, we went to the game and hung out with his wife and their little boy, Brock, who was dressed up as Bam-Bam. So cute! Calvin loved being at the volleyball game and was charming all the girls he could! :) In the evening, we went to a family's house for a taco soup dinner before trick-or-treating. They had about six families over, most of us being the new ones to the ward, so it was fun to get to know everyone a little better. While all the moms took their kids out trick-or-treating, we put Calvin down for a nap and played games with the dads back at the house. We played "Ticket to Ride", which is a new game we've been introduced to out here. It is alot of fun! Finally, we headed home to tuck our little pumpkin prince into bed and say good-bye to all Hallow's Eve for one more year.
Having fun at the volleyball game.
Our noble hero, Samurai 'Calvin' Jack
The Pumpkin Prince holding session with his pumpkin court.
Calvin finally succumbing to sleep on our morning walk, he put up a good fight.
Having lots of fun being outside and all bundled up against the cool weather.
Mom and Calvin stopping for a picture during the walk.
Daddy and Calvin on our Halloween morning walk.
Daddy making our yummy pumpkin pancake breakfast.
No comments:
Post a Comment