Halloween Preview

Tomorrow is Halloween!  Lots of fun coming tomorrow, but we’ve been enjoying Halloween fun all month long!  For example…

Picking out costumes:  It’s true, I’m kind of a cheap-skate.  So, when deciding on Halloween costumes for the kids, I got out our costume suitcase, opened it, and said, “Ok, pick something that fits you!” Didn’t turn out too bad, especially since we usually reap Halloween hand-me-downs after the holiday… so Dawna is dressed up courtesy of Sydney Wightman, Xochitl is dressed up courtesy of Mimi Fang, and Larry is dressed up courtesy of Dawna (she was that ghost two years ago)

Making apple bites! The idea came from Mom’s Halloween present for us.  We also made Ghost Toast.  These mostly-healthy treats have been requested several times since…See, the teeth are made out of marshmellows  

Witch’s Brew:  “Stirring and stirring and stirring the BREW!!!!!!” Another classic Mom Severson tradition!  She made witch’s brew with my kids with the “ingredients” found around the house and yard and after carefully simmering the brew, we had a delicious drink ! Awesome!

Not Pictured, but still cute: Larry reciting “Five Little Pumpkins” while sitting on the potty. We’ve read it and said it a hundred times or more this month.

Carving Pumpkins:  We grew these humungous beauties in our own backyard!  When we were planting, Dawna picked out these “Veggie Tales” pumpkin seeds and they grew and grew and grew! 

The vine produced 3 pumpkins (perfect!), the last and smallest of which we picked tonight.  Weston came down to help us with the carving:

First, intense preparation… poking little holes to outline the pattern…

Requiring intense focus and concentration…

Scooping out the innards (sorry, Xochitl is not modest):

And proudly displaying! (though the people pictured with the pumpkins did the least work on them!)

I’m pretty sure these are the fanciest pumpkins we’ve ever carved… Dawna chose a witch cooking brew.  Larry chose a ghost in front of a tombstone, and Xochitl got a creepy kitty! Jon carved the hardest one.  Wes and I carved the easier ones! But I like them all!

“Two Shoes go…” Along with the “Five Little Pumpkins” book, I’ve also had to read “The Little Old Lady who was Not Afraid of Anything” at least twice each day… The result?  An 18-month-old who can recite parts of the story… so so so cute!

In case you can’t tell what she’s saying, it goes like this:

“Two shoes go CLOMP, CLOP. One pair of pants go WIGGLE, WIGGLE. One shirt go SHAKE, SHAKE. Two gloves go CLAP, CLAP. One hat go NOD, NOD. And one scary pumpkin head go BOO! BOO!”

It’s a way fun book, highly recommended!

Still to come tomorrow are Dawna’s school parade and our ward Trunk or Treat.  But, even so, we’ve had an October full of Halloween Fun!