Halloween 2010

We had a great Halloween this year. First, it was on a weekend, so the pace was a bit more leisurely; second, we also celebrated Gram Gagnon's birthday (which is Nov. 1) on Halloween morning; and finally, it was Ryan's first Halloween (yay!).


We carved our pumpkins the morning before Halloween. My "Little Pumpkin" was happy to sit in his high chair and watch. He also tried to use some of the mini-pumpkins for shot-put! One landed on Mommy's toe (ouch!), but I guess it was my fault for letting him play with them.

Andrea was asking if we could make pumpkin cookies and pumpkin pie. I suppose that's why Kevin got hungry!

I was trying to get them to say "Cheese," and Kevin was squinting his eyes shut every time!

Andrea wasn't all that impressed with the pumpkin guts. It took a lot of persuading to get her to participate in this part, but Daddy can make her laugh anytime.

Kevin dove right in to the pumpkin guts. He thought they were kind of weird, but he didn't mind holding them for a bit.

Here is Andrea posing with her finished pumpkin. She wanted it to be a girl (thus the drawn-on hair bow), and she named it Andrea Pumpkinhead.

Daddy was having fun grossing out the kids with his pumpkin-guts antics.

They're all done! Here's my gang, posing with their finished products.

***

On Halloween morning, we went out for brunch with the Gagnons and then back to Gram and Papa's house to celebrate Gram's birthday (which would be the next day).

Hannah and Izzy wore their costumes in the morning for Gram and Papa to see, since they couldn't stop by at trick-or-treat time. Our little gang dressed in orange-and-black theme for the morning: Kevin and Andrea had Halloween shirts, and Ryan had Halloween socks.

The bigger kids got Halloween treat bags from Gram and Papa, but Ryan got a special soft vampire toy. He was quite interested in checking it out. It was too cute to be scary!

Meanwhile, the others were getting into their Halloween treats. As you can see by the look on everyone's faces, choosing which candy to eat first is serious business!

This is what little faces look like after an injection of candy: happy!

***

Later, at trick-or-treat time, we started out from Gram and Papa's like we usually do. Here, the kids collected even more candy, and we got some pictures of them in their costumes:

Kevin as Thomas the Train

Andrea as The "Pretty" Witch

Ryan as a Cute and Cuddly Lion

Ryan's enthusiasm didn't last too long. He's getting over a cold, teething, and hasn't slept well in 2 weeks. He was already sleepy by the time we left Gram and Papa's--and we hadn't even started trick-or-treating yet!

Anyways, we left Gram and Papa's and trick-or-treated our way toward home. Papa came along with us. Ryan and I settled in to hand out candy at home, but the others continued on down the street. About 45 minutes later, they dropped off Andrea (she was ready to eat some candy!), but Kevin went back out for more with Daddy and Papa. He was loving it this year! When they finally got back, Daddy and the kids took over candy distribution. We had a good turnout: probably 120-150 kids this year.