the spoils

The night wouldn't be complete without a thorough sorting and taste testing of the spoils.

 hmmmm - which lollipop is yummier?

my night photography has not improved...oh well.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

It wasn't too cold this year and we only had a slight breeze.  We were able to get around our neighborhood before it started to rain.  I hope you all had a great Halloween!  

Abby's original costume didn't work so we rolled with it (as we do).  

A big feathery mask was just the ticket!

Ninjago Farmer Damien.  I couldn't find the fireman costume and I'm not sure I could have convinced him to wear it.  His hat came in handy later when his candy bucket was totally full.  He just flipped his hat over and collected candy that way.  He walked all over our neighborhood (which is pretty spread out), by the end he was so tired he was stumbling...nothing a little post trick or treat candy rush couldn't fix.  I think his favorite part of the night was handing out candy.  He told everyone how cute they were (even the big kids) and gave out fist fulls of candy.  As one pair of girls left I heard one say "I TOLD you they are giving out fist fulls of candy!"

Michael was not thrilled with any of my suggestions of costume (my favorite was 'Daddy' where he'd wear athletic short, hockey jersey, ball cap, draw some stubble on his face and carry a big plastic cup - He said nobody would get it...I don't know - I would have laughed!).  We settled on soccer player.

Happy Halloween from Za Kids!

Cowboy Day

Today was Cowboy Day at Damien's preschool.  We found a hat in the dress up box and off we went.  When we got to school some of the kids were totally decked out in boots and chaps and vests.  So much cuteness!  Every child brought a small pumpkin and put it in the play area 'Pumpkin Patch.'  As we left every child picked up a new pumpkin to take home.

  

 Damien's new pumpkin.

They had an antique tracker for pictures.  I think this was Damien's favorite part.

He is less cowboy here and more farmer (which would be more in line with his So. Dakota roots - right Grandpa!)

pumpkins

It's that time of year again!  Today we designed and carved our pumpkins!  Since Ben has had a crazy couple of weeks at work I made sure the pumpkins were cleaned out and ready to go when he got home.  

Damien designing his pumpkin.  Below you can see Daddy's translation of the drawing.

The finished product (lined up for the photo - we did not make kids jump over them to get to the door).