Halloween 2008

Wow, this year has flown by. I can't believe it is already November.

Yesterday was of course Halloween. It was nice to have Halloween on a Friday this year. I wish that they would go ahead and move Halloween permanently to the last Friday of October. It meant that it was a lot easier for the kids to get up early and have Atomic Warheads for breakfast.

Last night was our Ward's Trunk or Treat party which started at six o'clock. Valerie had the kids all in costume and ready to go by the time I got home from work yesterday. I'll go ahead and introduce the kids in this year's costumes from oldest to youngest.

First we have little Zach. He was a banana. Like this....
Here is how he turned out....



Gotta love the newborn costumes. Basically little yellow sleeping bag. I suppose this would be the adult version of that concept...



Disturbing. This costume should definitely not be used beyond the age of about 5 months. There was an issue when we went to place him in his car seat to leave and realized that you can't really buckle a banana between the legs. We had to change plans and dress him at the church.

Next was Benjamin. With Zach a banana, what else could Ben be besides of course a monkey.


I suppose this would be the concept...




And here is how Ben turned out...



Very cute. This was a very nice warm costume again this year. When I got home from work, Benjamin thought that I actually did mistake him for a real monkey until he took off his hat. He thought that he was actually transforming into a monkey like that kid in Jumanji. It was impressive how quick he was able to move in this suit. He loved it.

Joshua decided to stick with the Nintendo theme again this year. Last year as you recall, he was a Pokémon trainer, this year he went back to the old-school classics and dressed as Mario...




I really liked the costume that Valerie came up with for him...

As it turns out, it is very difficult to find bright blue overalls that would fit a nine year old. (Imagine that!) I think that suspenders were a reasonable alternative. I love the work Valerie did on the hat using craft foam. Very nice...

That hat is already back on his head and ready to go this morning.

Sarah, who this year decided Halloween was far to valuable of a day to spend with her family elected instead to go hang out with a few of her friends. She, with her current ballroom dance classes is really into dance in general right now so she decided to dress as a ballerina. Like this...

Sort of...

We didn't see much of Sarah until later in the evening when her social calendar cleared up. Actually it is great that she has good, nice friends and cousins to have fun with.

Valerie's brother's family Joe & Adrienne Urvina came to our (and their former) ward's party with us. The cousins as usual loved running around together. It was great to add Toy Story's Jesse (on horseback!), a Ninja Turtle and a very cute teddy bear to our pack.

After the party, there was just a little time to do some neighborhood trick or treating which the babies & moms stayed home for. We moved at high speed as the kids sprinted between houses, through yards, over hedges etc. The kids of course loved it.

It was funny to see Gavin Urvina have an a epiphany. "They just GAVE me candy!" We ran the kids just long enough to insure a good night's sleep and packed it in ourselves.
I'd better wrap this up while we still have Almond Joy's left.