Hynes Family: Halloween in a Hurry

I am SUPER behind on my blogging, and Halloween is so full of fun that I was feeling a bit overwhelmed: Activity Day party, YMCA Halloween party, crafts with the neighbors, taekwondo party, Halloween fun run, class parties, cookie decorating, trick or treating....YEESH!! So, I decided to be succinct. Rather than have a mile of pictures for you all to look through, I condensed with collages and here is what you get. You can still take as much time as you need looking at each picture, but your "down"arrow will get a bit of a break. Happy Halloween!

On the Monday before Halloween, for Family Home Evening, we invited Kristine and Rowan and Maric over and we made ghost suckers while watching Charlie Brown's Halloween. It is a tradition in my family to make these to give to trick-or-treaters, and it was fun to do that with my kids and cousins. I don't know why Lucy is strangling her ghost... And the kids had spirit week before the week before Halloween, and they just looked so cute on pajama day that I had to take a picture.

Real quickly, here are some pictures of crafts with Ron and Sonya, our neighbors, and the Daddy Daughter party Lucy and Mike went to. Yes, Lucy painted his face, and yes, that's Mike in a tutu. Anything to get those little girls giggling.

And now, onto the class parties. There is one of Elliott's birthday thrown in there too (oops, make that two...oh well). It's the top middle picture where he is standing, nervously, in front of his class. There is a picture of some of Elliott's friends from the neighborhood: Ethan the Darth Vadar, Carter the Power Ranger, and Jake the Gansta. There is one of Lucy and Lauren: 2 lovely vampires. Elliott and I happened to go to Fred Meyer for groceries at the same time they were decorating cupcakes, so that one's in here too. And, Elliott and I made cookies that the kids decorated at our house!

Here is some fun from the YMCA, and some pumpkin carving.

The kids are trying to make the same faces their pumpkins are making, and Archie, well, he always makes that face...Fun times.

On to the next set...Taekwondo party! This is fun because it was our Halloween dress rehearsal. We got to put on the makeup and the costumes and see how it all went. Behold, the Ninja, Vampire and Sock Monkey!

Then, on Saturday, the kids, me, Kristine and Rowan and Maric, and Harmony and Had Abogi did a little Halloween Fun Run Mile to feed and clothe families in need in Boise. Lucy and Harmony were the only ones to complete the whole mile...way to go! It was so casual and fun, we are going to have to do it again next year for sure.

We made it to Halloween night! We got all dressed up again (yes, even Mike!) and headed to the neighborhood park for a little fast- track-trick-or-treating, then Mike took the kids out while Archie and I handed out candy. You may notice a few differences from the dress rehearsal. Elliott ditched the mask and weapons, and Lucy went for a black lipstick rather than red. It's all in the details. On a side note, I bought Mike that mustach weeks earlier because I thought it was hilarious, and the day after Halloween, while comparing pictures with Kristine, we discovered that Kristine had bought his brother Jason the SAME mustache for Halloween !! Mike says it's because we are both obsessed with Target, but I know it's because we are both so awesome.