Halloween

 On October 1st I always get the kids some Halloween pajamas to wear for the month. It's especially fun when they're all matching!

Hocus Pocus 2 came out, so I went over to Jennie's house to watch it with some girls. It had been a while since our group had hung out and it was lots of fun! I made some yummy caramel apples, and the movie was excellent. 

On the 15th, we went to the Calgary Farmyard to pick out our pumpkins (as is tradition!). There wasn't a ton of choice this year, but we managed to find some good ones and get lots of good pictures in the pumpkin patch. Then we played at the farmyard and tried out the new tube slide and hand-operated trains. Boston loved the animals and even said the work "duck"! The weather was still beautiful, and we had a really great day there, despite it being quite busy.

I saw Hocus Pocus 2 again in theatre at a party that Laura put on. I went with Hailey and Jessica, and it was actually a lot of fun, even though I stayed up way past my bedtime. 

We decided to go to "Pumpkins After Dark" this year. We hadn't been before, but had heard mixed reviews, so I wanted to see for myself. Unfortunately, Jeff got pretty sick, so my mom filled in for him and came with us. It was actually better than I had expected! The kids had a blast with all the different themes and especially loved the Harry Potter pumpkins. We went on the last "warm" night before a cold spell, so it turned out to be pretty perfect. 

Bentley's friend Hope threw a Halloween party, and she was so excited to go to it! She also got to dress up at dance that week. 

Leo's school (Renfrew) had a Halloween family night so we all went to it together. They had lots of fun activities in different rooms, and then we all gathered to watch the magician, Christopher Cool. He happened to pick Bentley as a volunteer, so that made it even more fun! Even better that the other volunteer was also named Bentley. It was a fun time and so great to see Leo in his element. 

On the 29th, we went to Ghouls Night Out at Heritage Park. This is another event I've been wanting to go to for quite some time. We had a lot of fun dressing up together, and it was so fun to see Deacon and Jeff as Darth Vader and a Storm Trooper. They had many epic battles and Deacon was thrilled. When we got there, however, the line to get in was absolutely ridiculous! Not sure I've ever seen a line so long before. After 40ish minutes, we got in and tried to find some fun things to do. We waited in line for a room with a bunch of carnival type games. The kids had fun with that, and then we eventually found the Haunted House at the very back of the park. It was actually quite fun, and surprisingly no line for that. We were a little disappointed, though, with so many lines and not as much to do as we thought there would be. We decided to head home and have some hot chocolate! I wasn't impressed with the Ghoul's night out, but I was really impressed with how positive the kids were the whole time. They still said it was a great night and had a lot of fun! I think they just loved dressing up and being together as a family. Dakota took some photos for us before we left her to babysit Boston that night. 

On Oct.30, we carved our pumpkins! Our plan was to do it with the Bennett's, but there was some sickness going around on both of our ends, so we decided to cancel once again. Two years in a row! We're hoping next year will be the year. It was still a lot of fun though, even though Jeff wasn't feeling great. He started with us, and then rested while I finished up. Deacon carved a storm trooper, which was the most complicated one, so I helped him a fair bit with that. Bentley carved hers all on her own, which was so nice! I helped Leo with his, but he picked a simple paw print for his pumpkin because his obsession with Paw Patrol continues. They all turned out super cute and we did our best to light them up and take some cute pictures! Then we cooked the pumpkin seeds. It was a great Sunday activity. 

Halloween was on a Monday, so the kids got to wear their costumes to school. I came to their school in the afternoon to watch the costume parade in the gym. It was really cute! Then we headed home to eat some chicken noodle soup and buns I had made earlier. Jeff rallied enough to come trick or treating with us, so we left a bowl of candy out and went on our way. We drove over to the Locking's house and went with them. The weather was great this year! The kids got their pillowcases pretty full of candy and then were ready to go home and sort through it. We got home before bedtime, and everything went really smoothly. Leo had an absolute blast and screamed his usual screams of excitement at each house! Boston hung out in the stroller but seemed to be pretty entertained. I like Halloween, but I'm always glad when it's over too!