this is halloween

the earls kicked off Halloween with some time at the pumpkin patch.

everyone picked out they're own pumpkin, including Madeline who will most likely follow her father's tradition of devouring pumpkin pie!sometimes Anna can be a little tentative (dare i say afraid) of things like this scarecrow. but not today, nothing could stop her Halloween fun. next came the carving. we spent Family night turning our pumpkins into "jack n' ladders". even Maddie knew this was come serious family fun time.

by the time Wednesday rolled around, it was all i could do to keep Anna out of her costume until the appointed time. we had to call grandma and grandpa and tell them all about our planned festivities. she was very excited that her dad was going to be a "scary guy." (more on that later.)

every year our street gets together to pass out candy. instead of sitting in our houses all alone waiting for kids to come to the door, we sit in chairs around a big fire in the middle of the cul de sac. and every year, there is mass confusion as the children still go up to our doors. so this year Brant taped off all our driveways with caution tape. Michelle spearheaded a chili dinner party before trick or treating. it was a blast! so many people from the community came.

we had quite a spread, with chili, Carries famous salad, and a million different spooky treats.

Anna loves chili, so it wasn't hard to get her to eat. plus i had a table full of bribes. she could not eat a "ghost" until she finished her chili.
then all the kids got sidewalk chalk and made "scary" drawings on the street. here is Anna "coloring a scary but a little bit silly ghost."
and, showing off the earl family "jack n' ladders." notice the chalk on her clothes and mouth?

finally it was costume time! don't even get me started about this butterfly! my cousin Caitlin and i traded costumes for our babies. she sent me this cute caterpillar about 2 months ago. that's when i got the seemingly great idea to make Anna a coordinating butterfly. now, i would have just bought one, but i couldn't find what i wanted. so i tackled this sewing project. but it was a disaster! all i can say is - All's well that ends well. thanks to Tonya for the hair-antenna idea, it saved the day!

it was mommy's turn to sit around the fire and pass out candy, so daddy took Anna trick or treating, she wanted Maddie to come too. here she is holding her hand to walk off into the night.

Anna and the Johnson kids. Ellie was so excited to paint her hair red, and was a beautiful Ariel. and can you blame Anna for having a crush on this dashing young Superman, i mean check out that curl - adorable!

Anna and the birthday boy!

Connor's first Halloween!!!!

Peanut and Anna.

my little butterfly flying away for trick or treating! Anna with Cole the ninja, Peanut aka "Minnie Mouse", and Gray the fireman!
we took a picture of this kid. i gave him the neighborhood #1 best costume award for his Christmas tree! it was so funny because we gave him a standing ovation and i saw his dad beaming, i thought "this must have been dad's idea. then someone asked him how he came up with this costume and he said, "uh my dad." i guessed it!

jeremy roped jason into being the town mummy. this is his "scary guy" mask that Anna had been so excited for. he wore it around the house and she was okay with it, but when he put it on with the mummy, she lost it. she kept crying, "i don't want my dad to be mommy." well neither do i.

once daddy was out of the costume everything was okay. we called it a night.