Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Halloween Memories 2010!



 What a wonderful Halloween weekend
we had this year! 
Costumes, Concert, treats, a date
and a whole lot of FUN!

Here are some of the highlights!
I went and helped with Ethan's Halloween Class party and watched the parade as all of the kids in the school walked the halls showing off their costumes. 
I love the joy and excitement of watching the kids!
Tracy got Ethan ready for school and this is how he did his hair...
a Faux-Hawk spray painted green!
 
Ethan's school class
posing for a Halloween photo...
priceless!
 
Ethan Kip...
he called himself the "Joker Pumpkin"!
 
My Pumpkins!!
 
All dressed up to head
to the Annual Halloween concert 
as the Funky Pumpkin Family!
It was a hectic afternoon, as Tracy came right home from work and had to take tents and gear down to the area where his scouts were having their camp-out that night. He then raced in the house, put on his shirt, sprayed a little green in his hair and we were out the door. 
Lucky to have these photos as we almost forgot to snap some!
  
This happy t-shirt
was worn by my Sweetie!
With the hectic day, I didn't ever get a photo snapped of him wearing it.
  
If you were to ask me what my most favorite thing that I look forward to all year long (other than our yearly backpacking trip and dates with Mr. Smith), my most favorite thing would be the  
Halloween Symphony Orchestra Concert!

Tracy and I have been going for the past 20+ years. 
I Love it! 
It's such a FUN event and they perform such great music. This year had a little different flair as they had a Western Concert, but it was amazing, nonetheless.

The comedy acts were hilarious
the fiddler, Yodler and blue grass numbers were amazing 
and the Symphony Orchestra 
music fed my soul!!

Here are the numbers they performed:

--The Cowboys Overture.......... John Wiliams

-- Dances with Wolves Concert Suite........John Barry

--Three Dance Episodes from "Rodeo".......Aaron Copland
     I.   Buckaroo Holiday
     II.  Corral Nocturne
     III. Saturday Night Walz
--Hoe Down from "Rodeo"......... Aaron Copland

Even though I don't have a stove/oven at the moment, I made up Pumpkin cookies for Jade to take for dessert to the dinner he went to on his date to the Halloween Dance.
I cooked them 6 at a time in my little toaster oven.
SO yummy! 
It was so delicious to have a homemade treat to enjoy!
(here for recipe)
 
I can't believe my Jade
is old enough to go on a date!

A sweet girl in his Resource Class asked him to go to the dance with her.
She went as "Alice"
and Jade went as "The Mad Hatter".
We had fun getting his costume all together.

We were going to do his makeup like the Tim Burton Mad Hatter, but since they were eating at 6:00 and pictures weren't until 8:30 we decided to forego the make up so he would stay looking nice for the dance photos.
 
Carissa's mom had the most amazing table-scape set up for dinner. Jade ate dinner with her and her family and then they talked and enjoyed the evening and then drove the kids to the High School for the dance.

She made the yummiest caramel apples ever and Jade has been talking all week about the delicious spiced cider she made up as well and begging me to buy the apple cinnamon tea and make some up for us to enjoy as well.
 
Sweet adorable kids!!
It breaks my heart
as both Jade and Carissa have learning and social challenges and neither of them can drive at the moment either.
SO happy that they could go and have a wonderful time!

They got 3rd place
for their costumes at the dance!

The dance went from 9-12 and Carissa's mom thought for sure that Carissa wouldn't make it more than an hour at the dance.
However, 9, 10 and 11 o'clock came and we never heard from the kids.
They were having SO much fun they stayed the whole time at the dance.  Tracy and I picked them up from the dance.  They came out all smiles (except that Jade teased Carissa with spiders at the dance and she had to tell us all about that).
After dropping off Carissa and talking with her mom for a bit, we didn't get home until 1:00 am and then Jade came and sat on our bed and talked to us about the dance until 2:30 am. I LOVE that my kids feel comfortable to talk to us!! I woke up at 6:00 and Jade was crashed in the middle of our bed.  Good times!

We think the world of Carissa and she has the most amazing and loving parents that I have ever met.
 
LOVED my spider barrette from Tracy and since Halloween was on Sunday, I decided to be bold and to wear it in my hair to church.  I am the ward chorister and I had all kinds of young ones coming up to me after Sacrament meeting to tell me how COOL that spider was.

Life is too short 
not to have a little FUN!

I can't believe that November is here.
 Last night we enjoyed grilled Salmon, fresh beets from our garden (cooked on the hot plate in our garage), enjoyed a two mile walk under the starry sky and came home and played three rounds of Bananagrams as a family!    
LOTS of fun!!
 
The time is just flying by faster than ever.
Only 23 days until Thanksgiving.
 We are hoping to start putting Polyurethane on our floor this Wednesday evening. We have had a busy past week with church callings, holidays and little areas of the floor that we had to spot sand and stain to blend better.
YAY for progress and I can't wait to get my house back!

Funny sidenote...
the weekend of October 23rd we quickly did up all of the laundry because we knew it would be a week before we would realistically be back in our house. HOWEVER, the fumes from the floor stain, got in our dryer vent and all of our clothes smelled AWFUL like exhaust.  We all noticed the horrible smell at work/school on Monday the 25th and it was such a miserable day to have to sit and smell that awful smell all day long!  YUCK! I don't know what was worse, wearing clothes that smelled that way all day long, OR, drying off with towels that smelled that way.
That evening after dinner we went and soaked at Heise Hot Springs...it is much nicer to smell like sulfur than exhaust! (wink)
SO, for the past 3 days, I have done over 16 loads of laundry, with the laundry room door shut and the garage door opened to have fresh air for the dryer vent to circulate through to get the smell out of our clothes!!  
Happy to say it worked! Yay!!
There is never a boring moment at my house right now!

9 comments:

Welcome to the Garden of Egan said...

My goodness Kimmie! You need a dose of boredom..............for reals.
I'm so glad Jade had a good time! His costume looked fabulous!
I'm feeling bad that you are such a kitchen diva and haven't had a stove or oven! I bet you'll be baking up a storm when you finally get your kitchen back.

Cute costumes of your family. Spider in your hair to church? YOU ROCK!

Connie said...

I had a nice, long comment but my computer STINKS! I'm now on my son's laptop so my comment won't be as elaborate and wonderful as my originial one!

First off, your costumes are fantastic! You're so creative! I think going to a Halloween Symphony is a great tradition!
Your cookies look delish and proves that you're a very patient woman and your toaster oven works well!
So glad Jade had a good time at the dance. They make a cute couple.

Ann Marie said...

Oh my word... you baked cookies in the toaster oven? I am seriously "not worthy" to be friends. ha-ha...

I love the costumes. I especially think Alice and the Mad Hatter are adorable!

Keep up the patience with the house. I feel so bad for you.. and wish I could do your laundry for you!

I know in the end.. it will be soo worth it! Why can't it just be easy??

Hope your week is Happy!!

Sondra said...

You are one busy woman! I loved your spider barrette and even loved it more that you wore it leading music in church - LOL! You are soooo fun! (Cool orange hair too!)
I love Jade's date and their costumes were wonderful! I'm glad they had a great time at the dance. :-D
The school picture of halloween costumes is such a neat idea. I've never seen that before and wish that I had them for my boys through the years.

Candace said...

I love Ethan's class halloween pic. i can't believe you cooked cookies in your toaster. And Jade and Carrissa's picture brought a tear to my eye. I am so happy that they had so much fun and costume contest winners too!! It's just wonderful! That poly coat on the floor is awful. I hope you aren't staying the night in your house when you put it on. You can come sleep on my sofa.

BJ said...

I love your costumes! Jade's mad-hatter costume is awesome too. I'm going to have to remember the BYUI concert for next year and give it a try - it sounds like a lot of fun, and it also gives you a place to wear a costume to.

Glad you're making progress on your floor - you're a very patient woman. :)

C Smith said...

You guys looked so cute. The concert sounds like a great tradition. Jade looked awesome, glad he had fun at the dance. I can't believe that you baked those cookies 6 at a time in your toaster oven. That is commitment to the cookies. :)

Hope you had a good birthday. Sorry my wishes to you are belated. We got a package in the mail a few days ago, sorry it is late but we were thinking of you both.

CB said...

Before I forget - The polyurethane is worse. If you haven't done it yet put sheets of plastic up to contain the fumes. Don't leave your food in the kitchen cupboards - it will get into your food too. Yuck.
Just wanted to say that before I forgot and sorry you had to redo so much laundry...UGH!
Your Halloween costumes TOTALLY rock - You all look soooo cute!
I especially love your spider barrette - Just fun!!

Heather said...

Look at you, you still cooked cookies in the toaster oven! You rock!

How fun that the family were all pumpkins!

I love the Mad Hatter and Alice in wonderland costumes! I am glad they had a good time at the dance!

I love your spider clip! I bet those kids came up to after wards, it is pretty awesome!

That STINKS that you had to wash all your laundry again! Wow!