Happy Halloween!

We have had a packed Halloween this year. The kids have been racking up the candy like CRAZY! Jay decided he wanted to be Lightning McQueen this year so instead of strapping a car on him we found him this cool Lightning McQueen race car driver outfit. He loves being McQueen - especially since the suit lights up! There's nothing like a light up costume for a kid.

Amaya is still in the stage where she can't really choose her own costume so I get to choose for her. She was Alice in Wonderland - mainly because I already had the costume. She looked like such a sweet little Alice though! I used to love reading Alice in Wonderland as a kid, even if it is a bit strange. I guess I'm just a big fan of the fantasy genre. I could never pull off an Alice costume though. MyMy was perfect for it!

She couldn't resist putting on daddy's hat. She loves hats!

Such sweet kids to pose for me!

Of course we had to carve pumpkins for FHE. Jay thought it was pretty cool although he wasn't too excited to get his hands slimy. I don't blame him. We ended up with some great carved pumpkins though and some yummy pumpkin seeds too!

Our first Halloween adventure was a HUGE party my friend Jamie put together. I helped her with it and there ended up being around 150 people there! It was a blast although when she asked me if it was worth it I honestly told her no. It was SO much work - especially for her! The decorations were amazing though. Jamie did an awesome job and everyone had so much fun.

 Jamie and Brandon

Mike and I won "Best Couples costume from a Movie" - we were Zorro and Catherine Zita Jones.

 Our next Halloween party took place at a friend's house. She had the kids decorate trick-or-treat bags then they went around to the various doors in her house and played "trick-or-treat" while the mom's handed out candy. It was such a cute idea! Jay had a blast. 

Our third Halloween party was a blanket-or-treat with our ward. We had it on a basket ball court, thus "blanket" instead of "trunk." We ended up with loads of more candy - just what we needed!

Our fourth Halloween party was "Howl-O-Ween" at the zoo. It was actually really, really cool. The whole zoo was decked out in themed Halloween areas including pirates, Harry Potter, Disney, Heros, Barnyard and Ghost busters. We went with our friends the Seedalls. Jay and Bryson had a blast together. Of course they got plenty of more candy!

Tonight we're going trick-or-treating. More CANDY! Does our Halloween have a theme or what?

Soccer dude

Jay recently started playing soccer and so far he loves it. What could be better than running and chasing a ball? It's pretty funny to watch his little team play. We have seen them progress over the past few weeks but they're still just a group of five year-olds bunched together chasing after the ball :) At least they go the right way most of the time now! I think all the kid's favorite part is when the ball goes out of bounds (about once or twice a minute) and they take turns throwing it back in-bounds. Regardless of standard soccer rules, a few goals have been scored that way. Jay has even scored a goal himself. Another player on his team took the ball down the field and kicked it toward the goal, barely missing. The ball sat up against one of the goal posts and players from both teams were standing around not really knowing what to do when Jay surprisingly took the initiative and kicked at it a few times before finally forcing it into the goal. Way to go my little soccer player! Grandma says Jay plays exactly the same way as Mike used to as a kid. Both very good at running and keeping up with the ball but always taking a little too much time to set up before actually kicking it. We're working on it and Jay is already improving. Practice makes perfect! Or at least better :) I'm so happy he's having a good time and I especially love the huge amount of energy soccer expends. Go Crazy Crocodiles!

Contemplating his strategy before the game.

Lucky number 7 on the field!

A mid-game snack.

Getting instructions from Coach Joel - also on the field are Kate, Layla and Nicholas (Nicholas is our money maker - he scores about 5 goals ore more a game . Of course this is his third season).

For the first few games Amaya would cry hysterically any time someone cheered or shouted for the players. She's finally getting over that.

Our goal is that way!