Halloween Celebrations

Halloween was a lot of fun this year. Allie knew exactly what it is and what to expect, so she was really looking forward to it. She was telling us what she wanted to be for a month or more. First, she said she wanted to be a horse. But then she switched to a fox. I'm not sure what prompted the change. No one in the family had seen the "What does the fox say?" song and video, yet, so it wasn't that. However, since I had seen people posting, "What does the fox say?" on Facebook, I looked up what everyone was referring to. Seeing that it wasn't inappropriate (weird, yes, but not inappropriate), we let the girls watch it. Allie especially got a kick out of it, and it sealed the deal for being a fox for Halloween. At that point, Rachel wanted to be a doggy. In my mind, I was thinking, "Maybe a Fox and Hound theme?"

I got an orange shirt from the dollar store and planned on using it and fabric scraps to make a costume for Allie. When a friend from church heard Allie wanted to be a fox, she told me that she had a 5T fox costume. Perfect! I was more than happy to borrow it. We got it a little over a week before Halloween, and Allie was really excited to try it on. She put it on and wore it the rest of that day. She was even jumping around like a fox, though not smashing her face into the ground.

Upon seeing and watching Allie in her costume, Rachel decided she wanted to be a fox, too. So, I picked up where I left off with the fox costume. I cut off some of the fabric from the bottom of the shirt because it was really long; it had even been long on Allie. Rachel was most excited about the tail, though. She was happy trying on the shirt, but she kept asking about the tail. So the tail was the next item I sewed, using the fabric that I cut off the bottom of the shirt and fabric scraps that I already had.

Happy Rachel with her Fox Tail

Just missing the ears

Knowing what the girls wanted to be, we were ready to celebrate. A family from church invited us to their Halloween party. We didn't know whether we'd be going until the afternoon of. Allie was beyond excited when I told her we were going to go to a Halloween party. I still needed to finish Rachel's ears, though. I worked on them from the moment we got up from nap until the moment we walked out the door on our way to the party. Rachel had been a little resistant about putting something on her head, but I was able to get her ears on in the van. She was distracted enough to leave them alone for awhile.

Such a cute little fox.

We arrived at the party and took a quick picture of our two foxes.

I didn't get face make-up on them this time.

The girls enjoyed playing with the other kids at the party, as well as bobbing for apples. Allie was determined to get one. Ultimately, she used her hand to help, but she did not receive any help from us.

So Happy!

Rachel tried a time or two with her mouth and then decided that it was easier to just pull the apples out with her hand. She pulled three or four out. We made her return all but one. She was also very proud of herself.

Rachel's attempt with her mouth

The next night was our ward Trunk-or-Treat. It is held at a member's house, or in their "dance hall," rather. Their son is a good high-jumper, so they have a pit outside. The kids had a lot of fun jumping around on it. With all the jumping, it was hard to get a clear picture.

After playing outside for awhile, we went in for dinner and dessert. There was a chili cook-off, though we didn't participate in it this year. After eating, we headed out for the kids to do their trunk-or-treating. We had all of our cars in a circle around a large bonfire. The girls enjoyed getting candy.

We had planned on carving pumpkins a few different times that just didn't work out. We ended up doing it just two days before Halloween. Better late than never, right? The girls didn't know the difference. They were simply happy to be doing something with their pumpkins.

Rachel being sweet to her pumpkin

Allie actually took quite a bit out of hers using a measuring cup.

Daddy did the carving. A friend told us about the trick of taking out the bottom of the pumpkin. It seemed to work fairly well. It might be how we do it in the future.

Rachel wanted to help, but she had a hard time getting past the pumpkin guts. She used a measuring cup and got a few seeds out.

The girls with their carved pumpkins.

Rachel wanted "cheeks" on hers, so Allie wanted to add cheeks, too.

Halloween morphed into a week-long event this year. The girls loved it, though. On Halloween day, we had a few friends over, though one of them napped the whole time. Londyn and her little brother came over while their mom helped out at school. The three girls really enjoyed playing together.

Allie, Londyn, and Rachel

We went to Londyn's house for dinner and went trick-or-treating in her neighborhood. Her family is a family from church. They are a lot of fun and just good people. We're glad they're our friends. A few other families came for dinner and trick-or-treating, too.

Allie acting as a fox before dinner.

Allie, Rachel, and Cookie Monster trick-or-treating together.

Since they had had a friend over, the girls did not nap on Halloween. After a long, fun day that ended with walking around a large neighborhood, Rachel was especially wiped out. She fell asleep on the way home. I carried her in and put her on our bed so that I could put a diaper on her for the night and wash her face. She slept through it all.

Londyn's mom is a great photographer. We got to their house before some of the other families and were blessed to have her offer to take some pictures. Here are some of the pictures she took of our little foxes and our family.

Farmland Adventures 2013

Having gone to Farmland Adventures last year, we really wanted to go again this year. We got a good deal off of Living Social and decided to buy pumpkins somewhere else in order to save money. We went on a Thursday night, so it wasn't too crowded. The girls loved it!

Allie remembered from last year that there were pony rides. It was to be our first order of business, and she was off as soon as we walked through the entry.

Off to the Pony Rides, Looking so Big!

Pure Bliss

Harder to see, but also very happy.

After riding the ponies, we went to check out the animals. The girls had a great time with the goats. We didn't buy a cup of oats, but there was plenty on the grass that we could pick up and give to them. The girls giggled so much. Both truly enjoyed themselves.

Love their laughter in this video

As we were feeding and petting the goats, we could hear a little pig squeal, so went to check it out. They were holding a baby pig so that kids could pet it. It squealed the whole time it was held. Some kids were too nervous to pet it, but ours weren't deterred.

They have other animals to look at, including cows, ponies, a zonkey (zebra and donkey mix), and camel. As we were looking at some of the other animals, we discovered that a little baby goat had escaped its area and was in with a big steer with horns. The steer tried to poke the little guy, so Jared helped it move. It then went in with the camel. The girls were happy to pet another little goat. The goat ended up getting out altogether and gave one of the workers quite a chase.

While waiting to go on the tractor-pulled wagon ride, the girls played in the corn box. They enjoyed dropping it through their fingers and then got more adventurous, jumping around in it.

Rachel was a little mischievous. If it hadn't been for me calling her out, this bit would have ended up on Allie's head.

The girls enjoying jumping in the corn

Allie making a corn angel

Then we went on the wagon ride. Everyone got some tortillas to feed to the cows. The girls were really excited about getting on the big wagon.

Feeding the Cows

Hard to see, but check out that tongue!

Rachel had some nervous laughter at times, but truly enjoyed feeding the cows. (And yes, our camera lens needed to be cleaned.)

I originally started helping Rachel with the cows, but as the cows exhaled toward us, I could not handle the smell. I gagged several times and was afraid I was going to lose it any minute. Even standing back, it was still a struggle. Jared got a good laugh, but was great at helping both girls. The cows were not impressed with me not having any food for them.

Where's my food?

We then checked out a little maze that the girls could run through. It wasn't difficult, but they liked running through it. I went to one side and they came to me.

We then went back to the ponies. A little girl cannot ride ponies too many times.

The girls then played on a large pile of hay. Allie was very proud of herself for climbing to the top by herself.

There was a tunnel going through the bottom of the pile. Both girls went through it.

Rachel in the Tunnel

With a little help, Rachel got on top, too.

They have two corn mazes. One is very large, and the other is a smaller, kids' maze. We opted for the smaller maze given the time and the decreasing temperature and chilly wind. Luckily the corn protected us from the wind. The girls each took turns leading the way.

Rachel stumbled at one point, but was still determined to lead the way.

Pig races weren't on the schedule for Thursday night, so we planned on one more pony ride before heading home. As we were getting ready to get on the ponies, the attendants told us that they were going to stop for the pig races. We told them that we planned on riding the ponies and then leaving, so they let us ride first. Then Allie started asking if we could watch the pig races. I didn't want to be dishonest, though. When the pony ride stopped, we could see that they were going to give another ride to others. I asked the attendant if she would be upset or think less of us if we did end up staying for the pig races. She just smiled and said no, so we went ahead and watched the pig races, too.

Allie's Last (3rd) Pony Ride

It had really gotten chilly, so Daddy helped Rachel stay warm during the pig races. He did the same thing last year, too. It is kind of fun comparing the two pictures.

2013

2012

After leaving, we stopped by Jared's work for hot chocolate and then headed to Walmart to pick out some pumpkins. We got two pumpkins for just under $10. The same ones would have been $16 at Farmland Adventures. We were feeling pretty good about the money we saved, and we all had a great time together at Farmland Adventures. I'm sure we'll go again next year.