Halloween 2014

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Halloween truly has to have a post of its own. This year we had a ward party with a spook alley, and dress-ups and the best part, an impromptu dance party at the end. Maddy danced her little heart out and was so sad to leave (though we left with the very last family). She asked for days afterwards when we could go back and dance with the kids.

"Thriller" led by Valerie Dimond

And every year is the Ontiveros Halloween party. Since Maddy was Elsa I embraced the theme and dressed up as Olaf. Scott would rather have not dressed up at all but we gave him some antlers to put on so he could at least say he was Sven and fit into our theme.

 During Halloween week they had a "Say No to Drugs" week. This particular day was mustache day - specifically "I mustache you not to do drugs" day. Maddy wore her little pencil 'stash and kept saying it over and again in a Spanish accent.  Oh goodness I laughed and laughed.

Kindergarten parade on Halloween

A creepy picture

TJ Schiess, Lauren Beams, Me

At XANGO we do Halloween right. But, it's a little difficult to take life seriously when you are trying to talk about credit card fraud with a My Little Pony and an Elf. It hit me in the middle of the meeting how funny it was so I had to take a selfie.

Leslie Gallacher, Joe Morton, Patrick Lindsay, TJ Schiess, Me

For our party we played glow in the dark bingo. Lots of candles and strings of lights, glow in the dark paint and blacked out windows.

But the best part of the day, trick-or-treating with the neighborhood. The Buhlers up the street start out the evening and when they go past a house with kids, that family joins in. It is so much fun going around the neighborhood with lots of kids to play with and plenty of grown-ups to talk and laugh with. It's one of the things I love most about our area. Scott keeps trying to convince the grown-ups to have a costume contest but so far no one has really grabbed on to that. Maybe next year.

Ruby Marshall, Maddy, Sophia Buhler

October in Review

Since I am so far behind maybe we should do a Month at a time. Shall we? 

We begin with . . .

 

Happy October!

As usual, the XANGO Halloween party is the biggest event of the year. We had skary-oke and to make sure that others would particiapte, the culture team started things off with a cover of "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns and Roses with yours truly on Axl Rose lead vocals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Between sessions of LDS General Conferenence we went up the canyon as a family to do a little leaf gathering. Unfortunately, the colors were not great and we had a rough time finding all the reall good colors. We did gather a few to bring home and press in our book nonetheless.













Maddy has decided that she loves Japanese food. Scratch that, she loves steak and fried rice and the cooking at the table that comes with the Japanese restaurants Tepenyaki and Benihana. I can support that because there is nothing better than their onion soup, salad with ginger dressing and ham fried rice. She is also getting to be fairly good at eating with chopsticks.
















It is clear that I am no good at cutting a straight line when it comes to bangs. So, Maddy and I tend to take quick trips into the salon together for a trim. On this occasion, since I was getting color,  she needed it as well. Theyobliged by put a stripe of pink chalk in for her. She is in love!

The best part of the whole trip was when she laid down at the sink and they started to run water over her hair and she let out the most adorable, contented sigh I have ever heard. I thought "yes, that is exactly how I feel when I get my hair washed and massaged at the salon!"

What a girlie girl Maddy is becoming.  

the 31st day of October

Mitt and Obama share a Halloween moment

(aren't those masks just awful?)

(I of course am Mitt - ps don't forget to vote Tuesday)

On Halloween, Katie picked Maddy up from school in the afternoon and brought all the kids to trick-or-treat at the office. There was a haunted house that Holly and Dalton and Katie visited. They went in with instructions to scope it out for the littler ones. I had gone through earlier in the day and it was actually quite scary, but I had heard that they toned it down for the kids to come through. According to Holly and Dalton, it was pretty scary. Well, Dalton was probably tough and didn't get too scared. Katie and I decided we didn't want to deal with nightmares so we didn't send the younger ones in. We visited all three floors of the building though and the kids got tons of candy.

Earlier in the day, I was asked to participate in a dance number for the company party. I think my shiny pants and cape actually make for a much more captivating YMCA line dance don't you think?

When Maddy filled her pumpkin bucket halfway and started asking me to carry it because it was so heavy, we decided it was time to go home. After all, mommy's co-workers are all a little bit crazy anyhow.

We got home and grabbed Scott and headed out into the neighborhood. Last year, Maddy trick-or-treated at the Buhlers house and grandma's house but that was it. This year, we actually tagged along with the Buhlers as they canvased our street but once her bucket was filled to the brim and my high-heeled silver boots were long past comfortable, we called it a night. I forced some chicken nuggets into my tired, over sugared, over excited daughter and then tucked her into bed. I then soaked my aching feet in the hot tub before crashing into bed myself. Now, it's time to take down the Halloween, put up the turkeys and pilgrims and be thankful that we have such wonderful friends, jobs, family and lives.

Happy Halloween to everyone.

Maddy's pre-Halloween

What a fun Halloween season we have had. Early on in October, Maddy told me that she wanted to be Belle for Halloween. I searched for costumes on Amazon and Disney.com and finally figured, we may as well just go to Wal-Mart to pick up something. To our chagrin, there was no Belle. I was fully prepared for a melt-down but Maddy just found a Minnie costume and decided that she wanted it instead.

 

 Like any normal mother, I bought it, but in the back of my mind had that dread that on the night before Halloween, she'd be crying for the Belle costume. To my surprise, Minnie was actually worn and I didn't hear another word about Belle. Hooray.

 

 

We began our Halloween festivities the Saturday before with a party thrown by the Ontiveros'. Maddy was so very excited to play with Maya and Mason. She let me put on a black nose and whiskers as long as I also applied blue eyeshadow, blush and lip gloss. I picked up a "costume" for Scott at Wal-Mart because we were told that no one got into this party without being dressed up. I hoped that a Halloween themed shirt would appease Linda. To my surprise, Scott had an idea for a costume in mind.

 Maddy thought that this swamp monster costume was pretty cool. Scott just thought it was a good excuse to wear his gilly suit that he purchased several years ago but didn't get to wear. After hiding out on the lawn and in the bushes, we thought that maybe he ought to break it out on Halloween to jump at the trick-or-treaters from the bushes. But, that would just be mean right?

In true Linda fashion, we had a wonderful party filled with doughnut eating contest, balance beam walk through the snakes, coloring station, and of course a pinata.

I dressed up as a Mexican luchador for work but tried it out at Linda's party. we made a fairly odd little family group.

Isabella, Maya and Maddy

Next up in the Halloween festivities was Maddy's preschool program on the 30th. Families were invited to come over at 9:30 for the  parade and a program. Miss Swendy greeted us and mentioned they had some songs to sing and then mused that some we might actually already know. That is very true. Maddy has been singing her Halloween songs since early September.

 I was a very proud mommy. She knew all the words and sang with gusto and joy.

Grandma scooter-ride's favorite song was the one that involved the scared face

The final number they performed was called The Witches Brew. After they were done singing. Miss Swendy made a brew with all the things from the song like crispy leaves, rotten eggs, fingernails, lunch pails, motor oil too. All the ingredients came in then everyone closed their eyes while the magic words were said (and the dry ice was dropped in) and then the kids all opened their eyes to the wonderful bubbling brew.

Maddy and her adoring fans

Maddy and her favorite girls

Maddy's new preschool teacher Miss Stacy

Miss Brandy was Maddy's 2-3 year old teacher and still her favorite

I was so impressed with Miss Swendy and her interactions with the kids. She was wonderful and so very good with the kids. She was silly and over-the-top and it was a great program. I'm glad that Maddy is in a wonderful place if she is not home with me.

Next up, Halloween day. . .

Halloween is coming

Does this freek you out as much as it does me?

fairy

Got Maddy this nice costume for Halloween but did she wear it? No.

So I made her put it on so I could take her picture in it anyway.

I didn't pose her this way, she did it all herself. Maybe I have a ballerina in my house.