Halloween Week

Here at the McDonald household we have decided to celebrate Halloween all week long. Keep checking back as the events will be posted as they occur.

Friday = Happy Halloween!

Happy Falloween! (what Noah calls it) Noah had a minor freak out at the beginning of the night as he didn't want them coming to our door. We had to reassure him that we weren't giving away his candy. I felt sorry for the first few trick-or-treaters who were greeted at the door by me and a child crying because I was giving out candy. Once he passed out a piece or two, he found it fun and quickly got over his tears. The kids had a lot of fun trick-or-treating around our neighborhood with Dan. Zoe could of gone all night, but Noah got tired after a few houses. Plus they got a surprise visit from Grandma Sandi.

Here are some more costume pics....

The tradition of getting a picture with our Halloween Cat candy holder....
Noah actually cooperating and smiling on cue.....

I know I'm cute....

Hoping I don't notice her picking up candy....

or stuffing her bag ahead of time.....

Some made comments on how Zoe will hold it over our heads that she had to be the dog. We will simply remind her that everyone thought she was the cuter of the two and how she managed to get more candy than her brother. Yep, my little girl sure knows how to turn on the charm when it is important. Take a look for yourself, here is a picture of the loot.

Thursday = Dinner in a Pumpkin & more carving...

Noah and I decided to make dinner in a Pumpkin today.

Here's what it looked like before we baked it in the oven....Here's what it looked like after hours of baking in the oven......
The finished product. It was pretty tasty, even Noah ate it with some help from his Dad.....
My Jack-o-Lantern...... Our family of Jack-o-Lanterns........
Dan's Pumpkin; can you see the shadow of ghosts on the wall?


He entered it in a contest at work; we are waiting to hear if he won.

Wednesday = Trunk-or-Treat

Our wards annual Trunk-or-Treat night. What a great excuse to dress up and collect more candy. This time I remembered the camera and took pictures of Noah and Zoe in their costumes. They were excited that Dad got to go Trick-or-Treating with them this time. The kids have decided that Noah gets to share his candy with Dad and Zoe gets to share her candy with Mom. Isn't life great?

My favorite costume of the night was Barrack Obama, one of the guys in our ward wore a nice suit and passed out fake money, encouraging everyone to spread the wealth. It was amazing how well he imitated his actions and could repeat most, if not all his slogans. I'm so wishing I had gotten a picture of it. However, this Barrack Obama was actually encouraging people to vote for McCain.

We also had a Chili cook off. First place went to Nathan Kenison and the runner up was his wife. The best trunk went to a couple of YW who dressed as vampires, and had a coffin. They put a salt ring around their space and made all the kids hold a piece of garlic, in order to get candy. My kids weren't even phased by it, until Dan told Noah she wanted to eat him. He then let out a little whimper: "I don't want her to eat me!!"

Trying to get both kids to cooperate and look at the camera at the same time is sometimes a challenge.... Here's our little munchkins all decked out. Noah is a fireman and Zoe is his fire dog.

Look at her little tail......

Zoe playing with Noah's hat at the end of the night, notice she's still holding tight to her candy....

I'm hoping to get some better shots on Friday.

Tuesday = Library Party & Pumpkin Carving

On Tuesday the kids had a party at the Library as part of the weekly story time. Unfortunately I had left the camera in Dan's car. So there are no pictures of them trick-or-treating at City Hall, or the other fun activities they planned for the kids. Noah and Zoe had a lot of fun, they both even said Trick-or-Treat and thank-you. Everyone got a big kick out of Zoe as she is little Miss Independent, she's the youngest of the kids who actively participate and she refused to hold my hand. So, at times it was a little difficult to steer her in the right direction, but she sure had fun filling up her own treat bag.

Later that night, we helped the kids carve their pumpkins. My favorite part is scooping out the pumpkins, I left the cutting up to Dan. Check out the results.

Noah, not sure if he likes scooping out his pumpkin.....

Finally a smile....

Getting his whole arm into it....

Noah directing Dan on how and what to cut...... Zoe, not sure what to do with the inside of the pumpkin..... Getting her hands dirty.....

She loves to be messy......

A hand full of seeds and guts....

Concentrating very hard........

Putting the seeds and guts back in her pumpkin......

Working on carving Zoe's pumpkin. She got to help decide eye and mouth shape, as well as number of teeth....

The finished products.......

Monday = Pumpkin Picking

Monday we went to Lattin Farms in Fallon, NV to pick out Pumpkins. It's usually pretty dead during the week, but on the weekends they have a corn maze, cow train, hay rides, and a petting zoo. They also have a bakery and farmer's market on site. We happened to be in the right place at the right time and got to take a hay ride with the Missionaries serving in the Fallon area to a section of the pumpkin patch not open to the public and pick pumpkins that were still attached to the vines. One of the workers also volunteered to drive our kids around on the cow train. It turned out to be a pretty eventful afternoon.

Zoe looking at all the pumpkins on the ground.....

Noah afraid to get too close to the totem pole of pumpkins.....

The hay ride.....

Zoe's first choice - it was shaped like an alien's head.... Zoe's 2nd choice, too big to carry......

Zoe's 3rd and final choice, she wouldn't let go of it the rest of the day....

As it was just the right size....

Noah finally decided on this one, it took a lot of convincing that it was just the right size and shape for him.....

The cow train before it started. Both kids very happy and excited....

The Cow Train after it started. Noah panicked as they drove away from us and Zoe didn't like how much it bounced around. So, they didn't last too long on it. I think they took pity on us and didn't charge us for the adventure.

Sunday = Sugar Cookies

Dan started our Halloween Week off right by making cookies with the kids. He made sugar cookies in the shapes of pumpkins and witch hats and we all had fun decorating them. Unfortunately we had used up a lot of our food coloring on previous projects so our pumpkins are more peach colored than orange - and we didn't have black for the witch hats. But the kids didn't seem to mind.

Noah and Dan mixing up the dough and cutting out the shapes. As you can see below, Zoe would rather eat than decorate.
Actually using the knife and putting frosting on the cookie, instead of in her mouth.
Don't you want one?

Telling Dad where to put the frosting.
Noah enjoying the frosting more than decorating cookies.

Using the decorating tip to add detail. As you will see most of them looked like green eyeballs.
Noah with the green sprinkles. He's so funny to watch as he is very precise with them. The finished product. Can you tel which ones Noah did by himself and which ones he allowed some help?