Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween! It gets more fun every year as the kids get more into it. We all had the stomach flu last week, and Lincoln hasn't been able to get rid of his. He's had a high fever and no appetite for almost a week. I only put his costume on long enough to get this picture. Little Smiley doesn't look like a happy camper, does he?

Isaac was feeling very independent this year. He had one goal in mind- get as much candy as possible as fast as possible. I kept having to remind him to stay by me, they I decided to ease up a little. That's hard to do with your first! Swen had to work, so I took the kids around my parents' neighborhood while Link stayed at their house. Then Swen came a took the boys for a second round to his parents' neighborhood while I enjoyed hot cider and pumpkin cookies in their nice warm house with the two youngest.

Mr. Cool Ninja and his cool jack-o-lantern. He's been sharing a little too much candy with me. Ugh, I think I've gained 10 lbs. so far.

The cutest little black kitty ever. (Actually, all of the kids have worn this costume when they were this age. They've all been the cutest ever. I have to watch the compliments, or the boys ask, "What about me?"

We didn't get Lincoln alone in his costume. We'll have to take his picture when his fever goes away. Here's a cute fall picture of him, though.

Ghost on the move...

We had fun carving pumpkins this year. Alyssa thought they were a little scary, so I tried to help her do a surprised one-like "Wow! It's Halloween, I'm so excited!" But it ended up looking like a scared pumpkin. Oh well.

The artist in Swen comes out when he carves pumpkins. He gets very serious about it. He stayed up until 11:30 carving a very cool pumpkin. It looks like it's a few sandwiches short of a picnic, or like it's elevator doesn't go quite to the top. But it's still very cute. When I failed in giving Alyssa a non-threatening jack, Swen had to do it instead. He definitely succeeded.

The finished product

I had to post this pic. of the "Buggerfields". This is Swen's sister Allie, her husband, Ted, and little Chloe Butterfield. Ted is a cool and unique guy that drives a Harley, but also loves to sew. He made these w/o a pattern. Amazing!

Some of the Howard cousins

Earlier in October, the kids had a few days off school for Fall Break. We had so much fun! We went to Ratatouille-or however you spell it- Gardner's Village, hiking up part of the Timp. trail, and the boys saw Harry Potter 5 with Swen.