Petersons Never Give Up: Halloween 2017

We found out about 2 weeks before Halloween that no one was planning a ward trunk or treat! The girls in playgroup and I were really horrified! I asked the Bishop if I could put one together and he said yes! I got to work making a flier and putting together plans. We decided to do a chili potluck to help include the whole ward on the Friday before Halloween. People signed up to bring chili, rolls, and cookies. My mom helped me get some homemade rootbeer put together and she helped watch the kids while we set up. Lots of people signed up and lots of people came and parked to pass out candy! This is the first year we actually decorated our trunk for the trunk or treat. Lizzie dressed as a bear, Brett was Anakin, and Alana was a unicorn. They got lots of candy and ran around and didn't really eat dinner. It was a great success. Sean and I were really pleased that we were able to put together such a fun event for our ward. While I was attempting to make Brett and Alana eat some dinner and Sean was helping with some part of the dinner, Lizzie fell off a chair and scraped up her chin and got a bloody nose. Luckily my Mom and Dad were there and helped rescue her. Poor girl! She recovered very quickly and was really excited and ready to trick or treat. I was so grateful for my parents and Sean's help!

I loved this Frankenstein decoration. Another family dressed as care bears and put up rainbow streamers on their trunk. There were so many cute kids and cute costumes!

After the trunk or treat, Brett and Alana sacked out on the couch and gobbled up lots of candy!

On Saturday we carved our pumpkins. We bought an attachment for Sean's drill to help clean out the pumpkins. It was really fun to use and worked really good. The kids drew out what they wanted their pumpkins to look like and Sean helped Brett and I helped Alana.

Lizzie had her own little pumpkin which she colored on with markers. She loved the Jack O Lantern faces especially when we put the candles in!

On Saturday night we babysat Afton for the Saffrons while they went out. Afton is such a sweetie and enjoyed hanging with Sean mostly! All the kids enjoyed reading, then we watched some of Cars 3.

Tuesday was Halloween and Sean took the day off. We dropped off Brett at his school at 8:55, then dropped Alana off at preschool at 9:15. Then we went back to Brett's school and waited in the auditorium for the parade. I forgot snacks for Lizzie and she was super super tired, but she was a trooper. She loved watching the costumes!

After the parade we went to Brett's classroom. They were going to recess in a few min so they did a short activity then went out for recess. While they were out we got going on setting up the party. I am room mom again and several moms were willing to come help with the party but they weren't interested in planning anything. I put together 5 centers for the kids, donuts and books, coloring and making masks, five little pumpkins finger puppets and poem, stacking cups and tossing rings at cones, and Halloween Bingo. It was a lot of work but I felt it came together nicely! I was so grateful Sean was there as Lizzie was falling apart a little bit. She did great but was definitely ready to leave first grade! Brett was so cute sitting in his desk. He is such a great kid and has lately been struggling because he feels like he doesn't get a lot of praise for his good behavior at school. While in his class Sean and I noticed that with so many kids (33) it is difficult for Mrs. Paoule to praise each child. She does an amazing job! It was really good for both Sean and I to spend a good 1.5 hours in his classroom though so we could help him understand that he really is doing a splendid job and that his teacher does notice how awesome he is!

Sean did a great job reading and passing out snacks.

Alana had a great day in preschool and had so much fun wearing her costume. I'm not sure if she had a party or anything. I wish I could have been in her class too! I'm excited for when I get to help in her classroom parties too! Alana has been learning more and more about the alphabet and has been isolating the first sound in words. She is also super into rhyming right now. The other morning we were driving Brett to school when Brett and Alana decided to try out different rhymes. The favorite was grass and ass! I sat there silently laughing for a minute before I explained that ass is not a nice word. Brett asked what it meant and I told them in the bible its a kind of animal but most people use it to talk about their bum in a mean way. It was just so funny because they were so innocent and sweet! Brett and Alana love twisting around this poll on our carport.

She really is such a pretty unicorn, but don't tell her that because she would rather be called cute!

Lizzie took a 3 hour nap on Halloween which was very needed!

After we picked up Brett from school we drove down to Neil and Rebecca's house. Rebecca made a special Halloween dinner with mummy hotdogs, worm grapes, spider web 7 layer dip, and witches finger breadsticks. Neil was just returning from a business trip and joined us a little later and Mom and Dad P joined us for dinner and trick or treating.

We ate quickly (well the kids mostly looked at their food) then got straight to trick or treating. That neighborhood really goes all out and it was fun to see so many trick or treaters out and so many decorations. It was also fun to walk around with family!

Alana got tired of wearing her unicorn horn so Sean wore it for her! Lizzie thinks trick or treating is the best idea ever! She insisted on walking and carrying her little bucket. She kept walking for the entire hour + that we were walking around! We kept trying to convince her to let us hold her, but she would cry whenever we picked her up. So we mostly let her walk along dragging her little pink pumpkin. It was so cute to hear her say "Taatoo" for the candy.

When we got home everyone dug into their candy! We stayed for about a half hour more then got the kids in pjs and headed home since it was a school day the next day.