Halloween Festivites

Halloween is a wonderful holiday for our family (maybe just because it's Mommy's favorite)! But Dayton and Daphne DEFINITELY enjoyed the day.

Leaves
First they played around in a wonderful blanket of leaves at our friends' house.

Pumpkin Daphne and "Monkey Bear" Dayton
I told him his costume was a monkey, but he also thought it
looked like a bear, so he appropriately named it a monkey bear.

Trick-Or-Treating
It was pretty chilly when we headed outside for our kids' first REAL trick-or-treating (each year until now we had only participated in our Church's activity), so we layered clothing underneath the costumes and added gloves to keep our hands warm.

Dayton caught on to trick-or-treating very quickly. He was eager to go from house to house and get candy from each door. He said both "trick-or-treat" and "thank you" every time.

Daphne, on the other hand, wanted to stay at the first house and get more candy. She didn't understand why she couldn't just fill her bag from the first bowl and then go home! She sweetly said "ti-tea" and "taku" (we just can't get enough of her angelic little voice!).

Here's a video of playing in the leaves and trick-or-treating.
The last house was when we went home to surprise Daddy.

Candy High
The kids were SO eager to eat their candy when we got home.

I convinced Daphne to dump out her bag,
but Dayton didn't want to make a mess with his.

They both chose a sucker for their first dose of sugar!

Next was bags of pretzels,

followed by more suckers,
then Skittles,
and Mommy allowed this feast to continue for almost an hour!

Daddy's Costume
We were amused when the kids started playing inside Derrick's costume for our Church party.

Notice Daphne's handful of Skittles

Party at Church
Our Church hosted a chili and cornbread dinner, and then trick-or-treating from classroom to classroom inside (which was a wonderful break from the cold outside). The highlight of this activity for me was the children's costume parade across the stage. A lady announced each child's name and costume as they took turns crossing the stage.

Daphne's turn came first (or rather she walked out onto the stage ahead of Susie who was in front of us in line). She just made her way straight from one side to the other, then waited for Mommy on the other side.

Dayton's turn was my favorite. I think when he heard his name announced, he thought he was supposed to perform or entertain in some way, because he walked out to center stage and then just stood there staring at everyone, halting the parade behind him. I called to him from the side of the stage to keep walking, but he just stood there! He had this goofy look on his face and gazed around at everyone in the crowd. After everyone was thoroughly amused, I walked out and dragged him offstage. Too funny!

Derrick: the Balloon Boy (from the news story),
Dayton: Monkey Bear
Daphne: Pumpkin,
Michelle: Mahana (from LDS movie Johnny Lingo)