H is for H-A Double L-O

 

Double Yew Double E - N spells Halloween!

Soooo this is the Halloween that I didn't get any pictures at all.

The children all did their own thing with friends. 

We didn't carve pumpkins because the boys carved at a youth activity. I didn't even take a picture of the glowing O'Lanterns. 

We made caramel apples, but when I called for Avery to come down and eat with us she said "ok but don't take my picture."

On Halloween night Avery went to a party at a friend's house dressed as a lifegaurd,

Evan and Andrew had friends over to trick or treat. There were a ton of friends in and out.

Andrew had a sleepover after they had filled their pillowcases with candy. 

So many friends from school stopped by. I yelled for them to come in and visit! from the comfort of our new tv room - watching the world series game 6. The world series was the FUNNEST this year. It's all I wanted to watch and talk about for a while. 

Evan and Logan and Cooper were upstairs watching a scary movie when three cute girls stopped by. One of the girls is Logan's girlfriend, so I made them come in and go upstairs. I hear it was super awkward. 

It was a Halloween with teenagers - super fun, super hands off, super low key. Tons of candy. Tons of friends. 

T is for Trick of Treat

Caramel Apples!

They keep talking about how much they don't really like caramel apples, but that it's a mandatory Halloween activity. 

They're just sooo messy.

But that one year I cut up apples (braces!), they secretly hated me. 

Avery was Bruno Mars this year.

This is her soccer team at school.

This is Bruno at a Halloween party.

Pumpkin Carving!

One hundred percent of the time we carve pumpkins, there is the happiest atmosphere in our home. 

It's kind of the worst, but also the best activity. 

You know what makes these activities so precious? Is when the kids are getting so old and in no time at all Avery will be launched to college. Why are they so big and old? 

Trick or Treat!

I am Baby Yoda. My kids cringed pretty hard. 

Andrew's crew.

Evan's crew. 

He said all the people would open the door and say stuff like "wow you're all so tall!"

Lindsay slayed it with this Moira costume. 

Lisa was a Tesla and sat in there for like an hour. 

Oh goody. So much candy. yay. 

 

H is for HALLOWEEN

Those cowboy costumes make the giant boys look even older than they are. Like they are the dads taking the kids trick or treating.

haha I love that they still go out.  

We just wandered the neighborhood soaking up the atmosphere. 

We are no longer needed as moms, but we still like to dress up and wander around. 

It's the best night. 

The big candy trade. 

 

T is for TURN a Pumpkin into a Jack o Lantern

Sunday we turned pumpkins into Jack o Lanterns. 

It's such a messy, somewhat difficult thing we do. Power tools help. As does the tiny black swiss army knife that has always assisted with the meticulous details of the pumpkins that Jim works on. 

Evan did the whole thing on his own. 

Andrew and Jim worked on it together.

**Jim did 95% of it.

We looked back through all his pumpkin masterpieces. He's had some good ones. 

Now he has to use glasses to see and I dig it. 

Our living room was in a state because Jim put up wood work around the windows. 

TA DA

Avery did hers all by herself too: Jack the Pumpkin King

Andrew: Freddy Fazbear

Evan: simple, quick.

Even though they are a hard project, a lit jack o lantern is one of my top favorite things in the fall. 

 

A is for All the Halloween Things

Remember Dinner in a Pumpkin?  We "remade" the picture. 

This year we had candles and apple cider to make things extra special. 

We rarely sit around the table for dinner this time in our life. It was so nice. 

Traditions, man. They are so important and have a magic way of reminding us that we belong. 

Evan is our tradition-minder, and I love it. He knows how fun it is to do the same thing every year. We revisit the thing and reminisce about how things used to be and examine how we are now, 

but it's always a pull back to belonging: this is us and we do these things and no matter how we've changed, this thing we do together hasn't changed. 

Saturday Andrew's soccer team had a bye,

(remember that I'm coaching his team? Ugg it's the worst. We lose every game and it's humiliating. But put a pin in that for another time. I don't feel like talking about it)

and Avery had a regional game at 10:00...

so after her game we went to the pumpkin patch. It's been since pre-covid that we went to a pumpkin patch. 

This tradition is such a funny one because it really is geared for the wonder of little kids. 

This time around we laughed at ourselves for climbing aboard the train and riding down to the apple orchard and back. 

The little yellow pumpkins were picked over. No one played on the tires. 

Good thing Jim snapped a few pictures. 

It's so different than our old pumpkin patch outings, but here we are. 

We got home and geared up for the ward Trunk or Treat:

These two characters are from the same video game. 

Sunday we carved pumpkins and ate A LOT of pumpkin pie. 

Monday! Time to trick or treat.

 

Can you find Waldo?

Now?

How about now? 

Andrew went with his buddy Matthew, 

Avery was a traffic cone (btw)

The boys asked if Evan wanted in on the dinosaur theme, but he stuck to being Waldo. 

Turns out it's hard to walk very far on a dinosaur, so they changed into other costumes by the tenth house. 

Too much candy. 

Yet another holiday that reminds me that my kids are getting so old. 

H is for Halloween

For costumes this year, I went the most simple I've ever done. Everything was repurposed from another costume and/or details purchased from Amazon. 

I think I'm retired from creating entire costumes. 

The most exciting part every Halloween is when the Dicksons emerge in their award winning costumes. 

Every year Lindsay swears it's not going to be as good as other years, and every year she is wrong.

Groot stole the show as a dragon. 

We took a rest deep into the neighborhood with our heavy bags - sat right down on the sidewalk and ate some candy. 

Koda was a nurse. 

I totally forgot to get a picture of her in her "costume", but there she is sleeping next to Andrew's bazillion Twixes. Her licks will heal any ailment you might have.