This is Halloween

My dad has started a family pumpkin carving contest. This was our second year and the theme was Tim Burton. I did have big plans, but after carving three pumpkins by myself (and with Jon still out of town), I just didn't have it in me to carve another. Luckily Seth decided to help me out:

I think I'm definitely a contender for first place.

Jon's flight got him in early Halloween morning (just after midnight), which was great for trick or treating but useless for the couples' party the night before. We had another brilliant idea ready to go, but instead I went by myself with a picture of who Jon was supposed to be. Lame. Next year we'll win that trophy back! 

After Seth's ridiculously late soccer game (who schedules a game for 3:15 pm on Halloween???), we headed to the Knoxes for some soup, trick or treating and games. 

Catherine finally decided on costume #3: Cinderella

Seth went for the robber again: 

The robber was sad because he had somehow forgotten 

to wear his shoes and had to borrow Gabe's.

Aaron went as Sam again.

Which meant we put his cape on over his regular clothes and called it good: 

We've decided that Aaron should always wear a cape and run around.

It's possibly the most adorable thing we've ever seen.

We brought cookies for everyone to decorate, but after all the trick-or-treating Catherine was the only one interested in decorating one. But she was quite happy to do it by herself and to have unrestricted access to the sprinkles: 

Everyone else was content to carry on the great Halloween tradition of playing Mario Kart: 

This may have been the highlight of Jon's Halloween.

The Princess's Preschool Party

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess who was so excited for her preschool Halloween party and trick or treating field trip. But she slept in and the queen had to wake her up (never a good thing). Then the princess made a mess of the queen's eyeshadow while getting ready for the party. She burst into tears when the queen lectured her and insisted that she would not be attending the party that day. 

The queen found this hard to believe. But after repeated questioning, the princess still refused to put on her costume. Instead she sat on the futon and played on the iPad:

But finally the idea of the party outweighed the sulkiness and the princess decided to get ready. She showed up just in time for the trick or treating 

The prince and the queen tagged along, but the prince was only interested in the cars passing on the street behind them. He was really hoping to see a cement mixer, but was disappointed in his quest. 

The queen had tried to warn the princess that it was chilly and that she should probably wear a shirt and pants under her costume. But the princess insisted that she was Elsa (Elsa-Ariel?) and that the cold never bothered her anyway. Turns out the cold DOES bother her and makes her disinclined to cooperate. 

Eventually the princess found a warm patch of sunlight. She quickly laid down (yes, right on the sidewalk) and found a rusty piece of metal to play with: 

The prince was intrigued and decided to join her: 

The fiasco party ended with a class picture on the steps. It was hard to get a good picture with all the other kings and queens trying to take pictures of their princes and princesses. 

As all good stories should, this one ends happily ever after, with the princess enjoying her ridiculously overfilled Halloween bag (and even sharing some pieces with the prince).

The End.

One Halloween to Rule Them All

We'd been planning these costumes for a year. We had a stroke of brilliance after Halloween last year and decided we HAD to do this next year. We even roped our good friends (practically family at this point) the Knoxes to join in the insanity fun. 

And then Jon's dumb job made him travel the two weeks before Halloween. We thought about putting it off a year, but decided to just run with it. And so, Jon or no Jon, the Halloween festivities began!

First, Samwise Gamgee

A better view of the hobbit feet: 

And every Fellowship needs Merry: 

Pippin and Galadriel are best buds: 

(one day this can go on their wedding video)

Forget the Elvish seriousness in the movies and books--Galadriel is really a cheeseball: 

Except when the party is over and she's exhausted.

Then it's all Elvish stoicism.

Also, she hates her circlet (which she helped make and design): 

And the hamster ball makes a comeback as the Eye of Sauron: 

I might have had a little too much fun with my makeup.

It's not every day you can write the words from the One Ring across your face: 

The Bloods' contribution to the LOTR theme: 

(Samwise HATED his hobbit feet. LOATHED his hobbit feet. Why? Because they covered his precious shoes. It didn't matter that the shoes were still on his feet. It mattered that he couldn't see them underneath the hobbit feet. Even after removal of the offending feet, he was clearly traumatized). 

Now for some Knoxes: 

Gandalf the Grey 

(this was supposed to be Jon's costume, but Craig makes a great Gandalf)

The lovely Arwen:

Gimli: 

The most adorable Gollum you will ever see: 

Frodo (who was only willing to put on his decidedly non-princess costume 

because he got to wear the One (ear)Ring around his neck): 

Gimli has a hard time eating pizza.

Beards can be such a pain. 

(Yes, that is TOTALLY her actual hair. The Knoxes are as hardcore Halloween as we are).

We also recruited Kaia from another awesome family.

Legolas makes an excellent bearer of Samwise the Whiny: 

Merry and Pippin, looking very serious: 

Not so serious, this time with hobbit feet: 

Arwen takes the Eye of Sauron for a ride: 

And Sam enjoys lounging inside of it and eating some candy: 

But mostly Sam wants to be with Lydia, the love of his life: 

Even when Lydia is getting pictures with her friends, Sam is not far from her side: 

The full Knox/Blood/Uhlig Fellowship of the Ring

(don't miss the awesome Melissa as Boromir and Anna as Aragorn)

Epic.

Something Old, Some Things New

Time to pull out the (old) kid-sized hamster ball for another Halloween costume!

Seth needed a new bucket for Halloween.

Aaron was quite sure Seth's new bucket was really Aaron's new bucket.

A new (bigger) house means we needed a new (bigger) couch! 

We stumbled across a great deal and snatched it up.

The kids are thrilled with the launch pads  power recliners.

Daddy has now unplugged them and hidden the cords. 

Carving Pumpkins

A morning in the pumpkin patch obviously leads to an evening carving pumpkins! I was a little nervous to embark on this adventure without Jon around for backup (not that he carves or scoops seeds--but he does help clean up and put kids to bed). But tradition is tradition and those pumpkin seeds can't go to waste, so let the carving begin!

Ready to begin gutting!

Aaron was an enthusiastic pumpkin gutter. Too enthusiastic, in fact. I looked over and he was using a scoop to fling seeds and innards all over the place.  

Seth gave it a valiant two-minute attempt before giving up and "letting" me finish the rest: 

Catherine was not at all inclined to sticking her hands in a slimy pumpkin. She did painstakingly retrieve some seeds using a spoon (those hands must not get dirty!): 

Cute little boy ready to carve his pumpkin:

This year's pumpkins featured a cement mixer, Ariel, and a Minecraft diamond sword. Seth actually carved about 80% of his pumpkin by himself. I was really impressed!  

Seth and Catherine assisted Aaron by stabbing his pumpkin with toothpicks.

It definitely makes the cement mixer look more terrifying: 

Three crazy kids with their pumpkins.

And the lights from our front yard.

Lohr's Field Trip

Sometimes, schools are dumb. Sometimes they take a trip to the pumpkin patch, but siblings are not invited. So Dad and Catherine go and Mom & Aaron stay home. Lame. But even worse was Seth's school, which did absolutely nothing. All these local orchards and pumpkin patches and they didn't visit any. 

When a friend put together a trip to the pumpkin patch, I decided to pull everyone out of school to enjoy the trip. Totally worth it!

Aaron was a little chilly, and not a fan of holding still

This girl refuses to let me do her hair.

And then pictures turn out like this.

Seth was the biggest kid there, but he loved it.

I may not have brushed my hair that day. 

But I love these three monsters!

Picking apples with the Oliveras (Seth ditched us for the Knoxes).

Splitting the wards is still rotten. We miss them.

Everyone was pleased with their pumpkins and apples. 

Ditching school is awesome!