Embassy Trick-or-Treating

Chevy Chase playgroup planned a fun trick-or-treat activity at Embassy Row... I just assumed there would be a lot of children and was surprised to see heaps of college students in fun, some elaborate costumes. However, there was a lot of cooing and complimenting of our little ones. I guess our caravan of toddlers stood out. : ) The embassies are impressive and my college does not do them justice.

I know I say this a lot, but it really was a perfect fall afternoon. It was perfectly warm & cool and the sun was shining through the trees at beautiful angles. This is lovely Heather, Mina the Bumblebee and Ethan the Dinosaur with my kids in front of the Japanese embassy, which unfortunately is not in the picture. : )

We got to take pictures at the Korean Embassy - this one was my favorite because I got to see more of the inside and they had a pretty chandelier, as well as a little music video or commercial playing on the wall of one of the rooms and their candy looked like it was actually from Korea. Also, we got to take a picture with some people dressed as Korean Royalty.

The kids played musical strollers - it was fun to see what combinations of kids ended up in different places. Here's Elise and Ches - oh excuse me, I meant Buzz LightYear. : )

Summer as Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz with Ethan the Dinosaur.

Annika was a sweet little duck.

Tiana was so kind as to take a turn with Elijah on her shoulders. They are pretty cute!

We lucky to meet up with Allie, Will and Andrew for a little bit of trick-or-treating! Allie so enviously slender!

I love Andrew - he's so cute and he has such personality! Elijah clearly adores him and is trying to figure out how to emulate him.

It was also fun because we ran into Mary who grew up in the same ward as Katie (below), who is Brigham's sister. It's such a small world!!

I had to include a picture of the Derrs because they looked fabulous as Pop 'eye, Olive Oil and baby!!

Autumn time

On our jog/walk today... The only thing I don't like about Hawaii is it's lack of the seasons. I love the vibrant crimson, gold, burnt orange color of the falling leaves.

Pumpkin Carving

Inspired by Tiana's amazing pumpkin creations, we decided to give it a go this year... Let's just say, my appreciation for her family's talent has quadrupled! She creates the design and her dad carves.

We waited till Aaron got home from his trip to start.


The kids were estatic to finally start this project! And since Elise had done this with Gina at JoySchool, she quickly put herself to work scooping out all the seeds. (My fingers look so weird in this picture!)


Elijah even tried some!

Our pumpkin carving tools came with patterns. It was all drawn out for me but I had my doubts. At this point I was thinking, "Am I doing this right?) I know now things I could have done to make it easier.



Oh well. It turned out okay and the first thing Elise noticed this morning was that the kitty cat was done! So that makes it worth it.

Halloween Fun at Congressional Plaza

Last year, we went to this fun, trick-or-treat event at a shopping center in Rockville, Maryland. It was so cold then! I was paranoid that the kids were going to freeze this time because the Plaza has an outdoor walkway... so, I bundled them up quite a bit! And it was pretty chilly with the wind. It's so cute how much Elise and Elijah love their costumes! Thank you, Mom! My sweet mom sent me Halloween costumes in the mail back in August! She is so thoughtful.

Our friends from the left: Isaac, Summer, Marnie, Ethan, and Damon. Mr. Incredible is just too cute!

Sarah, Ethan and Isaac wait for their balloon creations from this balloon artist (what is he called?).

Ethan, Elise and Damon proudly show their stuffed cats and balloons!

Sweet Mina the Bumblebee, and the back of Elijah, the horse.

I took this picture for my mom. She got it for Elijah because he loves to growl. Even though he didn't get to wear this costume for Halloween - our friend Marnie did!

Afterward, we met up with Michelle & Damon, Heather & Mina, Tiana & crew, and Elizabeth & Anni at a pizza place for lunch. It was buffet, so me and the kids stuffed ourselves!

JoySchool Halloween Party

JoySchool was great fun last week because we got to have a little Halloween party. Ethan arrived exclaiming, "I'm wearing my dinosaur pants!" Ches arrived in his costume and wanted me to call him "Buzz." : ) Mark and Elise were just excited to get on with the partying!

Tiana's pictures of the kids turned out better than mine - I love this picture because they look so happy!

We had a short lesson about the different feelings we have and that it is okay to feel frustrated or scared sometimes. We read "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" by Judith Viorst which was about being frustrated / grumpy and "Let's Go Home, Little Bear," by Martin Waddell & Barbara Firth which was about feeling a little scared.

I took a couple pics of our Halloween decorations and treats. I completely forgot about roasting the pumpkin seeds from Gina's lesson. The kids scooped it all out themselves and everything - (sigh) sorry! But I did make orange jello with plastic spiders and snakes suspended in it, boiled eggs & veggies. Sarah is wonderful and donated candy, sugar cookies and sprinkles. She frosted and decorated some really cute ones. (I don't know if you can see the pumpkin and bat cookies below...)

The following picture is of the kids singing their cute songs about carving a pumpkin and a mean old witch with a hat! All the kids all sang really well, and did all the motions. I was totally out of sync with the music but Mark led the group in giving a great, big "boo!" right on cue!

Thanks everyone, this was a fun party and a great start to our Halloween celebrations!