A Halloween Party, Trunk-Or-Treat & Horse Races

This morning the kids woke up at 7:30 and it was fun to have Andrew spend the night.  I gave Autumn a bath and we all got ready for the day and got ready to go to Mom & Dad’s.  A lady in my ward called and asked if her daughter in high school could borrow my nice Cannon camera b/c she had a photo shoot set up for an engaged couple for her photography class, and the Dad had taken their nice camera on a camp out w/out them knowing.  Usually I wouldn’t borrow out something so nice and expensive, especially since I knew I would be taking a ton of pictures today.  But, I decided her needs were greater than mine.  So, we sat and waited for them to come get the camera and then went to Mom & Dad’s.

Mom had brought these kids back from Germany for the kids and they were so excited.  Andrew’s is a medieval castle w/ knights and Autumn’s is a ballerina Barbie.  Emma just wanted attention.  LOL!

I got to love on Baby Jackson for a few minutes, which was so fun.  He has grown up so much since I last saw him.  I loved this cute little Halloween outfit Lexie had him dressed in.  It’s funny how we both have big over the top smiles on our faces.

After playing w/ their toys for a while, it was time to get ready for the party at Autumn’s “college.”  Autumn dressed up in Lexie’s dirndl and I braided her hair and wrapped it around the back of her head.  Andrew was Spiderman.  Who knew Spiderman had a thing for cute little German girls?  I’m going to have to tell Mary Jane.

We got to the school and they had a Bingo game set up in one of the rooms.  Both kids won and got a little spider ring.

After that, we went outside for the hayride.  I tried doing Autumn’s make up so she would look like the doll on a  music box from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang below.  It didn’t quite turn out the same, but she and Spiderman were still the cutest kids ever.

After being drive around the parking lot for the hayride (and that hay was painful b/c I had on yoga pants and it was poking me), the kids wanted to jump in the bounce house.  I let them jump for a while b/c they were having so much fun.

I finally talked them into going over to this “haunted maze” and the kids ran around for a while, but the grass was getting too soggy.

We went inside and there was a cake walk.  Andrew won, and picked this for his cake.  It’s so cute w/ the little headstones and the black sugar road.

We came home from the party and Mom & Jill & Jana were making Maggie’s bean salsa.  We all snacked on that while working on a puzzle.

The kids said they were hungry, so Mom made them some mac & cheese and we all had a little bit of that, too.  It seems like all we’ve done all weekend is snack and eat and graze.  It was cold this morning, but warmed up in the afternoon and it was perfect weather outside.

I did a lot of this puzzle at the end and then Dad came and helped finish it off.  Liz had her baby yesterday at 12:02 pm, but I couldn’t go visit b/c I went straight from work to the football game.  So, I left to go see her and the baby.

While I was gone, the men needed something to do, so they got out the 2 pumpkins that we got from the baseball field and carved them with the kids.  Autumn & Andrew drew on paper what they wanted the pumpkin faces to look like.

Then Dad drew Andrew’s paper drawing on the pumpkin and carved it for him.

Uncle Keith helped Autumn w/ hers, even though I heard she was being a little stinker and trying to be independent.  But, luckily he was firm w/ her and insisted that he do the carving and not her.

Aunt Jill was in 7th heaven w/ getting to kiss and love on Jackson.  She even got him to do big smiles like this.  I didn’t end up going to see Liz & the baby b/c Liberty called and said that Liz had gone to take a shower and passed out.  So, I went to WalMart and got some much needed groceries (like milk and bread and stuff for Autumn’s lunches).

At 4:30, the Mom & Dads all got dressed and went to the horse races.  We had kept a secret from Jana & Keith & Rick & Jill ever since they booked their plane tickets.  I hope they have a great time and enjoy themselves.

At 5:30, the kids and Lexie & Jon & I went to the trunk-or-treat at the Jones’.  There were a bunch of different chilis w/ chips and cheese and sour cream.  We ate and then started walking around to try the different activities.  Jackson looked so cute in his Bevo (Texas Longhorns mascot) outfit.

I’m glad I brought this jack-o-lantern blanket, so Autumn could wrap up in it while we waited in line for the train.  It started to get cold once the sun went behind the trees.

They were excited to finally get a turn.  The lady that was running the trains was awesome, b/c little kids that had no parent supervision kept skipping the line and tried getting in the train carts b/c they were so excited to ride it.  But, she made them get out and go stand in line.  I appreciated her doing that to keep it fair for everyone.

Here’s the train going around the Jones’ backyard.  Isn’t their house gorgeous?  Plus they have lots of room for all the kids to run and play and a field behind their house where we have the trunk-or-treat.

They had this cute little area set up outside the barn for a great photo op.  But, as you can see, Autumn wanted to be silly and make faces instead of smile pretty.

This was a cute one of Lexie & Jon & Andrew (his smile cracks me up) and Jackson.

Autumn got a Hello Kitty painted on her face.  They also had a popcorn machine and a cotton candy machine.  We got one of each and went into the barn to sit on some bales of hay and watch Tangled.

This little girl was SO CUTE!  Her Mom made this hat to look like Rapunzel.  She said she tried a wig for her other daughter last year but it kept falling off so she came up w/ this super creative and cute idea for this year.

Baby Jackson ended up falling asleep and it was nice to sit and relax for a little bit while we waited for the trunk-or-treat to start.  Plus, it was warm in the barn and Autumn & I didn’t have a jacket.

The Jones’ have horses and one of them came into the barn b/c kids were feeding it horse apples.  Autumn LOVES horses even though she’s never really been around a real one very much.  She was a little hesitant, but went over and ended up petting his nose.
  It finally got dark and was time for the trunk-or-treat.  Lexie stayed at the car w/ the baby while Jon took Andrew around and I took Autumn.  We were ghetto and we forgot their buckets, so Autumn used a lunch bag we found at Mom & Dad’s and Andrew used a plastic bag Jon had in the trunk.

But, the kids didn’t mind at all.  We got home and they dumped out their candy on the blanket to inspect all their great treasures.  Plus, Lexie & I had to take our “taxes,” and I chose a bite sized Heath bar for mine.  LOL!

Little did we know, Jackson was the one that hit the jackpot and got all this candy even while sleeping through the whole thing.  I’ll have to get him to share his secret.  It’s probably b/c he so stinkin’ cute.

We had to get a picture of Lexie, the original dirndl owner, w/ the current dirndl wearer.  We let the kids play for a while and then I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer, and it was getting late, so Autumn & I went and fell asleep in Mom & dad’s bed.  When they got home at midnight from the horse races, Autumn & I went and slept in the closet b/c I was too tired to drive home.  Mom said that Aunt Jill won the big amount for the night.  She won $45.10 on a $6 bet.  They all had a great time, and it was a fun way to end a fun day.