Halloween!

Trick or treating DID happen.  

The younger boys even went with me.  

Kyle found some friends and walked around with them.  

And everything turned out just fine.  

Times are changing, but I'm so glad we can still have fun as a family.  

I never want to give up our fun costumes, and hope I don't have to!  

Pumpkin Carving

This tradition REALLY almost did not happen.  

This is the afternoon of Halloween, but we got it done AND even found some candles to light for later that night!

 

Church Trunk or Treat

 The following week, our church had a Halloween celebration with its own trunk-or-treat.  

We decided to set up a dinosaur-themed trunk with Auntie Deb having a game to go along.  It was all so exciting, and I was even able to upgrade my costume to a paleontologist riding a dinosaur!  

Then, we got to the parking lot being schedule.  The wind was blowing violently.  Our decorations were getting violently stolen by the passing hurricane force weather conditions, and I was losing my cool.  When I couldn't locate the stuffing I thought I had brought for my costumes, I was almost ready to call it quits.  However,   we pushed through and had a pretty okay night!  

Our trunks were some of the favorites, as we had LOADS of candy to unload!  

It turned out to be quite fun.  

Gymnastics Trunk or Treat

Keeping with tradition, Ryan's gym put on its annual fall festival, raising money and food for local food banks.  Auntie Deb was able to go with us.  

I LOVE Halloween, and this year, our theme was Jurassic Park.  The boys were Dinos and I was a paleontologist  

We played games, gathered candy, ate carnival treats, and evenfound a station that was Jurassic park themed!  The best part of this whole thing was watching the boys walking in their costumes AND throwing out the coaches on the dunk tank!  (One bewildered little boy even smacked Ryan's butt to try to understand the blow up costume!)

Evan Fall Stuff

We missed the pumpkin patch this year, so Evan came with me to the Kroger grocery story "pumpkin patch." He climbed right in to choose the right ones.  He also learned an important lesson about paying for things you want.  While we were picking through the giant boxes of pumpkins, a guy ran up and took 2 and ran off without paying.  I'm glad, in a way, that Evan saw it and knew immediately that it was wrong.  I guess some bad examples can be okay.  

 

For Book Character Day at school, Evan decided to do Harry Potter.  I'm so glad it was easy and accessible and that we had all the pieces at home!  

Evan also got to attend a few fun youth activities at church.  I got some fun photos from one of the other moms of this one!  

I love my little Meow-Meow
 

Fun Fall Times

I LOVE the fall and fall activities.  Sadly, Covid has taken away a lot of them in the past few years.  This year, with deciding to make a big move to Hobbs, my time was also a factor.  Luckily for me, our HOA was able to put on its fall festival at the pool house, conveniently just walking distance from our home.  Evan and I were the only members or our family interested in going...at first.  

Evan met and played with friends, pet some animals at the petting zoo, rode a pony, and got his face paining, while I got some much needed Vitamin D.  Most importantly, there was a sliders food truck offering free sliders to every member of the community.  That brought out the other boys and Dad!  

Band for Kyle had been another big thing.  

His band got to join the high school band and play at a football game.  This picture landed itself on the HS website!  I see someone I know!  

Kyle has also been able to attend several fun nights with his youth group:

Pumpkin carving:  

(It's still so hot and humid that his didn't make it even a week!)

The also were donated GREAT seats to the local soccer team.  

I am grateful that we are able to enjoy Fall, even with some setbacks!  

 

Texas State Fair

 Our state fair is a great state fair!

It's that time again: to ride the rides, walk the park, see the animals, and eat all the fried food that state fairs can possibly think up.  

We went on a weekday to avoid crowds and cash in on discounts.  It was SO HOT.  

My favorite part was the car show because it was inside a huge, air-conditioned building.  

I also loved watching the boys on the scrambler and other rides.  It was a fun filled night, and no rain this time!