Halloween Festivities

Halloween seems to be spreading throughout the month of October and so trick or treating began as early as two weeks before Halloween when we went to the "Spooktacular" at the square downtown.  We also went to the library right before that and got to see some creepy crawly animals which was probably the best part of the day.  Then we walked up and got some candy and took pictures in cardboard cutouts and threw some beanbags at things. 

As we were leaving Griz was begging me to let him get his face painted.  The line was super long for that and I told him I'd paint his face at home way cooler than they could.  He finally consented.  The time it took to paint their faces was WAY longer than the line would have but they got a full face paint job instead of just the cheek and it actually turned out really cool! Check it out...

Next Chico wanted a cheetah... He was one wiggly 8 year old but it still turned out cool!

This girl and her faces...

 I didn't think she'd have the patience for a full face job and she seemed fine with this simple job...

Talk about exhausting day, I consented to let the kids carve pumpkins that day.  Luckily Brent was able to help a bit. It helped me keep my cool.

We got candles  a few days later (before they rotted) and it looked pretty sweet!

For the big Branch Trunk or Treat party the kids wanted to be cheetahs.  But I couldn't do a full cheetah costume so we though of them being the Wild Kratts with a cheetah face.  My friend Sandra made these awesome creature power vests for us the day of.  She is awesome!!!

 When it came down to it, Chico didn't actually want to get his face painted. He just wanted to be Martin.

Griz was way excited for his chance to have a cheetah face and to be Chris.

 Sanna was Aveeva and we decided to have her transforming into a butterfly.

I went in to make the creature power discs to velcro on there and Brent came out and took these fun ones up in the tree...

 Considering how wiggly this cute 3 year old is I think the butterfly turned out all right! Such a pretty girl.

The trunk or treat was a lot of fun and they got a ton of candy. People liked my vegetarian chili too, ha ha.  I brought a healthy chili because I'm doing a diet bet this month which has been good so I don't binge on candy.  I'm also exercising a bit more which is good.

We went to a couple trunk or treats on Halloween day itself and they got more candy and even got to sit and eat  hotdogs.  On Halloween day itself Griz decided to be a ninja, Sanna was Aveeva again, and Chico was "a reader" (as in he went as himself with his "Rhea Readers" shirt and brought his book along). Funny kids.

Fall in Tennessee has been quite beautiful and nice temperatures and we've been enjoying it.  It almost makes it hard to leave here (we just have to remind ourselves how awful the summer is and how lame and cold the winter is).  Knowing we're saying good bye to the friends we've made out here is the real hard part though.  They've been there for us for the most difficult two years of our lives and have become like family.