the gateway holiday

Halloween is coming up!  I'm not a huge fan of Halloween.  To me, it's more of a gateway holiday to the bigger and better holidays (HELLO Thanksgiving and Christmas!).  We don't usually do anything big, but we did carve pumpkins this year (for the first time since we've been married) and went to the ward trunk-or-treat last night.

 It took TJ a little while to warm up to carving pumpkins, but once he decided it was okay he kept taking the lids of and stroking them, then taking the carving tools and poking them through the carvings.

  Every time we go outside he takes the lid off of each of the pumpkins and looks inside.  I have no idea why.

 I did not think to take a picture of the finished products for some reason.  Maybe I'll do that before the end of the week.

 Trunk-or-treat started off with a Halloween party put on by the young men and women in our ward.  TJ didn't really get it but he was happy to be doing what everyone else was doing, and even happier when he ran in to some of his nursery friends and leaders.

Eli and I went as farm-girl and farm-baby because we look so dang adorable in our overalls.  Tyler went as a pirate but I didn't get a picture.  I also wish I had gotten an up-close of Eli.  But hey, at least I look good!

 TJ went as a missionary!  We even used Tyler's old mission tag.

 We were taking a break in a classroom because it was loud in the Gym.  I wanted to take a picture of TJ in his missionary outfit, but he just kept trying to open the door and leave.  Finally, Tyler told him (in spanish) that we could not go back and play games until mom took a picture of him.  So he stood back from the door while I took his picture.  His face cracks me up!

Pumpkin bowling

 I really wish I'd made a video of him doing the bean-bag toss.  Tyler showed him the bean bag and told him to throw it in the hole.  Then he handed TJ the bean bag, and TJ walked up and dropped it in the hole and looked around like, "I did what you asked.  That was dumb."  I was cracking up!

This was TJ's favorite- you had to pick two ducks with matching numbers on the bottom.  But TJ just loved the ducks.  We would play another game, then he would run back to the ducks.  Over. and. over.

 Trunk-or-treat was a little tricky, because TJ kept trying to hand out candy instead of letting people give him candy.  Maybe because of the parade a few weeks ago?  Either way, once he figured out that he got to keep the candy, it was a big hit.  We let him have a few pieces when we got home and he spent the rest of the night begging for "mas."  We got enough candy for him that we will probably skip trick-or-treating this year.  Because, lets be honest, we have PLENTY of years ahead for that.


Update: pumpkin photos and family costume shots here!