Halloween 2010

We don't have much in the way of Halloween decorations. Usually it consists only of the carved pumpkins at the front door. We mixed it up a bit by getting a white pumpkin. It made an especially cute ghost.Karen and I are becoming a little better with experience each year. She still does the harder carvings. This year, the wolf was a new addition so she tackled that one with ease. James asked for the spider in the moon. He was very complimentary the whole time Karen and I were carving. I think he recognized how hard it was to carve and it was cute that he was doing his best to be supportive.

Karen went to the attic and dug up this spider to spice things up a little more.

We hosted our first-ever Halloween party. We let the three older kids invite a family of their choice. Karen did a great job at planning the whole event. Lots of games and lots of good food. The donut eating contest always brings a few laughs. No hands allowed as you try to eat a donut tied to a string.

Steven (the baseball player) was a pro and had clean techniques. Ethan (the pirate) thought he could just intimidate the donut into non-existence. Aargh!!!

Luke (Raggedy Andy) decided not to play by the rules and enjoyed his donut like any normal 3-year old would.

This was a family event, so the teenagers and adults who were brave enough took a stab at it. It couldn't be that hard, right?!?!? Hehehe

Another game was a walnut boat race. We stuck little candles in half of an empty walnut shell. The objective was to blow your boat to the other side without blowing out the candle. James (Dracula) won in the kids round.

The Ashby's are a competitive bunch. They almost started a water fight. :)

And Tim (the engineer) knew exactly how do get the job done right.

This year, we decided to recycle through the years of accumulated costumes. So no theme. But the kids didn't care. Anya chose to be a witch (same costume she wore when Luke was born 3 years ago). It still fit...but the dress was now a knee-length skirt. It showed off her black, orange and purple striped socks very well.

Eliza was Raggedy Ann. This was Anya's costume when she was Eliza's age.

And what's Raggedy Ann without Raggedy Andy? Luke was super cute. This is what Mark wore 6 years ago.

This was the only new and original costume this year. Mark was....can you guess? It's a capital E with the universal sign for male. Mark was E male....e-mail. :) He loved it!

James was Dracula. I think this was Mark's costume from a couple years ago. (The teeth were not recycled.)

And Woody! Peter was excited to be Woody this year. This was James' costume from several years ago.

No group shot this year. Just a bunch of mismatched characters who look really cute dressed up. From the pumpkin carving to the party to the dressing up...we had a fun Halloween this year.