Halloween is coming up and we have already had a lot of chances to celebrate. Last weekend was the Trunk-or-Treat at church. 
I made these cupcakes for the cupcake walk ( I got the idea from a picture I saw at the Cupcakes Take the Cake blog) and we won the prize for the best decorated trunk--a free movie rental from a local video rental store. We set up a CAR-nival booth in the back of our van and acted as the sideshow freaks. David got really into his part. :) The kids loved it.
I didn't really put much effort into costumes this year. We just got a box down out of the attic and let the boys go through it. Seth was a cowboy, Joel a BYU football player, Nate a burglar and Daniel a hamster; the mane on the lion costume shrunk when I washed it last year so we just said he was a hamster--Dave's idea.
This past week I took Nate and Daniel to a local pumpkin patch. 
It was a lot of fun. The admission included a hay-ride, playing in a trough full of dried corn kernels, story-time, a snack and the child's choice of either two gourds or a mini pumpkin. Nate carefully chose two gourds and Daniel got a pumpkin that he promptly tried to eat. It was a little chilly so it actually felt like Fall, but it was pleasant. The boys had a great time checking out the pumpkins and being outdoors. As you can probably tell from this picture Daniel wanted to be down exploring, not sitting on my lap posing for a picture.
This weekend we went to the Opelika "Trail of Terror." It starts out in a genuine haunted house. This is a pre-Civil War plantation house. Apparently the owner treated his slaves in a particularly brutal way. One slave had had enough and hid in a compartment adjacent to the thirteenth step of the staircase and jumped out and murdered the plantation owner with an ax. He was later hanged for his crime from a tree out in front of the house. True story. Apparently several people have seen apparitions and claim the place is really haunted. I don't know about that but it definitely has an interesting history. 
After going through the house everyone is loaded onto a tractor trailer and then taken along a path in the woods (that are also rumored to be really haunted if you believe that sort of thing) with all kinds of freaky and scary things waiting to pop out and terrify you. At the end there is a maze that everyone can go through that brings you back to where you started. One of my bffs here in Alabama pulled some strings for us and we 
were able to go and enjoy all the fun without any of the wait. Since her husband is working there we snuck in the back door of the haunted house and got prime seats on the tractor for the trip through the haunted forest. Nate hated the whole thing and wanted to go home. Daniel cried a lot but I think it had more to do with the loud noises and the fact that he was tired than actually being scared. The other boys seemed to enjoy it just fine and David and I had a great time. So, thanks to our awesome friends for hooking us up.
There are even more festivities coming up this week including a parade of book characters at school among other things so we should have even more pictures to share soon.
I'll end with a thought I saw on a sign out in front of church that we drove by in the country on our way to the "Trail of Terror": "Heaven is no trick and Hell is no treat." :)
5 comments:
That sounds so awesome, Halloween is always so fun. So what was everyone as the sideshow freaks? It doesn't surprise me that David played his part so well. :) He always did even when it wasn't Halloween by putting on freaky masks that were in the basement and periodically scaring everyone in the house.
David was a disembodied hand that gave out the candy. We had one of those science fair type backboards with a hole cut in it from a school project Seth did last year (we had intended to use it as our fishing wall but when we forgot the pole we improvised). We covered it and partially with a sheet and David lay down in the back of the van with the seat down under the sheet and would stick his hand out and yell "CANDY HAND!" then make the kids try to grab the candy. The rest of us were kind of boring. I basically just gave freak-show-type names to everyone and had them printed on a sign that we taped to the car. In addition to the Candy Hand, David was the man who makes mice glow in the dark. I was the lady with eyes in the back of her head; Seth was the boy with a billion freckles; Joel was the boy with the hollow leg; Nate was the human tornado and Daniel was the melodious trilling baby.
Congratulations on winning the prize at the Trunk or Treat. I loved reading about everyone's role as a sideshow freak, and the mysterious "floating hand." Thanks for posting the great pictures for us to enjoy. The haunted house reminded me of a Nancy Drew book I read as a kid, "The Ghost of Blackwood Hall." Jill, you always make this such a fun time of year for your family.
I have an interesting read on Halloween. I remember trick or treat at church
Hey Jill! Your blog is awesome! How do you do the "follower" thing. I've tried clicking onto your "follower" but nothing happens. How did you become a "follower" on mine. I need a lesson from you....tell me tell me tell me... :) p.s. Tell David hello!!
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