Halloween!

Does the fun never end? The trio returned yesterday evening from a great vacation in Las Vegas with Grandma Karen and now it's Halloween. Opa took the day off. We made orange pancakes for breakfast. Then the trio did a little school work:

They took time out for tats:

                                       

They helped me with a project--our So-Cal vacation log and eventual photo book. (The clock is ticking and their memories are fading fast.) I rewarded (bribed) them with two Chima episodes. Viva left for gymnastics. Bentley helped Evan pick out a Halloween costume. Evan refused to wear it. I had no better luck. He ran from me when I showed him the monkey costume. I didn't have the energy to fight with him, so he went as himself: a recalcitrant two year old.

Opa, I, and the four boys attended the church's Trunk or Treat event for a half hour. Although Evan would not wear a costume--we stuck a Viking helmet on his head, but it kept falling off or being thrown off--he totally loved trunk or treat. He had a big grin on his face the entire time. Bentley, Jake, and Lincoln had a good time, too; I had expected they would.

 

I dropped Lincoln and Evan off at Grandma Vicki's. I picked Viva up from gymnastics and the boys up from ukulele. The United Kingdom Ukulele Orchestra was there playing with our local ukulele group! One of the ladies from the orchestra sat next to Bentley and Jake as the group played a few songs together. 

Despite TUKUO visit, we had to leave since the clock was ticking on trick-or-treating. (Opa stayed at ukulele group to play more with TUKUO.) I took the threesome over to my old neighborhood which was a block away. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves, although Jake kept losing his cape and Bentley got quite cold as he refused to wear his coat because then you couldn't see his awesome costume. Viva chose warmth over esthetics. They did two streets in this neighborhood and then we decided to head back towards Grandma Vicki's so we could check out how Evan was treating her. We visited with her for a short time. I grabbed a few photos since Viva wasn't in any of the earlier photos.

When the five kids and I left it was already past 9PM, but lots of houses still had their porch lights on. We visited a street near Grandma Vicki's and then a few houses on the way home, including Marjory's (our vacation buddy in California!). It was almost 10PM when we visited her, but she still had her light on and said that she hadn't given up on us yet because she knows we're night owls. Yes, we are! On the way to Marjory's we saw two housed with awesome Halloween decorations. The kids and I were very impressed.

We arrived home and the five checked out their loot. Evan was still going strong--he likes adventuring with his older siblings. He finds them very amusing. Lincoln was in a good mood until just before I tucked him into bed. He insisted he wanted his spider tattoo off, but when I took it off he wanted it back on! (My fault--I told him as I was removing it that it was too bad he hadn't left it on for his mom to see. I should have said that before I removed it. Or not said it all!) 

Halloween 2014 was a success.