Halloween Fun!

The Parkers sure know how to have fun on Halloween... and so this year we made a weekend out of it. Flashback to Oct 31, 2009.... our kids had been fighting a week long+ (H1N1/Infuenza) virus that caused high fevers, aches and pains, other flu symptoms. Because the kids were so sick, Halloween was spent cooped up in our house with no one to see... no where to go... and no visitors. That meant NO trick-or-treating for The Parkers. THIS year, that was certainly NOT going to be the case. In fact, in early Sept.... right after Labor Day, Kameron reminded me to make appts for flu shots, so they didn't have to be sick on Halloween again! :( Long story short, we got early flu shots, and have been looking forward to celebrating with family and friends once again.

Here is how we celebrated.... On Friday night we were invited to two costume parties...

The first one was at a neighboring Nursing Home, where they held a costume contest, and had residents who passed out Trick 0r Treats to the youngsters. What a great inter-generational activity this was... in fact it almost brought tears to my eyes seeing how they lit up seeing the little ones all dressed up in their costumes. It reminds me much of how my Grandma Lois felt when I brought the kids to see her while she was a resident in a nursing home herself.

Next there were games....

games... and more games.

Look who we ran into at our first Halloween party of the night... yep our lil' brother Carter. It was so fun to see him again.

Next we went to our second party right down the street from Grandma and Papas house.

Kierra won first place for the prettiest costume,

and the Tooth Fairy...a.k.a Jayden, tied with Harry Potter for most creative.

Jaxon, our Navy Sailor enjoyed playing carnival games

and the others had fun seeing friends, tasting wonderful snacks, entering contests, and playing games as well.

Saturday was spent preparing our numerous Jack-o-lanterns for Halloween day. We were invited to our good friends for a turkey dinner followed by pumpkin carving. As you can see there were 11 pumpkins, 9 kids, and only 3 adults. NOT bad, considering almost all were done by the kids with very little help.

Sunday afternoon, following an early dinner of jack-o-lantern pizzas and root beer floats, it was FINALLY time to go out trick-or-treating.

Here we are getting some tricks, treats, and spooks too!

Can you blame her for making that face?

This lil' stinker A.K.A. Quincy was so stinkin' cute... and was such a trooper keeping up with all the big kids!

Finally, one of our last stops was at the fire hall for hot chocolate and rides on the fire truck!

As you can see, it was a wonderful Halloween. I think we definitely made up for missing out on last years festivities. Happy Halloween! Hope yours was just as "Spook"tacular as ours!