Freaky Friday

Well, like everyone ELSE in the blogosphere, I'm posting about Halloween. Ashley wanted her hair in ringlets for a very fun turn of events for her! In the past she dressed as a policeman, a cowboy, an indian. This year, she actually wanted to be something feminine. Yes! So we stayed up late putting curlers in her hair. I'd say the effort was worth the outcome! She LOVED her hair!!!

Before:


The finished product:



The older kids took their costumes in a bag to change into later, but Natalie and Matthew actually wore their costumes to school. Here are the Asian Princess and the Policeman:


I LOVE the school carnival. Our children's school has a dress code for costumes (basically, tasteful and classic) and the carnival is just so wholesome! Nothing "commercial" or "pop culture" or "skanky" or immodest or too gruesome. These sweet little children were so cute to see! They parade them in front of the other classes, then bring them on stage for their own little fashion show so we see every costume together. Here's Matthew on stage:



Here's Andrew (a BYU football player, of course)


And Ashley (Juliet) with her friend, Amy


The best part is, the older kids (7th and 8th graders) put on the entire carnival for the rest of the school. They make their own "booths" for the kids to play and earn tickets to spend at a prize booth. It's just so fun!

For Trick-or-treating that night, I WAS going to dress in my wedding dress, and even got my mom to take OUT the necessary inches around my middle ;) However, with pending rain, I didn't feel quite comfortable wearing it, so I bah-humbugged this year (for the first time in MANY years) and didn't dress up at all.

But that doesn't mean it wasn't a great Halloween!

We dropped in at Tim and Tiffany's "trunk or treat" and soup pot-luck. First we posed for pictures at their house.

Bess a bunny-boo


Ready to get some free stuff!


My girls:


Bethany and Kate --their FIRST Halloween (yummy!)


Then we headed off to the church parking lot. A great start for the evening. I LOVED how Tiffany decorated her car at (literally) the last minute! So creative, Tiff!


After we all met at Loveridge's house. Jenn and Michael win HANDS DOWN for the most creative costume:


In case you can't tell, Jennifer is lightning, and Michael is a golfer, who has very obviously been "struck"!!! You guys are GREAT!

We all (Johnsons, Dustins, Bytheways with our 14 kids together) trick-or-treated around our old neighborhood. I love seeing all of our old friends and neighbors from growing up. The weather was AMAZINGLY great, so we dragged the kids around until just around nine. I WAS having a good time until we stopped in front of one house, and standing on the grass behind me, my little Timothy proceeded to "yawn in technicolor" (that's throw-up for those of you who don't know) on the grass, walk, and the back of my pantleg. Oh well. We weren't about to let a little barf keep us from free candy! He dry-heaved a few more times before we finished our route, and thankfully held it all in...until we got to Grandma Loveridge's house, and he saved it all for her couch and entry way. Sorry Mom!

Then, it was Settlers of Catan until 3 a.m. while the kids traded, sorted, and binged.

Here are the pictures of the loot, a day later, and I'd guess HALF of the bounty after the consumption factor of the night before (calculation based on the number of candy wrappers all over Grandma's living room!)





Mom and Dad had a party the NEXT night, so they dropped in to show me their costumes. Dad bragged that he did his make-up himself. NO kidding!



All in all, it was a wonderful Halloween. Timothy slept peacefully through the night (after a few trips to the toilet) but as I write, Natalie's got the bug. I don't think they're buying the "you ate too much candy" line, but a mom will try anything!

Happy Halloween to everyone!!!