Halloween-a-palooza {And we're moving!}

Hanging out in the back of the truck during the trunk-or-treat

 Doesn't it seem like Halloween lasts for weeks and weeks?  By the time we got through all the pre-Halloween festivities (Kate wore her costume three days straight) I was anxious for it all to be over.

But we had a wonderful Halloween... um... season this year.

It began on Friday night with our ward's chili dinner/trunk-or-treat.  Kind of stressful with lots of people and mayhem, which I don't do very well with, but the kids had a fun time.

 Dylan wore the monkey costume worn by Kate oh so many years ago.

And Kate was a witch for the second year in a row.  Here she is with Maddy, also wearing last year's Red Riding Hood costume.  Hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it right?

 Saturday was spent signing a lease for our new house!! (more on that in a bit) and attending a birthday party for a cute little guy in our ward.

We discovered a new park in Arlington, which featured one of the coolest slides I've ever seen.  Dylan was a fan.

 Later that night Kate and I went to a Halloween party thrown by our new landlord and her cute daughter.  It was such a sweet little party!  There were about 18 girls who feasted on pizza and treats, played lots of fun Halloween games, and even went trick-or-treating upstairs in their house.  All the moms were hidden behind various bedroom and bathroom doors ready to hand out candy.  It was a lot of fun and a great way to get to know our new landlord better.

~~~~~

Sunday night we had friends over for dinner, then carved our pumpkin.  Since I don't love this particular Halloween tradition, I rested on the couch while Mike and Kate did the dirty work.

Turned out pretty cute!!!

 On Monday (actual Halloween) I went to help in Kate's classroom for her party.  It was so fun!  Kate was thrilled to have me there (at least she seemed so) and all her classmates were adorable.  Hats off to her teacher, Mrs. Binford, though.  She's pregnant too and due in just a few days.  I don't know how she manages to keep up her energy all day.  I was only there for two hours and I was exhausted!  I helped the kids with a couple of Halloween crafts, assisted in some games, and listened to some stories.  I love being Kate's room-mom and being able to witness her experience in kindergarten.

~~~~~

That night we met up with Kate's new friend, Madisyn, for a little trick-or-treating.

 Madisyn's mom told me she had another costume all picked out, but when she found out Kate was going to be witch, no other costume would do! :)  She's such a sweet little girl.  I'm so glad Kate is making good friends at her school. 

We had a ball trick-or-treating with them, and laughed soooo hard when the girls were "chased" by a couple of teeny-tiny dogs.  Those dogs scared them so bad, that Kate dropped her basket and fell down in an attempt to get away.  Sorry for laughing, Kate, but it was funny!

 So our other big news is that after nearly 18 months, we're leaving our cozy little apartment.  We found a great house to rent less than a mile from our apartment.  So that means we can stay in the same ward, and Kate in the same school.  It's a little vintage-y, (hello 1973!) but it's getting some updates as we speak.  And we are just so thrilled to have more space for the kids to run around, a backyard to put up our trampoline, and four bedrooms to accommodate our growing family.  We feel really blessed to have found something that works for us.

So we will move mid-December just in time for Christmas in our new (to us) home!

And that's that.