This is Halloween

Halloween is not just a one-day event.   With parties and activities, it is more of a week-long celebration for our family.  It was even extended this year to include a Zumba costume party (pictured above).  I was pleased that I managed to dance in my flapper dress and high heels for the entire two hours.  I have to say, the fringe was well suited to all the Latin dance moves.  It was a blast!

After a quick jump in the shower, it was time to begin preparations for the Park family party that was to be held at Greg and Tilly's that evening. I had to give myself plenty of time to convert Jason into a bald black man with a goatee.  His entire transformation process took about 45 minutes. The two of us were laughing through the whole procedure.

The party was two days before Halloween, so driving to Orem was just as amusing as we watched reactions to our appearance from other drivers.  Once there, we enjoyed visiting with family, seeing other costumes, playing games, and eating food.  The Park family party has always been such a fun tradition. 

Because I think our assembled group looked pretty 

nifty, I had to post this picture to my blog again.

 Tilly had prepared a new game for this year's party.  

We got to try and eat doughnuts hanging from a string.  

I loved how closely Ella observed all of the action.  

Of course, we played Pass the Rat and it was fun 

to see that the final two players who avoided elimination were 

Garrett and Coulter.  (Garrett ended up as the winner.)

Another traditional party game we play is Ghost Bingo.

And speaking of traditions, we've kind-of started one where we have pumpkin shaped pancakes for breakfast on Halloween morning. 

No sooner do we have children fed before it is time to get costumes on and ready for school.  The children were allowed to wear costumes to school, but masks were not permitted.  Brevin and Spencer each came up with an alternative costume using items we already had in our storage.  Brevin chose to be a mummy and Spencer went with my suggestion to be Pinocchio.  The rest of the family came to the school later in the afternoon to watch them parade around in their costumes.

Once the parade was over, the children were dismissed to leave with their parents.  We made a quick stop at the civic center on the way home so Jason and I could do early voting (I was dressed as Thor when I voted), and then we headed over to the Novell corporate offices where we had been invited to trick-or-treat around the cubicles.

I usually do an elaborate themed dinner on Halloween night, but we made a last minute decision to keep it simple and pick up a pizza.  (We saved the "yummy mummy" for another night.)  That decision worked out really well as we were able to get the children out trick-or-treating at a reasonable time and with little or no stress.  Brevin and Spencer ran up ahead of me and Garrett as we walked up and down a few of our neighboring streets.  When their bags were full and their feet were tired, they came home and effectively put an end to all of the Halloween celebrations by stripping off their costumes and going to bed.  The boys made off with enough candy to last through the end of the year, though, so I guess the long-term effect of the holiday has a greater reach than I really know.  It's all good fun.  Happy Halloween!

 Here they are, all ready to hit the streets.  Garrett definitely 

has the "pose-with-hands-on-hips" thing down.

This post authored by Amber

The Art of Carving Pumpkins

Carving pumpkins really is an art-form that Jason has come to perfect over the years.  And just like the artisans of old, he has his "apprentices" who are learning from his example and being given expert tips.  With the help of clever patterns, the pumpkins from our garden are transformed into light displays that we use to represent something about our year, interests, or current events (or in this case, about our costumes for Halloween).  The pumpkins don't last forever, but the memories made and the lessons learned do (and so do the pictures). 

After a night of cleaning and carving pumpkins, they are ready for display on the front porch.

 

 Brevin did an amazing job on his carving!

 Garrett is posing next to the pumpkin Jason

 carved for him, but you can also get a glimpse of the one

 he carved himself in the bottom left-hand corner.  

 I know what you are thinking right now.  You're thinking, 

"Wow, the similarities are striking!"  Am I right?

The pumpkin designs are at their best when it is darkest.  That is when the light shines through and you can really appreciate the amazing detail.

 

This post authored by Amber

Dressed to Impress

It's no secret. We take costuming pretty serious at our house.  When a family theme is selected, months of thought and preparation go into pulling off something that we could be proud of sporting around the school, neighborhood, and parties we attend.  We have a reputation to uphold, you know!

Brevin and Spencer wore costumes they already owned to the theatrical release of the film The Avengers.  That got me thinking about expanding on the costumes we already had and figuring out a costume for each family member to represent the other main characters in the movie.

I tried to be reasonable about our costume budget. To avoid buying a wig, I decided I would cross-dress and utilize the similarities between my hair and Thor's.  Ella could easily be turned into Black Widow, and Jason conceded to wear the bald cap and pancake stage make-up to look like Nick Fury in a borrowed Matrix costume (thanks, Craig and Heather!).  All we needed to do was get a Captain America costume for Garrett, and we had struck themed-costume gold.

We made a superhero entrance at our annual Park family Halloween party.  It should be noted that the family photograph was really hard to come by due to Ella's absolute fear of Spencer's Incredible Hulk costume.  He had to hide around the side of the house and wait until the rest of the family was posed.  Once everyone else was in position, Spencer had to sneak into his place, unbeknownst to Ella.

Well, I think we did pretty well.  At least the pictures make me laugh whenever I view them.  I guess that was the end result I was aiming for.  Now I'm off to think about next year's costumes.

This post authored by Amber

Halloween Dining 2011

Holidays are all about the food, right?  Well, at least that's how I roll.  Halloween is no exception.  This year we tried a couple of new, simple things that were worthy of a photograph or two.  Of course, candelabras and headstones provided just the right ambiance for our festive meals.

Breakfast was initially going to be cold cereal, but I decided to drag myself out of bed to at least throw some pancakes on the griddle.  A little touch of food coloring and you would have thought I had planned a cool breakfast all along.  At least my kids thought that was the case.  Boy, I had them fooled!

I found a dinner alternative to rotate with the traditional dinner in a pumpkin until my boys develop a more fond taste for cooked, gourd-like squash.  It's called a Yummy Mummy and I thought Spencer might appreciate it this year.  I found the idea and recipe on this blog.  The name is an accurate description.  It was yummy...and simple.  Just what I needed for a busy day like Halloween.

Boo appétit!

This post authored by Amber

A Costume Assortment

Halloween was simplified this year as everyone went their separate ways with costume design concepts.  There was no elaborate group theme, and this new approach allowed artistic liberty for all, including myself.

Ella got to be CinderELLA,

Garrett got to be Indiana Jones (a "recycled" costume--bonus!),

Spencer got to be a mummy,

Brevin got to be Harry Potter (he's a bit obsessed right now),

Jason got to be a Utah Ute fan ('cause who doesn't fantasize about being that! Sorry.  No individual photo. I know you are all disappointed that you don't get a glimpse of the mullet wig in a larger view.),

and I got to be Elphaba from the musical Wicked  (I'm a bit obsessed right now.  Did I mention I have tickets for SLC in 2012 already?)

Brevin and Spencer were excited to wear their costumes to school.  Meanwhile, Garrett, Ella, and I went into Jason's work to trick-or-treat.  There were still NuSkin distributors from all over the world touring the building in conjunction with the convention that was held the week before.  Apparently, Asians are obsessed with large-eyed, beautiful babies and middle-aged German men are obsessed with Elphaba, as they all wanted to pose for pictures with us.  It was pretty funny.

Do you know what else is funny?  Imagining doors being opened to hand out candy to this group:

This post authored by Amber

Train Up a Child

You may know that Jason is an artistic master when using a carving knife and a canvas of pumpkin flesh. Here are some past examples of what I am referring to. (I must be really good at cleaning out the pumpkin guts, because that job has fallen exclusively to me for the past few years.)

This year, we decided that it was the boys' turn to select their pattern of fancy, wield their own carving tools, and create their own masterpieces.  I must say, Jason and I were pleasantly surprised at how well each of them did.  Pretty soon, they'll be taking over Jason's job.  (Now, if only I could be as affective at training them to take over mine!)

Brevin's Work

Of course, there were a few pointers from Dad.

Although not entirely shown in this photo, Brevin's

 tongue was working as furiously as he was.

The final result was quite impressive, I have to say.

Spencer's Work

He looks thrilled to be doing this on his own.

I loved Spencer's reaction when he cut through his

first big section.  He seemed so surprised that his efforts

caused a large chunk of pumpkin to fall out.

Not too shabby, Spencer!

Garrett's Work

No pattern necessary for this free-hand artist.

Like Brevin, Garret's tongue was in constant motion

as he mutilated--uh, I mean--carved his pumpkin.

Hmm...was it such a good idea to put a knife into

the hands of a three year-old who looks as crazed as this?

Ella's Work

Not to be left out, Ella used her teeth to

make her marks on this little pumpkin.

This post authored by Amber



Because We Didn't Already Have a Million Other Things to Do This Time of Year...

At the very last minute (and I mean like a day or two before!), Jason suggested that we throw a little Halloween shin-dig for Brevin and Spencer and a few of their friends during the Fall Break. We weren't going anywhere, so it gave our boys something to look forward to.
As it turned out, I had nearly everything necessary to pull off a little party and it really wasn't hard to plan for a small group of children. We only headed to the store for a piñata and candy. Jason grabbed two dozen doughnuts from Krispy Kremes and we were set!

The party was so much fun, and we've decided to make it an annual thing--or at least we'll plan on it when we don't do anything else for Fall Break.

 Everyone got to make a personalized personal pizza.

We played Ghost Bingo until everyone won a prize.

The cotton ball game was highly entertaining to watch.

It's just not Halloween without Pass the Rat.

Everyone lined up to get a shot at the piñata.

This was the moment the piñata met its demise. It was broken from

the rope and came crashing to the ground. The impact severely

compromised the structural stability of the poor piñata, so once

Jason got it back on the rope, the next hit sent candy splattering everywhere.

This post authored by Amber