Halloween Part 2

By Halloween late afternoon, Glen and I were in Salt Lake City for a classic evening of trick or treating.  My son recently purchased a home in this older neighborhood and it felt like the perfect Halloween movie set.  Big colorful trees, older houses, and a bit scary but not too scary.

While waiting to walk the neighborhood, Jake the Pirate practiced by filling his ghost bucket with autumn leaves.

Their property is lined with giant older trees so there was an abundance of fall leaves.

He noticed the rose hips for the first time as I looked down from the front porch.  He's such a handsome guy.

So is his grandpa.

Soon he and daddy were off to see his new friend just around the corner.

That was a special surprise about the new house, a backyard neighbor the same age.

This year's first door.

This neighborhood knows how to decorate for Halloween in a big way.

Across the street was a perfect looking Halloween kind of house.  The little ones had to walked through the streamer thing to get their candy.  It was a busy place all night.

My son informed me that the countdown clock is in the window all year round, but this day it showed Day 00!

It was the perfect weather for Halloween.  October in Utah has been beautiful with the roses still in bloom and the tomatoes ripening on the vine.  However, that changed on November 1st as a big cold front moved in.  I picked every tomato green or red and brought them inside.

Love these boys.  We were on our way to see some more decorated houses.

"But Dad, I'm shy."

It's great to have a dad who watches out for you.  By nighttime, he was loving every minute of going with his dad, new friend, and friend's father.

Older houses just do Halloween better.

Wow!  One of everything.

You would need your dad to venture up those steps.

Creepy Court it is!

Headed back home to see how grandpa is doing.

A shot of the new old bungalow with the wonderful front porch.

It looks pretty great for being almost a hundred years old.

They are excited to be here.

Time to start up the fog machine.

Need to be ready for the visitors.

Halloween Part 1

Halloween was so much fun this year.  My daughter's family joined us on the Thursday night before at our church trunk or treat and chili cook off.  I loved the costumes which my grand children decided on this year.  He may be a Red Coat, but he is a proud one.  He is a serious student of military engagements.

Ah, a Pikman.  I didn't know what that was but then I don't play video games.  This Pikman was sure a cute one.

Maybe some people didn't pick their costume.  Back around her birthday, she was all about mermaids so this is the costume that grandma (myself) bought for her at Costco. Ummm, slightly suggestive when worn but isn't she just beautiful?

She was still adorable.  Grandpa held on tight as she stood on the back of the Tahoe.  He's protective like that.

Such sweet siblings!

I took the easy way out and decorated our "trunk" by clipping a table topper I'd made to the top of the interior.

It was so fun to have them join us and the kids had a great time going from car to car in a full parking lot.

The next morning I headed north to Lehi to watch the elementary school parade.  One has to go early to get a seat.

It was a packed house full of proud parents and grandparents and students in costumes.

My daughter later told me that someone actually counted and there were 116 portrayals of Elsa via Frozen.

That works out to over 10% of the school enrollment of 1,000 with blond braids.  There were also several Annas and an Olaf or two.

This cute Red Coat apparently had a slight altercation at recess with a fourth grade George Washington.  His mother reports that he wanted to call him a "star spangled meanie" but held his tongue.

I loved that the teachers went all out as well.  The Red Coat had Viola Swamp as teacher for a day.

It was a great time and I was so happy to be invited.

Halloween happenings

I did manage to finish my Scrappy Jack before the big day.  I was sewing the binding down on Hallows Eve.  I opted for a pillow over a wall hanging. Now I need to find a larger pillow form for filler.  Scrappy Jack is the pattern offered by American Quilting during the October quilt shop hop.  So fun to make from their kit with a multitude of orange and black fabric squares.

Halloween morning I found myself at recovering daughter's home to help with the her needs as well as the new baby while her husband followed through with Halloween festivities with the boys.

Henry designed a great Jack-o-lantern with three eyes!

He was the cutest little fireman ever and so excited for the Halloween parades, his brother's in the morning and his in the afternoon.

It was very important to Henry that he have a yellow fireman jacket.  I thought his mom found a pretty awesome one.

After the parades Glen picked me up for a quick trip north to visit the other grandson.

His parents and friends were busy decorating and preparing for a big Halloween party.

I loved their festive decorations.

 I found Oscar entertaining a princess in his bedroom.

He talked grandpa into holding him upside down before he became Superman.  He also demanded to look at my camera to see how he looks upside down.

We left the party house behind. . .

and ventured south again on a very crowded freeway so that I could finish dinner for the boys while grandpa passed out treats at the door and Andrew and the boys went trick or treating.

The pumpkins were lit and the fireman and soldier gave me their best smiles.

Or was it their best looks?  They had almost as much fun passing out the candy at the end of their own route as collecting it.  Halloween was truly magical in their little neighborhood as the jack-o-lanterns gleamed and adorable little people went from house to house being very polite and grateful while greeting each other.

What did I fix for dinner?  My mother's homemade noodles cooked in chicken broth and served over a mound of real Idaho mashed potatoes.  Don't you love this dish towel that I used to cover the noodles while drying?

This is my spider web table topper which is covering the table with the binding unfinished.  It was the free pattern offered by Quilts Etc. during the quilt shop hop.  It was a last minute project.  I picked up six Halloween fat quarters on sale just in time to put it together.  Guess I'll go finish the binding before packing it away for next year :)  I hope that you had a very happy Halloween.