Fall Fell, We Halloweened.

Who knew halloween was such an involved holiday! This was an all-day event! Jack and I both dressed up for his school Halloween party. (I was in charge of the pumpkin hunt.) His sweet teacher went all out and planned a great party for the little ones. She had stations with cookie decorating, scary stories, spider crafts and finally the pumpkin hunt. In small groups she lead them up to the "Nature Scape" just above the play ground where they hunted pumpkins all the while avoiding the "monster under the bridge." It was so cute. Jack had SO much fun and was a little overly excited that I was there.

(After finding his pumpkin and having one of the mom's write his name on it, he then asked her to draw a face on it. Again, he thinks he runs every show.)

("Be careful going over the bridge, the monster may grab your feet!")

(Jack couldn't keep his eyes off me.)

(this is Sunny, the new class pet.)

After school, Jack's face was all sorts of messed up, as was his costume- so we bathed him and washed his costume just in time to dress up and do it ALL OVER AGAIN. We headed out to my mom's neighborhood to met my brother's family there. We've trick-or-treated there for years, so we trust the territory. The moment Jack walked in the house Tessa, (the youngest of my brother's children) screeched a horrifying scream and was frightened by Jack's appearance. we had to keep them separated. So we all started off and the kids had a great time. I had fun running into old neighbors.

(Sadie was a princess, Piper was Minnie, and Chloe was a fairy. Tessa- off in the far distance being carried by Carter because she is about to cross paths with Jack- is a chicken. Literally.)

(Jack glows in the dark. Most of him, anyway.)

(We ran into big Buddha. Jack recognized his costume immediately, and greeted his fellow Mario.)

(The kids with their loot.)

(Back at home, mom made her traditional Latke's, and had crafts for the kids.)

This could very well be the best Halloween yet, it was the perfect weather, Jack had fun and spent his time trick-or-treating with people he loves, we had a great atmosphere and wonderful company. Happy Halloween. (And.....take a deep breath- cause here come the holidays......)

Gratitude

I can't really thank Make A Wish enough. They do such a great job of taking care of wish kids, before and after their wishes are granted. This year, the trick or treat was PACKED with so many wish kids.... which is a great sign that they are doing well and feeling good enough to come. It both hurts warms my heart to see Jack bounding around there so healthy, when there are kids that are in much tougher situations than he is. But the smiles on their faces make me so excited to become part of the Make A Wish team. I'm going to be a Wish Ambassador for the Utah Chapter. I will help represent the Foundation at schools, businesses, and community events. It's the least I can do, and I look forward to being a part of something so life changing. Jack's heart will always be full with the wonderful things these volunteers have done for him. I hope to be that change in the lives of other sweet children that are faced with critical challenges so early in life.

Thank you Make A Wish, for treating my little trickster..

And.........

I forgot to post, a few months ago, that Jack's pictures were featured in the Utah Business Magazine. It's not only cool that he is featured to help promote Make A Wish, but also that my photography made it into a magazine :) And now, here are a couple poor quality photos of the article:

This is Halloween

Jack gets so excited for Halloween. In fact, once it is October, he KNOWS that means it's close- and asks everyday how close we are to the very special day. Aside from that, he takes the whole year to decide what he is going to be. But that only started a couple years ago. I remember the good ol' days when I would find the cutest costume I could, dress him up, and parade him around.

Jack's first Halloween I ordered a pair of scrubs that not only did I have "Dr. Jack Trent, Cardiology" embroidered on, but they had to be tailored a bit to fit him well. He was the cutest little doctor EVER.

The second year, was mostly because I found this lion costume, wanted to put Jack in it, then cuddle him non-sop. That didn't really happen, because the amount of yarn on the head out-weighed his OWN head, and he never liked to keep it on. Sure kept him warm, though.

Cop out year- year three. However the effort put into mine and Josh's duct tape skeleton costumes balanced out the work I usually do for Jack's costume. His glowed in the dark though..

The fourth year, was also the year of his 3rd heart surgery, so we were a sucker for ANYTHING he wanted. He fell in love with WALL*E and particularly "Mo" the character that cleaned up after WALL*E. I can't believe this is the only picture I have of that costume I made, and that I forgot to have him wear his paint-roller on his arms.

The fifth year, enter: Mario. Jack loved and STILL loves everything Mario. It's a little inappropriate how often Mario is mentioned in Jack's nightly prayers. But hey- he found the rest of his crew at school...

This year, believe it or not, as though it hadn't ever happened before, Jack saw the skeleton pajama's at Old Navy and immediately chose them as his costume. (Sigh of relief...) I don't mind. I did tell him he was already a skeleton. He didn't believe me. When I showed him the pictures he was surprised, and impressed that Josh and I were also skeletons. So, he of course requested we do it again. Luckily- I still have my black crew neck, duct tape skeleton and all.

So look for a crazy family of skeleton's this year... (again)

Happy Halloween.

Did I forget Halloween?

Jack was Mario:

I was an Owl:

And Josh was House:

(Ok, this is the real House, but none of my pictures of Josh turned out. Just know he looked a lot like this, without the confetti.)

Our Halloween was cold and wet... but fun.

Brrrrr.

Happy Halloween