Go 'Niners! (aka our Halloween recap)

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At the beginning of October I sat down with Clyde and Will one evening to make some Halloween decorations. Pretty much I ended up making them myself; Will colored on some paper for a while before wandering off and Clyde's contributions were instructing me what shape his ghost's eyes should be (he went with triangles).

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Here's the lovely crepe-paper adorned bookcase:

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And some more construction paper decor:.

I asked Chuck the other day if it was sad that I made all of the decorations myself, and yet they still look like the handiwork of small children, and he tactfully said, "No, they look good. (pause). We probably just won't keep them year to year, you know?"
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We had lots of good intentions about visiting a pumpkin patch as a family, but it didn't happen. We had to cancel last-minute for the Dalbey family's annual Harvest Party a few weeks ago, and then more recently, Chuck and Will stayed home sick and missed partying with some families from our ward.
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Clyde and I had fun though! Craziest story ever: Clyde and I got to Linder Farms and were waiting around the entrance when a family stopped as they were leaving and handed me a bag of tokens. They didn't want to wait in line to finish using them and wanted to know if I would use them - heck yes! We weren't planning on doing anything that cost money since they have lots of free fun stuff as well, but I wasn't going to turn down tokens. Everyone arrived and we used the tokens ($8 worth!) to send some of the kids on the barrel train:
Clyde and Kenzie were SO cute! I think it's hilarious how he's holding his arm and trying to stay on his side of the little bench.

Hey, they finally both smiled!

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So while the moms were waiting for the train to come back, ANOTHER family approached me with a bag of tokens ($12 worth this time!). Again, they were leaving and wanted to know if I could use them, and of course I said yes. It was just so funny because Tawny and Shelly were standing right next to me, but I was singled out. We decided it was because my hair was in pigtails and I was wearing jean cutoffs, so I must have looked like some poor teenage mom :). Works for me!

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We used the rest of the tokens to let the kids do the swing ride and/or the jump houses, which is what Clyde picked:

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Clyde also liked the petting zoo and checking out the ponies:

I love how they're both on their tippy toes :)

We also went on the little hayride, although we didn't pick any pumpkins. This is a wretched picture of both of us, but at least you can tell why people would choose me to bestow their unused tokens upon . . .
.A few days later we set up outside for some pumpkin painting:

Will was a very enthusiastic painter, of pumpkin and foot alike:

I'm not looking forward to when Clyde and Will learn about pumpkin-carving and think it sounds like more fun than painting......

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And then there was Halloween itself. Our ward had a really fun trunk-or-treat, and my mom came along with us.

Queen Grandma Pam and Clyde
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Now, for your enjoyment are our attempts to get a picture of the four of us:

Yeah, maybe next year. Don't you love me ever-present smile as I attempt to wrestle Will? Story of my life! And a special thanks to Elder Braden for letting Chuck borrow his 49ers jersey.

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Happy Halloween!