Halloctoberween

October was quite a busy month for us this year. In the midst of moving, sicknesses, teething (oh and birthdays!) we were still able to fit in some Halloween fun. Anisten was still a bit wary of Halloween this year and kept saying she didn't want to go trick-or-treating, but once the time came she loved it! Here are some highlights of our eventful month:

Here's our family at Black Island Farms. It's becoming quite the attraction in Syracuse and starting to be a tradition for us. The girls love it. This year Anisten went with her Gma and Gpa Rollins and cousins Madison and Quincy, and then she got to go with her Stevenson family a few days later. Lucky girl. When we went with the Stevenson fam we went on the hayride first to get our pumpkins then had a barbecue in the parking lot where my dad grilled yummy hamburgers and hot dogs. Then we went back inside to enjoy the courtyard festivities.

Here are all the grandkids on a haystack

Shortly after I took that last picture, poor Aivree fell off the haystack and the straw like scratched her face! It was very sad. She's a tough girl, but she definitely had an owie on her face for the next few days
Aivree and Daddy on the Hayride to get our pumpkins This one looks good! Here's Ani in the Corn Box. It was getting dark and I had to use my phone to get an okay pic (our digital camera broke) Here's Aivree in the corn. She wasn't so sure about it and the corn kept getting in her crocs (and her diaper!) :) Ani was excited when they started blowing up the big Bouncy Jack O Lantern. She was first in line to jump My Dad's favorite attraction was the big half tires sticking out of the ground. He'd run and jump up on them and try jumping from one to another. Still just a big kid (and quite agile) :) Getting ready for the jump But the thing that my girls loved the very most (especially Aivree) was the big slides

Here's Aivree and Lexi (Wexi) Aivree on slide. She would get to the bottom and turn around and run back up. She just couldn't get enough of the slide! Ani on slide These pictures are from when Anisten went with the Rollins Grandparents to Black Island. Here she is (in the back) with Madison on the train Ani in the Corn Box. So cute The Youth in our ward are in charge of the Halloween Carnival, so since Rob is the YM pres he had to get all dressed up for it. I took the girls to see him and to play the fun games.
Can you guess who he is?
It's "Rob"in Hood!

Here are the girls in their costumes. Ani is Ariel again because last year we kind of missed out on a lot of the Halloween fun (and her costume still fits) and Aivree is a BYU cheerleader. I'm all about recycling costumes (Aivree will be Ariel next year for sure). There were plenty of opportunities to wear costumes this year, which was fun.

"Rob"in Hood and the girls. Ani had so much fun and decided she really likes carnivals.
The Rollins Halloween party was on October 22. First they picked out pumpkins to carve from grandpa's pumpkin patch

Ani's pumpkin and Pumpkin carver (daddy) Aivree getting her pumpkin

All the cute Rollins grandkids in their costumes

Ani with the pumpkin daddy carved for her. She wanted it to be a spider (she's become such a little ham when it comes to taking pictures. Big cheesy grins. Love it)

Aivree with her carved pumpkin. Rob did so good I think

Of course the Rollins Halloween party is not complete without a visit from the Wizard. Ani is usually terrified of this, but this year she was only slightly nervous (we told her that it was just Grandpa in a silly costume) and stayed through the whole thing!

Ani not being scared of Wizard

The Wizard

The Wizard handed out goody bags to everyone and here is Aivree styling one of the "goodies" haha! This picture is classic

Here's Anisten on Halloween in her costume. Such a beautiful mermaid

For the Stevenson Halloween party we get pretty serious about our pumpkin carving. Here we are in the garage having our "carving party" while the kids have their carnival. I confess, I wasn't excited about carving my pumpkin, but I was pretty happy with the result. I did a Dora pumpkin and Rob did a cool looking scarecrow. I didn't get pictures because my digital camera (with the flash) is broken. They turned out really good though!

Here are the kids playing one of the nine (yes nine!) Halloween games my mom put together for them. Hot Potato! They loved it. Pin the nose on the pumpkin game

Here is one of the prizes Ani won. Nice look

Unfortunately the weather was not so good on Halloween this year, but that didn't stop us. We went out in the rain and the girls still loved it. We didn't even have to go really far and the girls got plenty of candy. Ani kept saying "I love trick-or-treating!" Aivree always wanted to stop and chat to the people who gave her the candy. They'd be closing the door and she would still be standing there looking at them. Such a friendly girl. I'm so glad we were all well enough to experience the fun part of Halloween this year. We loved it.

Aren't these cute scarecrows? :)

Rob's birthday was September 30th and I took the girls to have lunch with him at Tasty's and then he and I went on a date that night. We went to Red Lobster (a big treat for him, we never go there because I'm not a big seafood fan) and then to see the movie Inception (we loved it!) It was fun.

My birthday was October 29th and after just moving into our house and having that stress over with I went to lunch with my mom and sister and then on a date with Rob that night. We went to Texas Roadhouse (my favorite) and then to the mall for a little shopping and then to the Family Fun Center for some mini golf and bowling. It was a very fun birthday for me, even though I turned 28. :)

All in all, October was an exciting month but I'm glad its over.