the henrie's: It's Lots of Fun on Halloween

We had a great first Halloween in Pennsylvania! Braden was very excited and couldn't wait for all the festivities. Being in Primary, we planned a Primary Halloween party that took place the week before. At the party we broke the kids up into two groups, older kids and younger kids, and had them rotate activities. We sang songs, read a scary story, did the Monster Mash, made fences with pumpkins on them, played relay games, dressed up like mummies, and ate a fun lunch of corn dogs, cheese cubes and cup-cakes! I was completely worn out after it all, but the kids all had a great time. Braden loved getting to play with the bigger kids and his favorite part was when at the end of the scary story a scarecrow jumped out from behind a curtain. I was a little nervous that he wouldn't like the scare but it turned out the only one who didn't like it was Bro. Phetsomphou's (our primay president's husband) daughter, and he was the one all dressed up!

During the week of Halloween we carved our pumpkins and Braden had a fun Halloween Party at his Library Reading School. He got to wear his costume and they read Halloween stories and the kids got to make a scarecrow and a bat. On Halloween day I went to get Braden in his costume but he got really upset and told me he did not want to be a pirate and wanted to be a "super-hero and slay the dragon" instead. I wanted him to wear his pirate costume that I bought for him so told him that he could be a "super-hero-pirate" and could slay the dragon with his pirate sword. Luckily he decided this would be okay and he finally got in his costume. That evening we got together with the Bloomfields and ate chili in bread-bowls, made sugar cookies, painted Halloween pictures and of course went Trick-or-Treating! Braden and Colter has a blast. We just went around part of our little neighborhood and still managed to bring home bursting bags of Halloween Candy. Our Pittsburgh friends really go all out here. Most everyone was out in their driveways just waiting for us to come and instead of just a little treat, they would give out either full sized candy bars or handfuls of candy! One lady even came down the hill to pass out her candy because most of the trick-or-treaters bypassed her house, not wanting to go up the hill! We have several older couples who live in our neighborhood and they all just loved to see these little ones say "trick-or-treat" with bright smiles. I was so proud of Braden who not only thanked everyone who gave him candy but also wished them all a "Happy Halloween!" I am already looking forward to another fun adventure next year!

Pumpkin Carving