Church Halloween Party

We attended our church's Halloween party last night and had a great time.  Luckily, the primary president who I served with last fall is still in the same calling this year, so she initiated a ward Halloween party for the second year in a row like we did last year as a presidency.  I am so grateful for this as having the chance to eat dinner and play some games inside the church for 1.5 hours is so much better than just trunk-or-treating in the parking lot for a whoppin' five minutes!  Since Ron had a work conference in Sea Tac, I had to make a homemade soup, get all four kids dressed in their costumes, nurse Emmett, and load up everything and drive everyone to the church all by myself.  It was a bit much, but we managed to get there only a few minutes late.  After some quick pictures outside under the beautiful, autumn trees, we went into the church for some dinner and games before heading back outside for the annual, trunk-or-treat.  Ron came directly from his work conference and was able to meet up with us half way through dinner.  I was grateful for his help as he ended up pushing Emmett in his stroller for the rest of the party which allowed me to chase the other kids around as they participated in the evening's activities.  The older three had a great time playing games and trunk-or-treating and baby Emmett was a trooper sitting happily in his monkey costume in his stroller for the remainder of the evening.

The four, Hartland kids posing under one of the many pretty trees on the church grounds.

A close-up of our cute kiddos.  Lia was dressed as a Southern Belle, Logan was a pirate (for the third year in a row), Ella was Little Red Riding Hood, and baby Emmett was a monkey.  Just some fun facts:  Lia was wearing a costume my mom made for me in the 7th grade that I wore in a regional, dance festival for church and Ella was wearing my Little Red Riding Hood cape that I also wore for a Halloween as a little girl.  Emmett also was wearing the same costume that Logan wore for his first Halloween when he was almost the same age.

The kids and me before heading into church.

Ella, Logan, Lia, and Emmett eating dinner.  Since I was in charge of the food last year, I made sure that hot dogs and fruit and veggie platters were on the menu so that my kids would have something healthy to eat (since homemade soups and chilis are not really their thing).  However, since I had nothing to do with the party planning this year, only soups, salads, and rolls showed up.  As a result, please notice that Ella's dinner consisted of a roll, some shredded cheese, and dessert.  Luckily, both Lia and Logan decided to eat some soup and got some protein and vegetables in their bodies before gorging themselves on desserts and candy.

After dinner, the kids and I participated in a costume parade around the gym.

Ella didn't want to participate in the costume parade and stayed with Ron, so here are the older kids with Emmett and me finishing up our second walk around the gym.

After the costume parade, we headed out to several classrooms in the church to play some games.  Here is Logan throwing a pumpkin, bowling ball at some ghost pins.

Ella and Logan playing a tic-tac-toe game on the floor.

And Lia doing the same with her friend, Isabel.

Baby Emmett hanging in there like a champ in his stroller while we trunk-or-treated outside the church at the end of the party.

Logan giving me a smile after getting some candy from a thoroughly decked out trunk.

Lia getting some candy from another family in the ward.

And, lastly, 'Little Red' getting some of her own candy before moving down the lane!