Happy Halloween!!

Halloween is now a special day in the Passey house. I went from having 8 brothers and sisters to having 10. Reagan and Allie have officially been adopted! I now have 7 brothers and 3 sisters. The oldest being 31 and the youngest is 7! My parents officially have 11 children. They now have as many children as they do grandchildren! To celebrate we went to Cici's Pizza. My grandparents came and we had a great lunch. The kids dressed up too! Maddy got to eat for free for having a costume on (the youngest two are free anyway) We let the kids play in the arcade when they were done eating.

I love this picture of Ben... Joshua was tickling him, and he LOVED it.

Maddy driving the car... Uncle Scott was nice enough to put some quarters in the game for her. She thinks she is now ready to drive our van. Yeah, alright Maddy!


This game wasn't working, but it didn't stop Scott and Ryan from having a great time!




Sarah driving

Benjamin driving!

This is the only game Maddy wanted to play on... I couldn't get her off of it!

Ben was trying so hard to reach the buttons. This boy loves to push buttons!

Sarah wanted to ride the motorcycle... but then she couldn't figure out how to get off. I saw her just sitting like this and couldn't resist snapping a picture.

My silly monkey

After our celebration we headed over to my grandparents house to trick or treat. Ben was so happy to run around outside...

LOVE this boy...

My grandpa wanted a picture with the kids in their costumes. I wish Ben would have cooperated! He just wanted to walk around!
But it's still a cute picture....

Mom look at my candy!!

We headed over to Joseph's parents to trick or treat and then headed home to wait for Daddy! We lit the Jack-o-lanterns and got the kids bundled up for some trick-or-treating with some friends from the ward. They had arranged a hayride to take the kids around the neighborhood. Then Ben had a meltdown of all meltdowns. He couldn't take 2 steps without bursting into tears! I decided 30 minutes before we were supposed to be there that Ben was going to bed. He was in no shape for the night ahead of him. That meant that I had to stay home... Boo!!

But you do what you have to right?

All ready to go! Sarah was NOT happy that I emptied her pumpkin from the Trunk-or-Treat. She was crying and saying that she wanted her candy. She didn't understand what she was about to do... Poor girl. Then she thought Daddy had left without her.



I had originally asked our neighbors to hand out our candy until I got back with Ben. I had assumed that he wouldn't last as long as the girls. This may sound weird, but I've always wanted to hand out candy on Halloween night. We have been married for over 7 years and I have never been able to do it! This is the first year we've lived in a neighborhood!

I sent Joseph off with the girls and put Ben to bed. Then prepared myself for Trick-or-Treaters! I actually really enjoyed seeing all the different costumes. I'm still amazed at how rude a lot of the kids are. I can't stand kids who ring the doorbell repeatedly, then don't even say Thank You when you give them candy!! But on a lighter note- I had multiple people tell me my house was nice, and some tell me that it smelled really good. (Thank you Pumpkin Spice candle!!) But the best part was when this boy who appeared to be about 12 told me that I was pretty. I gave him an extra piece of candy :) I decided that handing out candy on Halloween was good for my self esteem... ;)

Our porch... The lights change color. It made the kids happy.

The kids were out for just over an hour. Joseph decided to bring them home because it started sprinkling and it was cold! They got home just in time too... Not more than 5 minutes later it started to pour!

The girls came home and told me all about their adventures and then checked out their loot.

I helped Maddy sort hers like I used to when I was little. She was so sweet and gave Joseph and I some candy.

Sarah was excited to see all of her candy too. She told me all about how "Daddy talked mean to a ghost so he didn't scare her" (not quite how that happened) but in her eyes Daddy is her hero!

Another Halloween has come and gone. Hopefully next year Ben will be able to enjoy it!

Trunk Or Treat

I missed a few pictures from our pumpkin carving.. So I thought I'd post a few before the Trunk-or-Treat pictures

The girls decided to help their daddy clean the last pumpkin. One spoonful at a time.


I was there too! I have crazy eyes in this picture... It is never a good idea to give me a knife!!





Me and the girls


Shortly after our pumpkin carving we got the kids dressed up in their costumes and headed to our ward Trunk-or-Treat. Really it was a Halloween carnival of sorts. They went ALL out! One of our ward members is a P.E. teacher, and he decided to bring a parachute for the kids to play with. I was SO excited. This was pretty much the only thing I liked about school when I was a kid! I told Joseph as soon as I saw it- "this is the BEST Halloween party I've ever been to."

Maddy thought it was pretty sweet too!

Maddy and her little boyfriend. She LOVES this boy...

About to lift it and go under!

Helping to put it away


They had a chili cook off too. There was some amazing chili! I'm not sure the kids were impressed, but I sure enjoyed it.

Sarah enjoyed the dessert table! She ate cookies and bat brownies... and she had a little cup with jello. The jello had a gummy worm in it. She ate that and then tried to drink her jello. After a few tries she looked at me and said- "mommy, my drink doesn't work. It's broken!"

It was so funny!

Maddy had a few treats too! ...but no dinner. SHOCKER!


After dinner it was back to the fun and games! This one was great- you had to eat the doughnut that was tied to the string without using your hands...

After a few tries the doughnut fell off the string so she had to eat it with her hands... tough break Maddy!

Next we got to go on a hayride! There is a farm next to our church and they were nice enough to let us use their field. This hayride went a bit faster than any hayride I've ever been on! I thought we might fall off! We had a kid "fall off" on our ride... or so we thought. We're thinking now that he jumped! Another was dangling his feet and his shoe came off. It took a while to find in the tall grass!

Took this one myself!

Ben seemed a bit uneasy this hayride...

Family picture!

After the hayride we went in to play a few more games... They had a cake walk, and this cute bean bag toss. Maddy got the bean bag in on her very first try.

Sarah walked up to the cauldrons and plopped the balls in. Ben just ran away with the balls.

They loved it

There was also a haunted maze that was put together outside. My girls loved it, much to my surprise! Maybe because it wasn't so haunted when we discovered it. After the maze we had the Trunk or Treat. The kids got a lot of candy and had a blast. They were so tired after that, so we headed home.

Our friends from our old ward came over after their party so we could play games. We put all the kids to bed and then raided our kids candy to make milk shakes! Best Butterfinger milk shake ever.

And a great end to a great day!

Carving Pumpkins

Saturday morning started off great... I hung some pumpkin lights over the table that a friend had given me the night before. The kids were so happy! They change colors from pink to orange to purple.

We also had a special Halloween breakfast! Cinnamon rolls with orange frosting!

As if they don't get enough sugar on Halloween... Might as well have some for every meal!



Joseph had to go into work for a few hours, but when he got back we decided to carve the kids Jack-o-lanterns.

We started off outside... but it was so cold!

Ben was very interested in the pumpkin guts...

yeah... he was eating them... and happy to do so.

Eat it up boy!!

Okay, I stopped him. I couldn't take it, it was SO gross.

So he found some chalk to eat instead!

Thus ended the pumpkin carving outside...

We moved inside where the kids were warmer, and much less distracted!

Cheeeeeeese!!

He's at it again!!

Eventually we had to put up the baby gate and ban him from the kitchen...

Joseph busy hollowing out the pumpkins!

Sarah kept looking at Ben then back at her pumpkin lid while saying, "I don't want to eat dis. Dats gwoss."

Maddy wanted her name carved into her Jack-o-lantern. Then she hammed it up and posed with it. Is this girl full of herself?? Yes she is.

Cocoa decided to supervise Ben

Cocoa you FAIL!!

Here is again, eating pumpkin guts!

Ben's finished Jack-o-lantern

He is also finished helping....

Sarah's finished Jack-o-lantern. She wanted one with "free eyes, and free moufes"

Here you go Sarah, Three eyes each with a mouth.

Ta da!!

The kids worked so hard they needed some halloween cookies... once again, I was worried they might not have enough sugar!!

Now bring on the Trunk or Treat!!

A Halloween Storytime

I have been taking my kids to storytime at our local library since Maddy was about 10 months old. Now that we have moved out of Myrtle Beach, I can't seem to leave our favorite librarian and try the storytime at the library where we live... So every week I drive about 35 minutes to see Ms. Sue Ellen at the Chapin library. The week of our Halloween Party is my favorite by far! Well worth the 35 minute drive! The kids get to dress up in their costumes, and they have Halloween stories read to them, sing Halloween songs and fingerplays. They do a Halloween craft, and then Party! It is Maddy's favorite storytime too because Daddy always comes..

My little Witch Sarah, ready to go!

Maddy borrowed this costume from our good friends... (home made!!) She kept saying, Sarah is a willing witch and I am a lovely ladybug.



So happy! Ben was still taking his nap so I don't have any before pictures of him


This is the first storytime where Ben has listened! It needs to be Halloween EVERY storytime... He's hard to handle!!

My little Monkey

Daddy showed up half way through (he usually comes to the party at the end...) Maddy was THRILLED to be able to sit with him during the stories.

Ben socializing...

They made pumpkin masks, then got their party treats! They got to frost pumpkin cookies and eat other goodies.

Another great party in the books! And looking forward to next year!!