Halloween

Halloween was chilly but fun!  Nice not to be in charge of the Trunk-or-Treat this year :).  That's where we headed, as usual, then we let the kids trick-or-treat one street and went home.  

I was up pretty late finishing Brielle's costume.  She was Mavis from Hotel Transylvania.  I made the dress and the cape, cut Lainey's old tights to make the sheer arm warmers, and cut the wig to look like Mavis'.  I love Mavis on that cartoon- she's SO cute.  But it's hard to make a little girl vampire not look plain old Gothic.  We tried, but she was still a shock to anyone that ever recognized her!  We'll go for something bright and sunshiny next year!  I still really liked the costume, though.   I also made Lainey's tutu.  Going through these pictures, I realized I never got any shots of the back of her tutu- the tail feathers!  It's a puffy little bustle that get's really long.  I remember trying to get a good shot of it all night but the light or the angle was never right.  Dangit, I might have to dig it up and put her back in it for a better shot!  I did NOT make Ashton's costume, thought I wish I had taken the shorts up about a foot!  Okay not really THAT long, but they were Sooooooo long!

Took me so much longer than I ever imagined to sew that name on the back of her cape!

Ashton's Halloween Party

Family Halloween Party

Our sister-in-law, Jenny, had never been in town for Halloween and had never gotten to see all the nieces and nephews and their cute costumes on that holiday due to being tied to school in Rexburg.  To celebrate her first time being here for it, she asked us if we would host a family Halloween Party that she was excited to put on for all the children.  She had arranged for some games and treats and for Todd's step dad, Galen to clear a maze in his corn field that day.  Unfortunately it poured rain so the maze was out.  But we still did the party at our house and Galen and Cindy (Todd's mom) joined us.

I offered to arrange a craft station.   I had tons of supplies for it because I had signed up to run that craft at both Lainey's preschool and Ashton's class Halloween parties.

I didn't have my kids wear their costumes because Lainey's was too fragile and I didn't want it ruined before Halloween, Brielle's wasn't done- I was still making it, and Ashton is too good at getting what he wears dirty.  So Lainey wore one of her dress up dresses, Ashton wore an old dress up costume (high waters and all) and Brielle was a quick make shift "girl-on-fire".  

Here is Jenny giving the rules of the first game.

A skit at the end involved lip synching to "Girl on Fire" which sparked some  kareoke to cute girlie songs by some super cute nieces of mine.

I was a rock star, Todd was a sports fan.  Can't tell in that light but my shirt was covered in sequins- I looked like a golden disco-ball dork, but it was the best I had.

Atlanta Trip- Best 100 Places to Work

Heart 'n Home won the "Best 100 Places to Work" award in healthcare again!  It's an award given by Modern Healthcare for all kinds of health care companies in the U.S.  We were the only hospice on the list this year.  We barely made it on the list- 98th place!  But it's an honor, still, to make it on a prestigious national list with the various other impressive companies that made for stiff competition.

We flew to Atlanta that second to last weekend in October to attend the awards ceremony and accept our award.  Here are pics from the awards night:

The owners with their award.

While we were there we did a day of shopping and visited the aquarium there.  I guess it's the biggest one in the country!  It was pretty fantastic.  I felt bad being at it without my children!  I know they would have loved it.  We got the some fun marine animal bath toy souvenirs and showed them all the pictures when we got back.  They were having a great time at their Grandpa and Grandma Stice's house back home.  We sure appreciated them watching our treasure for us!

Here's the camera roll from pics at the Aquarium.  Have to say, I can't stand going from dslr to phone camera quality.  Especially indoors.  But I didn't feel like lugging around the former all day long. 

Playing with the reflection on the glass with Adam and Katrina.

 

Albino Alligators

A tank in the ceiling.

A whale skeleton.

The next day at the subway to head out shopping.

This was my very first subway experience!  Not much like I'd seen in movies where the whole subway always looks so crowded you're elbow to elbow.  We were there in the late morning and were the only ones there!  (Which I'd prefer over crazy crowds of strangers.)