I remember thinking this last year, and it was true again this year. We started with a Joy School party, had a play & trick-or-treating at ASDB, a storybook parade for Emma, & rounded it all out with a Halloween carnival at a very friendly church.
Whew!
.
I'm pretty easygoing about letting the kiddos choose what they want to be. We park it in Jo-Ann's & they look through the pattern books until they see something that they just can't live without.
.
This year they came up with a clown:
a firefighter:
(courtesy of Costco- seriously, $22? No way I could make it for that!)
and a mermaid.
Do you have any idea how many modest mermaid costumes there are in the pattern books? Exactly ONE. Except that Emma didn't like the skirt that went with the modest top. So Mommy got to cut up 1 pattern to make the top & alter the skirt pattern from a size 8 to a size 4 so that Emma could be the beautiful mermaid she envisioned.
.
Sheesh- the things we do for our kids!
Somehow Mommy got the time wrong for the ward trunk-or-treat, so by the time we got there 20 minutes late, the kids got just about zero candy & even less trick-or-treating experience. So we stopped by a little church festival & they played the silly carnival games to their heart's content. Hey- we even got a free horse & buggy ride!
Do you think Jack had fun?
I gotta say- I love Halloween!
This nasty critter was crawling around in my bedroom the other day. Apparently it's a kissing bug- and I suspect he's the culprit that did this:
Somehow, shortly after this pic was taken, we managed to actually derail & nearly all died. Well, not really, but the kids were terrified after all the bumping & shaking stopped. Andy (who just happens to work at a real, live railroad) tried to show the workers how to re-rail the car, but they all knew better than he & decided to completely rip apart the car instead. 
Train ride over, mucho sad kiddos.
So we hit the petting zoo for a while before heading home. Gotta keep these kids from getting too city-fied, you know! 
Andy & I also hit the big #10 this year on October 19. Unfortunately I was sick & he was having an allergic reaction to a bee sting, so we just had some apple pie at home & called it good. I had the idea to talk to the kids about how it was actually our family's birthday, since Oct 19 was the day our family began, and they loved the little "family birthday party" we had.
The kids were REALLY excited to see where Mommy had been at Girls Camp & we all had a blast. We didn't spend the night (are you crazy?), but discovered that Frank is apparently a little pyro like his Momma 
