happy halloween

allow me to present our little fairytale:

maxer, the hunter

weston, the dragon

ayla jo, the princess

add them together, and you have pure adorable.

we have been celebrating for days over here. the festivities began with a journey down the orange arrowed tour of johnson controls, trick or treating at various offices and reaping great amounts of candy.

brad was unable to join us as he was farming the day away, so we were very grateful for bopa's candied distraction.

the event was totally worth my own discomfort at knowing only my dad and mr dykstra in the whole entire plant. sadly, when i feel awkward i talk, so the whole company of jci now knows the ages, likes, and dislikes, costumes, and other fun facts about me and my children. please accept my apologies johnson controls.

after our bags were laden with candy, we settled in for a little show and donut holes. yum! maxer kept sneaking to the table and looking hungrily at the lady distributing the goods until she said he could have another. good tactic

the festivities do not end here. saturday evening was spent at the outdoor discovery center's treats and trails outing. for this much fun, we needed to call in the reinforcements: auntie beans and uncle austin.

this time around, both boys went with a hunter ensemble. a little ironic as we were at a nature preserve...

regardless, they looked beyond cute. we even got aylaroo's face painted. she hated it, i loved it.

the boys took some time to mash some corn. very effectively i might add.

there were people galore, a hayride, a bonfire complete with smores, and cute festive games. check out the hunters with daddy get their marshmallows roasted to perfection. auntie beans was serious about her smore as well. the night ended in pizza at the deweerdt's where all our boys worked together to line up every tractor and truck the deweerdts owned. delightful to have such wonderful neighbors so nearby.

when the actual holiday rolled around on monday, we were ready yet again. a pretty pirate joined us for dinner, aka auntie beans. bopa and naomi stopped in with gifts of candy, water bottles, and entirely fabulous little outfits for baby blue. then we loaded the veen once again with hunters and princesses and pirates and went to trick or treat by my grandparents. they were generous with their candy offerings and pleased to show off their great grandchildren to the neighbors. the littlest hunter was beyond tired, resulting in lots of tears, whines, and crabbiness. so the visit was a short one.

today, we are continuing to enjoy the treats of that weekend and week beginning of costumes and candy.