This year the annual Halloween carnival was held on the Saturday right before Halloween. It was perfect timing, in my opinion. The kids got to party, get stuffed full of candy, and didn’t even mention trick-or-treating on Sunday. Win-win!
As per tradition, Oma was asked to bring over some costumes with her when she came for a visit. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find exactly what everyone wanted, despite spending considerable time and gas to find it. She did bring some way awesome Halloween t-shirts for Chris and I, and sent another one to Nick when she got back. Thank you, Angie! Aunt Marcie had a little more notice and was able to find a costume for Sophie and something that would work for Noah that she brought with her.
Alexandra informed at the last minute that she wanted to be a candy corn. Sarah heard that and wanted to be one, too. Now if I had known this ahead of time, either Oma or Aunt Marcie could have brought the material for a whole, what $15 MAX from America. But no, they told me like 4 days before Halloween, so I had to buy it here. Let’s just say that when these costumes no longer fit, I am turning them into giant pillows for decoration, but it was way too expensive to just toss. Eeks!
Here they are at the carnival, in all their glory. They sure turned out pretty cute, didn’t they? Thank you internet for a great, free pattern! 🙂
I ran the same booth this year, that I have for the past couple. But this time I got smart. I put gravel in the cans, making them harder to knock over. Also, they didn’t fly as far, making finding them and setting them back up for the next kid much, much easier. Also, Nick felt like he was too old to participate in the games himself, but was happy to be my helper. 
This is Noah stopping by to say hi, and see what yummy stuff Mom has in her prize box!
This is the treat table. People usually bring some fun Halloween-themed goodies to share with everyone. There is also usually homemade root beer to drink, and water to wash down all that sugar! See those grey blobs in the red container on the table, behind Alexandra? Those are my chocolate rat cakes! They were so realistic looking the kids were scared to eat them. bwahahaha! We finally did get a few takers, though. 🙂 I am so making them next year, too.
There was a face painting booth as well, which is where Sophie got this beautiful butterfly painted on her face. Notice Chris’ awesome t-shirt, compliments of his mom. First time he has consented to wearing anything Halloweeny at the party. I hope it’s a new trend.
After the party, we stayed to help clean up a bit. But we had to leave before everything was completely done, because Sophie had a birthday party to get to. We knew she was going to miss the first little bit, due to the carnival, but the party was going until 7, so it was still worth going to. We had her present all wrapped and ready to go, so we just had to run in the door, change her clothes and go to the party. And then we got stuck in a horrible traffic jam. 
It took us almost 90 minutes to get home. Ugh! I traded seats with Nick since we were literally not moving at all. It was easier to keep the kids entertained from back there, and gave me a totally different perspective for my photos. 🙂
So we get home, get the present and race over to the party. I feel so bad for Sophie that she has missed so much of her friend’s birthday. The dad and the little girl answer the door and look completely confused as to why we are there, apologizing for being late. You see, the party wasn’t until next Saturday! We weren’t late at all, we were a week early! AAUUUGGGHHH!!!! All that stress and anxiety the whole time we were sitting on the freeway, and it was for nothing! I am such a dingbat! Thanks for cutting me some slack, Sophie. I sure need it.