In a tradition that has only been broken due to a brief visit to Baltimore - we have once again had a hauntingly good time at the annual Enchanted Forest Halloween Party (remember years past HERE). This year's addition of spooky games including the relay eyeball-on-spoon races, mummy wraps, witch's brew making, pumpkin painting, cookie eating contests, and feeling icky body parts. Of course the food brought its own spooky themes, and everyone had their bellies warmed with chili and hot dogs before heading to the Enchanted Forest to be... you guessed it, enchanted.

{Check out all the photos from the party and the parade HERE.}

Enchanted Forest has become a Halloween Tradition that my girls will be sure to remember. My Aunt is the hostest-with-the-mostest treating us to white chocolate bones, cinnamon ghost chips, string cheese fingers and mummy dogs. We feast on chili and sides before heading off to the Parks and Recreation "Enchanted Forest" which involves waiting in line for an hour and a half and then walking through the woods to watch adorable 2-minute plays acted out by storybook characters. The line waiting is the best. Seriously. (Not seriously, my back is still killing me and Carolyn sat in goose poop, but I got to spend time with some cool people, including Waldo, so that made it all work out in the end).
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And by "Tradition" I mean this:
2007
2008
2009

Every year we celebrate the arrival of fall and the joy of costuming children with a visit to the Enchanted Forest and a pre-Forest Halloween Party at Aunt Jill's house. This year we had munchkins decked out as a 50's car hop, Laura and Mary, a dinosaur, beaver, and two pirates. After a dinner of mummy dogs, monster dogs and heart warming chilli we headed to the local nature park for an hour+ wait in the frigid cold line for our chance to walk through the Enchanted Forest. The attraction is a lot of fun for the kids, and for the adults its a lot like childbirth - with time you forget how painful it was and after about a year you think you want to do it again.

See all the photos of the night [here]

I walk in the door and they're all a-buzz about DANCE class. We gather pink tutus and tap shoes and soon they are ready...only an hour too early. I flop on the couch to watch the clock move closer to the enchanted dance time, hoping that some simple questioning of "How was your day today?" will draw out for a good 20 minutes at least. Then the handsome one lies down and the girls clammer to him. The giggles entertain them. me. him. They will sleep well tonight, and they do.

2008 in pictures...

{1} Advent {2} Chris's R&R Party on break from Iraq {3} Baby Ava born {4} Easter {5} Nocturnal Safari {6} Fourth of July {7} St. Louis Visit {8} Egg Hunting in the cold {9} Apple Picking {10} Jon signs with Illinois State {11} Photoshoot {12} Christmas in the Park {13} Douglas County Fair {14} Chocolate covered strawberries {15} Seeing Santa {16} Christmas morning {17} Baby Cora born {18} Christmas Eve {19} Building a snowman {20} Pumpkin Patch {21} Renaissance Fest {22} Valentine's Day {23} Flowergirl dress shopping {24} Party planning {25} Walking in the Halloween Parade {26} Enchanted Forrest {27} Jon's Basketball {28} Trip to Madison {29} Junior Cheer Camp {30} Baptism Service

Jill and Suzanne have outdone themselves once again, as they hosted our Second Annual Enchanted Forest/Halloween Party. We had mummy dogs and chili, apple crisp, LOTS of candy, pumpkin painting, not to mention pumpkin placemats with markers before we ate...they thought of everything! Then it was off to the Enchanted Forest where we stayed warm and enjoyed the walk through the jack-o-lantern lit paths. [see ALL OF THE FUN here]

Brandon put Carolyn in time-out tonight,
when he walked back into the living room
she hollered from the bathroom...

"YOU are not a very nice old man!"

[If you've seen Enchanted you know this line,
and she said it with the same inflection and everything, it was a hoot!]

We went to the Enchanted Forest tonight in Independence

the 45 minute wait in line with 4 small children wasn't that enchanting

but once we got onto the pumpkin lit path through the woods

it was a lot of fun!

Natalie and Jules all ready to enchant the forest