Sugar Cookies with a Smile... and LOTS of Sprinkles :)

Instead of spending Halloween at home handing out candy, we head into town for our churches "Hallapalooza" candy carnival! But we don't leave our 3 trick-or-treaters disappointed... no, no!

We set out a bucket of candy on the verandah with the unspoken request to help themselves! Year after year we are always surprised with how much candy is left... but this time around we either got more participation than in years previous, or a couple of kiddos LOADED up! :) We happened to be home when the last group came (upping our total to at least 6!) and because Jon doesn't want "extra candy" in the house... generous handfuls were given, to say the least!

This year the idea of cookie costumes popped into my head. Originally I was going to make one snickerdoodle cookie (with lots of glitter and sparkles as the cinnamon/sugar) and one sugar cookie with pink frosting and sprinkles... but because both girls love pink, it just seemed fitting to make their costumes matching! Alia & Larren enjoyed helping me cut out the felt and put the pins away as I sewed the costume together... but the real highlight was the SPRINKLES! And needless to say, we went a little overboard in that department! :)

First up... a stop by Nana Betty & Papa Ron's for a little costume modeling! They had treats for the girls (of course!) and treats for Mom & Dad too! We ended up having an impromptu "appetizer party" in their front entrance and then were on our merry to the carnival!

We started out with a hot dog supper... 

... which proved to be quite a lengthy affair for the girls. There was just so much other fun stuff to be distracted by!

And then... finally... the games could begin!

Since the bean bag toss station was right next to our dining accommodations, we hit that one up first. Alia got the concept with no problems...

... but to Larren...

... it was just a walk in the park! Simply walk the bags up to the hole and drop 'em in... no sweat!

Next up... fishing! (And this was the kind of fishing that Daddy was more than happy to participate in!)

Moving right on to the Frisbee toss...

... and again, to Larren this whole carnival thing was just too easy!

We made our way over to N.'s station and she decided to give Larren a few pointers!

Larren just couldn't figure out why no one else did things her way...

Let's try it again, shall we?

Nope...

Sweet N. gave her a hug and some candy anyhow! :)

When asked what her favorite event was... bowling clearly won in Alia's books!

Regular bowling just won't have the same delight after this version!

After our bowling extravaganza we mozied on over to the gummy worm eating station... with a twist!

Next up... twinkle toes.

Our lovely lady has surprisingly good toe coordination! She picked up all the rocks and put them in the bowl with little effort. A useful gift to have? Questionable! Though it does warrant candy, so that's worth something!

The girls spotted the baby food eating station and, with all the baby talk around our house, wanted to give it a whirl!

Doesn't seem so bad...

... until the taste buds do some registering!

The next sample wasn't much better!

Alia's verdict was that candy wins over baby food every time... but that didn't detour little sister from trying! She would have come back for more, had we let her!

We made a quick dash to the penny toss...

... and then headed to the sanctuary for a teaching time on "Blessing Your Child". It was REALLY good... though our little ones were definitely ready for more action and less paying attention!

And... keeping up with tradition (here's last years pics!)... we were running late and weren't able to get costume pictures before we arrived at the church. So... just like last year... these are "documentation pics" at best! We're winning no awards with these 'uns! :)

Here we have the "opposites attract" pic...
big sister = seriously, more pictures and little sister = YAY, more pictures!

And here we have the "Yeah, we are so done with this and just want to eat some candy" pic.

So there ya have it. Two sugar cookies, high on sugar, that are as sweet as can be!