They looked Halloween-ish

If you're ever in Des Moines around Halloween time, you've got to check out the trick-or-treating at Living History Farms.  

Meri was sick after the Haunted High School the night before, so she stayed home and napped almost all day Sunday. 

So, Princess Leia will be played by McVal.

Traditional photo op in Meri's honor.

I don't do the donut hairdo like Carrie Fisher or Meri...  But I did what I could in the car on the way.

We got there a little early, but that was fine.  We got our costumes on in the restrooms and then just hung out.  

Visited the gift shop where Ryan let Leon mutilate a penny to commemorate the day.

and played lightsaber in the lobby.

I took a video of them playing and Leon was pretty funny... OUCH.

and as soon as they opened the doors to the grounds, we were the first out the gate.

Stopping for every photo op available along the way.

Everyone seemed to know who he was!  And he wasn't even holding the lightsaber.

Another photo op.  Leon's idea.

The Darth Vader robe was choking Ryan, so I ended up carrying that, his mask and the light sabers throughout the rest of the jaunt.

They had a petting zoo and Leon wants to be a chicken next year.  I'll have to see what we can do!

AND they had a camel...  

Wowza!

There was no "sweet" corn (kettle korn) booth this year, but we got the free cup of popcorn and some pop for the wagon ride.

And you can't see it in this one, but there were a whole herd of deer in the distance.  

Leon loved that the horse on the right was telling him "yes" all the time.  It kept nodding his head.

AND the story tellers!  One of the story tellers was the same one from Robb and my date on Friday night.  

Not this one.  But we remember this one from years past.  I believe she told the Nonguama story. 

They had pumpkin (really an orange basketball) bowling afterwards.

Then some photo ops before heading out.

Outside the gift shop, there was an ambulance and a firetruck for the kids to explore.  

Leon climbed right up in both.  And one of the EMTs called him Obiwan.  

REALLY??!!!  We're old school...

This is Luke...

And this photo idea was totally Leon's own.  "Hey Grandma!  Take a picture of me peeking out from behind this bush!"

I am nothing is not obliging...

We stopped at a Village Inn on the way home for supper and sneaky Ryan grabbed the check and paid before we knew what was what...  The "KIDS" pay for something?  Alrighty then!!!

So last night, Leon went begging for candy with his mom and Robb was gone for the evening.  Ryan was working.  Meri helped me hand out candy for a LITTLE bit before she had to run off to play practice.  I made 32 cookies with small words spelled out on them that kindergartners could read that were somewhat Halloweenish.  BOO, BAT, CAT and that's about it.  The cookies were small...

I set up some strobe lights on the porch and handed out candy all night by myself.  Due to a friend of Leon's that has a peanut allergy, I had some buckets of mini-cheese balls and then a big bowl of chocolate types that had peanuts in them.  The cheese balls were a big hit!

I'd made a crock pot of chili, because  ... chili...  and tradition...  There's a little bit left.  I found that I didn't have any tomato sauce in the cupboard.  uh oh...  SO, I made up my own recipe with what I had and had it in the crockpot for the afternoon.  The smells were awesome and a lot of parents commented on how good it smelled.  

Here's my Make Do Chili recipe.

2 can's of kidney beans, not drained

1 cup of leftover pizza sauce from Monday night

1 can of tomato soup glop

1/2 - 1 cup of salsa

1 packet of chili seasoning

1 packet of onion soup mix

1 pound of hamburger cooked with garlic and drained

Dump them all in the crockpot and put on high for the afternoon.  Best served with a dollop of sour cream stirred in.  YUMMMM...  

Anyway, that was my Halloween Eve.  More sugar and parties coming up today.