Halloween 2017

\This year was a year that we actually put some effort into the Halloween costumes.  I know, surprising, since this is one of my least favorite holidays.  But, it's for the kids and they had a good time.

Kella's 3 headed dog costume turned out great.  Thanks to my friend, Amanda, for the idea.

Then, we have Liam Potter.

And, Kinley Kitty.

Here is the crew before the older ones ran off with their friends.  Cale dressed as the Phantom from Phantom of the Opera (my suggestion as he was looking for a last minute costume) and Ewan was Thor.  I even got/forced him to wear a beautiful blond wig for the pictures.  

So pretty.

Andy did a great job finishing up some very last minute pumpkin carving.  Then, he helped pass out candy and got to walk Kella to some houses.

We finished the evening by watching the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and eating lots of candy.

one of the nighst they dressed in costumes-aka Halloween

This Halloween was perfect.  The weather was the best we've had in a long time.  I loved the communal feeling in our neighborhood.  It was a little bittersweet, knowing that this was our last Halloween in this house, in this area.  But, we made it a good one.

Kylo Ewan-he got to run around the neighborhood with 2 of his friends.  Marcus went to a friend's house, too, and trick or treated with them.

And, the rest.  Kinley needed a costume change from a bumblebee and became a princess.  Kella stuck with a classic-Elsa.  Cale was the Grim Reaper and Liam kind of threw together some stuff at last minute and called himself a "junior wizard". Love it.

My favorite view-the post-trick or treating view.  Fireplace on, Comfie on the couch. Perfect.

And, we got our pumpkins carved just in time.

just a flashback to October

Here are some gems from the girls' preschool Miss Spider's Tea Party.  This year, both the girls wore pink skirts, black shirts and pink wings.  No too creative, but easy.  I think this is our 10th or 11th year for this and my creativity is waning.  Also, I forgot my camera, so I guess my motivation is waning, too.  

Kinley, front and center.  She did not want to stand in the back.  You go girl!  She knew all the songs.

Lot's of little bugs.  Kella is behind the ladybug on your right.

Post show pic with my ladies.

The best I could get of my little, pink butterflies.

Halloween time

Not gonna lie, Halloween is my least favorite holiday.  I hate the costumes.  I hate handing out candy.  Andy's friend was right when he said this holiday doesn't make sense.  364 days of the the year we tell our kids not to talk to strangers and not to take candy from people they don't know.  Then, Halloween comes and all bets are off.  

But, I have children.  And, they like Halloween.  And, I try to do the least amount of work as possible.  And, Andy was gone for the weekend, so I couldn't even complain to him.

The first time this fall the kids got some carmel apples. (Or, the only time this fall that Cale will eat an apple.)

Kella sat by herself.

Once we had some sugar, it was time to carve some pumpkins.  I waited until Halloween to go looking for pumpkins to buy.  Guess what?  The stores were wiped out.  Lucky for us, we had aquired several pumpkins throughout the month of October that were begging to be carved.  The big three did most of the work on their own pumpkins.  I even had the carving tools from last year to use.

Liam with his pumpkin. Liam was pretty excited to bring home a pumpkin from school.  The class had been studying the pumpkins and the top was already cut open for me.  Liam named the pumpkin Steve.  Steve got carved.

Five little pumpkins, all in a row.

Ewan, Kella, Liam (Steve), Marcus and Cale

Then it was time to assemble costumes.  I pretty much made the kids make costumes from the supply of dress up gear that we have.  Ewan spend some of his money on the Chewbacca mask and nerf crossbow.  Otherwise, I just ended up buying a few accessories.  

We have Vampire Cale, Butterfly Kella,  Hobo Marcus, Fastboy Liam (he made up his own superhero name) and Chewbacca Ewan.

And, then Kinely.  I took her to the girls closet and held up princess dresses until she picked one.  Kinley has a thing for pink right now.  I decided to sport my Doctor Who scarf.  The weather was ick.  I figured it would keep me warm.

Fastboy, me and Princess Kinley

Time to walk.  We went to the front of the subdivision for a trunk-or-treat to start with.  The weather was decent for about 30 minutes and then it got more overcast and windy.  Typical.

Here are the girls, ready to travel in style.

 There are four streets in our subdivision. We did 1 and a half before most of our party was ready to go home.  It was windy and starting to sprinkle-rain this year and not snow.  I let Cale walk to rest by himself since he was pumped to go to the house that gives out the big candy bars.  

And, being best mom ever, I let my kids eat bunches of candy and watch Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. We chased that with some hot chocolate (Liam might have coughed up some hot chocolate-I think we filled his sugar hole to the top) and the last half of LOTR: Return of the King.  All tucked with the fireplace on, it was quite cozy.

Halloween stuff-goodtimes

Halloween. One of my least favorite holidays of the year.  But, its fun to see the kids get excited about it, so we always have a go at it.  But, we don't try too hard.

Pumpkin carving.  In the garage this year.  Much better than at the kitchen table.  We got these pumpkins for 99 cents a piece at Aldis.  You know I got 8 of the them.  The ones we didn't carve, we spray painted with colors we had on hand.  Just to make them look fancy.  The bigger boys did most of their own work, after the top of the pumpkins were cut open.

Even Kella did okay with digging out the insides of her pumpkin.  And, she dressed for the occasion.

Then, the costumes.  Oh yes, I waited until the day of Halloween to go get costumes for the kids.  I don't know if I was hoping they would just make something up from what we had at home or would decide not to go trick-and-treating.  Anyway, Kella scored a new princess dress-Elsa from Frozen, of course.  I've almost quit buying Kella "regular" clothes since all she wants to wear are princess dresses.  And, we are starting to have quite the collection.  Of course, Ewan couldn't pass up the chance for another costume.  He loves to dress up and pretend, too.  He specifically asked for the Robin costume and then, told me where to buy it.  (thank you Ewan!)  Liam was happy with the Captain America assortment we got for him.  And, Cale just needed a plastic weapon.

And, we're off!  Marcus, Kinley and Andy stayed home.  The evening was drizzly, cold and windy.  Temps were easily in the 30's.  Captain America and Robin made it down one street in our 4 street subdivision before wanted to go home.  The princess got pulled in a wagon, tucked in with a blanket for 2 more streets before we dropped her off at the house.

And, Cale.  Cale couldn't find the mask he wanted to wear and wouldn't wear the other ski mask we had, so he went like this.  And, this boy walked the whole subdivision with his frozen mother.  No worries, it only started snowing when we got to the last street.  His reward: a bucket full of candy, which, to my surprise, he has willingly shared with his sibs.  

The night ended with a late dinner, candy and a Harry Potter movie with the fire place on,

Halloween came a day late this year

Rain, cold and steady, forced our town to move trick or treating to November 1st.  I thought that would be a problem for me since I was scheduled to work the night of the 1st. No problem though, my back was horrible and I could barely walk. I got to stay home and supervise candy handout. Thank goodness grammy was here. Grammy Pammy was the lucky soul that got to take this fearsome lot around the neighborhood. Ewan, Liam and Kella were done after a few streets. It was chilly out. But, Cale stayed strong and Grammy took him around to more houses. Then, everyone got high on sugar and watched Ghostbusters. A good Halloween!

 

Let's see. We have Liam the explorer, Kella batgirl, Harry Ewan Potter and scary death Cale. Then everyone had to pose for their own picture. (See below)

 

 

 

 

 

Kinley and mommy! Marcus stayed home with me and handed out candy. The extra help was nice and he didn't feel like dressing up.

Halloween 2012

Hey everybody!  Here's how the family looked before we headed out the door to do some trick-or-treating.  We have the blue ninja, Ewan, the red ninja, Cale, Spider-Man, Liam, scary-looking-person, Marcus and Kella in some doctor jammies that I found at a consignment store.  There was some strife over the ninja costumes.  Liam was extremely jealous and couldn't wait for Cale to take his costume off that evening so he could wear it.  In fact, Liam wore the red ninja costume again the next day.  All day.  We made it to a trunk-or-treat that was actually held indoors because it was pretty chilly outside.  Then we drove back to our house and walked around the block.  Andy met up with us at that point and I took Kella home to pass out candy-we had people coming up to our door as I was trying to get in!  Liam and Marcus came home next while Ewan and Cale started down another street.  Must have been too much for Ewan, because he came back soon, too.  Cale, the candy lover, walked almost the entire neighborhood and was rewarded for his efforts with a bucket full of candy.  We even had some candy left over, I tend to overbuy because I'm afraid we'll run out.  More for us, I guess.

No jack-o-lanterns this year.  I made up for it by putting the little battery candles in these two little dudes. 

Miss Spider's Tea Party

On Halloween, Liam's preschool had their annual Miss Spider's Tea Party.  It's their way of letting the kids dress up for Halloween without actually calling it a "Halloween party".  The kids are encouraged to dress up as an insect, and every year I overthink what whichever kid is in preschool should wear.  We've done grasshoppers and bumblebees.  Marcus was even The Tick (from a cartoon show).  Ewan borrowed a dragonfly costume one year, too.  For Liam, I did not feel like trying to make and outfit and we forgot to see if there was a spare costume at the preschool to borrow.  Besides, he is so strong-headed, I don't know if he would have worn one.  Lucky for us, we have a whole bag of costume that included a nice Spider-Man one.  And, that's what Liam wore.  He was the only Spider-Man, although I think there was some other kind of mutant bug on stage, too.  Kella and I made it to the little parade and songs that the preschoolers do.

There's Liam, walking in.

And, he promptly came over to me, crouched down and sucked his thumb.  It must have been traumatic, being Spider-Man all morning.  He didn't want to go up to the stage to sing the songs.  No biggie, I didn't care.

Two songs in, he decided he could go up to the stage.  And, of course, he did great.  He knew all the words and the motions they did to each song.  What a stinker.

Let's you see the variety of bugs at this year's party.