Halloween 2015

This year in anticipation of Halloween, we headed out to an incredible pumpkin patch on Sauvie's Island to find our pumpkins.

We tried to find our way around the "Neverland Maze" - quite an adventure!

After HOURS deliberating over which pumpkins they wanted (yes - it took them that long!), here are the ones they finally ended up with!

Here we are on Halloween, in our costumes, with our jack-o-lanterns carved (or painted).

Grins = Luke Skywalker, Wiggles = witch, Angel = angel

 Imagine he's holding a lightsaber.  Fortunately my children are willing to use their imaginations when their mother mistakenly forgets to purchase a vital part of their costume. :)  I also had just finished sewing his tunic - hence the strings hanging off the sleeves.  For costumes, I choose speed over quality/precision in finishing. :)

Angel's hair was actually dyed GOLD, in case you can't tell.

Wiggles puts on her "witchiest" face

Grins had his face painted at an event we attended earlier that month.  He had high hopes of me recreating it for Halloween.....but I was glad when he opted for Luke instead. :)

Here we are, Halloween night.

We took advantage of the "freebies" on Halloween!  First, we got "Booritos" at Chipotle (only $3! yeah!), then got free smoothies at Jamba Juice and free donuts at Krispy Kreme.  Gotta love holiday freebies - especially since we very rarely eat out!

Then, we tricked-and-treated around the neighborhood, and the children came home with an obscene amount of candy:

Which they promptly organized and began trading amongst themselves.  Another good Halloween to remember.

Halloween 2013

We started the day with pumpkin pancakes and pumpkin cinnamon smoothies.  Yum!

We did a special science study on all of the bones of the body, making these fun skeletons.

Carving pumpkins is always so much fun - until you stick your hand in and feel the SLIMY pumpkin insides.  Wiggles in particular refused to lift a finger in that department.  So funny!  I always put off our carving until Halloween Day, so that the carved pumpkin is still fresh enough to use for baking and cooking - it seems such a waste to throw all that good squash away!

Each child designed and created their own, and I was so pleased with what they came up with!

Angel's kitty

Grins -ever the tease!

This year, the children decided to go dressed as characters from the kids movie "Hotel Transylvania".  Wiggles was - you guessed it - Mummy.

I thought I wrapped those bandages nice and tight, but the poor dear had quite the costume fail!  The bandages slowly worked their way loose and were dragging, first causing her to walk like a penguin (and creating great difficulty ascending stairs while trick or treating!), then finally dragging behind her like a tail.  I wish I'd snapped a photo of how the costume looked at the end of the night...it was quite comical!  She was such a little trooper!

Grins was "Johnny" or "Johnnystein" from the movie.  He really enjoyed this role!

Angel was the whole mastermind behind the costumes.  She was the one who selected the movie, planned out the characters, and convinced the rest of the family to see her vision.  She went as Mavis, Dracula's daughter.  Unfortunately, she had an emotional meltdown just before we left for trick-or-treating and didn't want her picture taken.  She was disappointed because the black hairspray we'd purchased wasn't working, and she wanted a wig and was devastated that we couldn't run out and buy one.  And, her fangs had a hard time fitting over her braces.  Luckily, she let me snap one picture of her in the group: (The Mr. is Dracula, naturally.  I was Frankenstein's wife, Fran, who is acting as photographer in this shot:)

After trick or treating with some friends, we went to another friend's house, where the multitude of children went downstairs and started a candy trading frenzy.  I honestly believe the kids had far more fun trading than actually eating the candy.  They kept counting, organizing, and trading with one another for a few days following Halloween, (until the Switch Witch finally came to collect their candy and leave books and toys in it's place...)

Organized Angel

Happy Halloween!!

My sweet children love doing Halloween together.  While I love that they do this (it was my family's tradition growing up, too!), I try very hard not to pressure them to do so - but so far, they have chosen to do it every year.  This year, after much deliberation, they decided on Alvin and the Chipmunks.  As you might imagine, it's difficult to find chipmunk costumes at halloween stores....and I don't think anyone makes turtleneck dresses.  So, after searching high and low, I finally concluded I would have to dust off the sewing machine and make them myself!

Of course, novice seamstress that I am, creating a turtleneck dress without a pattern was a bit of a challenge, and they were not perfect - but I had a lot of fun!  I felt a bit guilty about spending so much time 'ignoring' the children while sewing - the Mr. was out of town on a job interview, and I wanted to finish them the week before Halloween so they could wear them to a friend's party...but then they decided they wanted to help, so we worked on them together!

When I accidentally sewed the neck on inside-out, Angel picked the entire seam by herself - which took quite a while!  I was amazed by her determination, focus, and precision!  And, after watching me measure fabric pieces on the children, Wiggles got some paper and scissors and began cutting out her own little 'pattern' and pinning it around her doll.  It was adorable.  And, definitely a team effort!

Their favorite part was singing the "Christmas" song, chipmunk style.

Angel, focused seam-ripper extraordinaire:

Note the mess in the background - I basically just kept putting food and toys out to keep the kids occupied while I sewed.

Wiggles making her 'patterns'.  I'm sad I don't have any pictures of her pinning these on her doll - guess I was too busy sewing. :(

Angel: Simon, Grins: Alvin, Wiggles: Theodore

Here, they have cherry tomatoes in their cheeks, for the full chipmunk-cheek effect! :)

Ready to hit the road, trick-or-treating!  (Angel wants me to note that the girls' hair is styled that way to look like chipmunk ears...)

 Trick-or-treating with friends!