halloween 2014

Before we moved we got rid of every single halloween thing we owned.  Most of it was crap (almost all of our costumes have been homemade and although they might look okay in pictures, they were all terribly thrown together.)  The few things that were worth keeping were given away to friends...

Mid October we moved without a clue of what we were going to be for Halloween... and I can promise you, this is so not like me.  It actually stressed Ben out a bit because he's a planner.  I knew we would be able to pull something off, no problem..  My family threw a costume party a few days before Halloween.  That morning we decided to be Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  Roma already had the costume.. and I swear to you, my kids are ALL ABOUT a family theme.  I think we've just done it for so long, it would be a crime to stop now.  Although really, I would be fine with them doing whatever they want.  I still always want to dress up myself, but I don't need my husband to dress up and I don't need my kids to match.  My husband might tell you otherwise, but he would be lying.  I like to be creative and spontaneous, but I am okay doing my own thing and I do want my kids to do their own thing.  (Do I sound self-conscious about forcing my family to dress up?)

Anyway, it was 100% Ben's idea to do the Dwarfs and he assigned who would be what..  Love that he was behind it and the kids were excited about it, but the morning of the party, I wasn't sure what we were going to wear or if anyone would even be able to tell what we were..  I took a quick trip to a craft store, picked up some $2 snow cotton spread and a couple of colored shirts, bought some black hair dye for Roma and we pieced together everything else.  We glue-gunned cotton balls onto the make-shift beards. (They were way uglier than the pictures make them look.) We gathered my mom's beanies, we stapled the beards to the hats and they were super easy to take on and off. Ben used a pair of my mom's glasses... Zack and Ben grabbed pillows from her couches on the way out of the door and voila! we had costumes.  The shirt I was planning on wearing (a yellow one of Ben's) was super dirty... so while the family was buckling up in the van, I threw on a pair of footie pjs because I was Sleepy. and that made the most sense.  We only took a couple of family shots, right when we arrived.. I think it turned out cute, especially for getting thrown together that morning. Eden was the most darling little Dopey but these pictures don't do her justice, and I never took a close-up of her with her floppy hat.  And no, Simon didn't even bring shoes to the outdoor party..

It must be noted that there was a huge problem with Roma's hair..  I really shouldn't have sprayed it black, but she was so cute about her purple hair on her birthday, I thought she would like it.  I was wrong.  She did NOT want black hair.  When I started to spray, she screamed.  And then I lied and told her it was purple.  She was okay with purple, but she touched her hair (halfway through) saw that her fingers were black and flipped out.  She demanded that I wash it out and would not leave the house.  But we were already late and it looked so cute.  But she messed it up, bawled and kicked her feet like the 3 year old sass that she is.  Aaron came to save the day by saying, "Roma, do you want me to wash it out at the party?"  She immediately stopped crying.  Then Aaron said, "Okay, get into the car and then when we get to the party, I will turn on the hose and spray it off."  She jumped in the van and then once she saw her cousins at the party, she happily ran around and forgot all about her hair.  Brilliant husband I have.  She actually kept her hair black all day... and slept on it that night.  It was major nasty though.  

Ro, Paisley, Summer, Hailey

We thought the boys were all separating to different homes on Halloween night to trick or treat with their best cousins, so they found different costumes at my sister's homes.  Debbie found a darling caterpillar for Eden a few days before and I ended up buying a bee costume for Ro at a thrift store for a couple of bucks and they turned out so cute.  My boys did their own thing, Luke made up his costume and I face painted Zack and Simon's right before trick or treating.  We ended up staying together all night anyway, but they all looked cute and I do want them to have regular self-inspired costumes.

Ben's a shadow thingy.  he wore his church pants and shoes all day and night.
I love him.

Luke wore Ben's pants with a belt, a shirt he found from Deb's closet and wrote his sign on the way to Lilly's parade.  He is cute and creative and was the most handsome Hobo.  

Zack the skeleton which is very fitting for his skinny body.  His blue eyes popped with that face paint.

The loudest Spidey you've ever met.  The costume was way too small for him, but Simon didn't care none.  

She didn't want to be a bee at all, until I told her she could wear makeup, then she was all about it.  What a girl.

Sweetest, softest, most cuddly Caterpillar ever.  She didn't make a peep all day... and she was lugged everywhere. 

The night before Halloween the boys slept at Debbie's.. Eden and I woke up around 6 am and drove to her house to help do her girls hair before their school parade at 8 am.  I love everything about Halloween and was so happy to help and be there for their parade.  Her girls looked darling and I loved doing their makeup.  Her headband was made that morning... I stopped by the dollar store and picked up a few christmas items (golden twisties and some Christmas bells.)  She wore them ALL day and we could hear her wherever she went.  

She could not have been more excited about trick or treating.  She RAN from house to house and was so happy about each and every sucker and pack of smarties.  Halloween with toddlers is exhausting and so much fun.  

After Deb's girls parade, we met Jade and Ez for pancakes but that kind of turned out to be a disaster with Ez needed a nap and our kids being STARVING for food.  The wait was long and we wished we had just made a big breakfast at home instead of trying to add more to an already hectic day.

After IHOP we met all of the cousins at Macey's for trick or treating around the store.  Such a big crowd, we are.  and this isn't even half of the group...

We had dinner at Mom's.. pizza I think.  And then went to Debbie's neighborhood to trick or treat before it got dark.  The boys had a blast scaring little kids with Brent's ghosts.  After a couple of hours, we met up with more cousins at Lori's.  Her kids had a halloween party and our boys thought they might want to stay and watch a scary movie, but just ended up trick or treating all night with each other and not any cousins.  In Ben's words "we can play games and watch movies any old Friday night."  He thinks this will be his last year getting candy, but we'll see about that..  I don't want him to grow up just yet.

We came home around 11 pm and dumped out candy.  Our kids don't eat candy except for one day of the year-- Halloween.  they had 24 hours to eat what they wanted.  (the other days they chose to get paid $100 per year to not eat it.  Ben, Luke and Zack are on 4 years of not eating any candy, which is completely bizarre to me, but they do it.  And I am proud of them.)  They stopped eating it way before the 24 hours was up and we threw the rest away.  We should have sent it or saved it for someone, but I would have been the only one snacking on it, so it just felt better to chuck it.

My favorite picture of Halloween 2014.  Ro is wearing Betty's shoes which were way too big (and on the wrong feet) and that little Caterpillar just couldn't move anywhere.  But she tried. Love these girls of mine.  

Halloween is my favorite holiday not just because it's a time to be crazy and wild, but because there is so much good that follows.  Christmas can't be my favorite holiday because there's nothing to look forward to after it's over..  October is just the best.  I am always sad to see it go.  Especially when winter is right around the corner..