Party Time!

The weekend of Halloween is already busy and there's really not a whole lot you can go to that offers all natural treats, the kids & I decided to throw our own little Halloween Bash this year.  There's the spread - I made pizza, popcorn balls, pumpkin muffins, MawMaw made some yummy brownies, and we had little bags of pretzels and all-natural, organic suckers.  And I do not think my children were deprived in any way by not having Twix or Reeces.

David chose not to wear his costume.  He would have been hot.  His costume (in theory) is a Mars Mission Astronaut.  It's a Lego thing.

 

Elizabeth is a Butterfly Princess.

She informed me today that she needs antennae.

 Rebekah was just cute in a little orange striped, black cat shirt.

 The Kids

(minus Mason who arrived later)

 Isn't that the cutest little skeleton you've ever seen?

We had a pinata filled with Halloween pencils, Halloween note pads, spider rings, pumpkin erasers, balls, Halloween straws, more suckers, fake vampire teeth, fake tattoos... and I think that pinata was made out of concrete!

 The Butterfly Princess just barely wacked it.

 Grandpa targeted the opening in the back.

Always the strategic one...

 Cinderella enjoyed beating the thing!

 And David took out quite a few of his frustrations!

And I ended up just shaking all the stuff out on the ground for the kids.

Now we can use it again next year!!  hahaah...

 We also played a couple of games - a pumpkin treasure hunt and

Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin.

Our non-partial judge 

declared that David's nose was closest to the target!

Visiting around the table.
Grown-ups always end up around the food.
The kids were in the playhouse!

 I asked MawMaw to bring her brownies

 rather thin so that I could cut them with cookie cutters.

Don't they look cute!?

The kids both declared it to be a fun time, and that was the whole point.  So our first Halloween party was a success!  Maybe next year we'll have a hay ride, too!

Getting Ready for Halloween

Today Aunt Sissy asked me how David's Halloween costume was coming. So I thought I'd give some background & a sneak peek.

Back up to about a month or more ago. David started pretending to be a robot. I think it was after noticing them on Word Girl on PBS. Then when I asked him what he wanted to be for Halloween, he said a robot... in his monotone robot voice.... that he can talk in for hours... at... a... time.

He stuck to the story for weeks, so robot it is.

Now just yesterday I read on another blog:

So we haven’t been as creative as I’d always hoped- probably because the overdone robots made from tinfoil and cardboard boxes and the butterflies fashioned from a leotard and wings just didn’t seem unique enough – even if they were “homemade.”

Well, unique or not, David wants to be a robot. It was his own idea and nothing I put in his head. I was kinda pushing fireman, since we had all the stuff to put that one together. (And in my 3 years of trick-or-treating, I've never seen a single kid dressed as a robot.) So last week I got out the perfect size cardboard box that part of our chimney had arrived in and the trusty box of foil, and began to create a robot. And David asked for a red button on his chest.

David was so excited about being a robot! He keeps asking, "Is it Halloween yet?" And I would reply something like, "Not yet, but it's getting close. Kids are starting to get ready, picking out their costumes..." and David finished my sentence, "and moms are getting ready, making the costumes." I drew a quick breath and almost cried through my grinning. He thinks moms everywhere are busy making costumes for their kids. And that makes me proud.

So, here's your sneak peek, Aunt Sissy:

Complete with a big red button on the chest, right where David helped stick it, and dryer vent arms. It will be so much cuter when the cutest 4-year-old in the world is inside it!

If you're wondering, I did not make Elizabeth's costume. She's going to be a ladybug... of course.

Halloween Past: 2007 (bought David's cape & mask on Etsy & made Elizabeth's tutu), 2006 (bought his cape at the grocery store, but made his sash), 2005 (can't find pictures of it right now, but I made it - a piece of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese - it was really cute)

More Halloween

 Last week we made more Halloween decorations!  Some of the supplies came from Aunt Sissy's Box of Fun.

The kids enjoyed reading I'm the Scariest Thing in the Castle by Kevin Sherry,  so we made bats like the one in the book.  This is a great book to read with little ones.  It's not really scary at all... it's cute!

I did this a few weeks ago with my homeschool art classes- we made the giant squid from Kevin Sherry's book, I'm the Best Artist in the Ocean!  All the kids have enjoyed this project.  Idea from Deep Space Sparkle.

Next we used pipe cleaners & eyeballs to make spiders!

I looked at the cute press on nails that are out for Halloween & didn't want to spend the money, or they were in kids sizes.  So I decided just to do crazy nails with a monster eye.  Unfortunately, I lost half of my polish while trying to remove green Sharpie scribbles from my painted white kitchen cabinets.  I'll redo them this week, though.

Skeletons are not scary at our house.  After all, everyone has one!  We have a couple of skeletons that I picked up at Halloween time for homeschool purposes.  : )  Gotta learn how the body works, you know!  The kids really enjoyed making these Q-tip skeletons!  Idea from Boredom Busting Mommy.

Rebekah's skeleton is in purple.  Hers looks a little like it was in an accident!

...for a bold young man (Tiny Talk)

I am thankful for

the bold young man

who announced to all in the Walmart Garden Center
(aka Christmas Wonderland since the day after Halloween):

THANKSGIVING
COMES
BEFORE
CHRISTMAS!

Mom: You're right, Thanksgiving comes before Christmas.
David: But I wasn't talking to you, I was telling all the rest of those people!

Like maybe he was talking to the couple in the other check out line who just spent over $900 in Christmas lights. They rolled out an entire flat. At Walmart.

A few weeks ago, we saw a giant blow-up Santa on top of a trailer house at a dealership. David said: But I don't want to skip Halloween!

Halloween 2010

There's Rebekah's mummy pose a few days before Halloween:

And there's Rebekah stealing the apples out of my pretty fall centerpiece:

Now on to today!  I wasn't really planning on going, but Elizabeth got excited when she heard she could dress up and go to church tonight, so we went.

 Elizabeth as a Princess Butterfly

(same dress she wore last year!)

 Rebekah as a Ladybug

 The "Together" Shot

also featuring David without his astronaut costume

 Fly away little ladybug!

 She was sooo adorable!  

She enjoyed wearing the ladybug costume 

so much more than when Elizabeth was one.

The hood squished her little cheeks so that

she looked like an Ewok!

The kids had lots of fun playing games and getting candy at the church festival.  I had my hands full, especially when Rebekah got too hot in her ladybug jacket, Elizabeth gave me her pumpkin, I had my camera and water.  Thankfully Lauren offered to help with Rebekah!  Thank you, Lauren!!!

 Elizabeth digging for treasure

Playing something like musical chairs

Honest Abe (aka Grandpa) was there

 EB & Rebekah digging/playing in the sand, 

and the top of David's head in the other sandbox.

This is my kids' favorite stop every year!

 Her antenna got a little askew on the slide!
David was busy eating popcorn and drinking sprite at this point.

 Hot & tired Rebekah with her tattoo

 Elizabeth told the teenager who was painting faces 

that she wanted her whole face to be painted like a butterfly.
She might have overwhelmed the girl.

David opted for the tattoo.

Grana spins the wheel of fortune!

 I caught Lauren force feeding chocolate to Rebekah...

HA!!!

The kids got more candy this year than they did last year.  Perhaps they're finally getting the hang of this.  Rebekah & Lauren got a box of cupcakes at the cake walk.  Elizabeth got some toys in addition to her candy.  And David pretty much stuck to the candy.  All the way home, they were talking about what they got in their pumpkins and then, giggling, would add, "I got a rock," just like Charlie Brown.

You may have to click to enlarge this one - obviously, after it was all over, we had to have bath time!  Rebekah had cupcake & frosting all over her body and hair!  And Elizabeth went to bed with a still stained pink & purple face!  But it was fun!

Happy Halloween!

UPDATED to add this link to more photos

from Uncle Bubba:
Trunk or Treat 2007

This year for Halloween,

David was dressed as Super David, with the Power to Help!

(Super Why fans will understand that!)

Elizabeth was a ballerina.

We went to MawMaw's house,

then to Trunk or Treat at church.

David had so much fun!

Happy Halloween!

This year we had a Lego Rock Monster,
A Beautiful Ballerina,
And a cute little punkin (she was this yesterday).
We went to the Fall Festival at Grandma & Grandpa's church.

Even Grandpa was festive!


Happy Halloween!