Halloween 2015

The weather was so great in October up until the week of Halloween.  I got out and took some pictures beforehand, like always.

I wanted to do good costumes this year.  Unique costumes.  Pinterest has tons of ideas.  For Kylee I wanted something fun.  Something unique. When I saw this idea, I knew I needed it for her!  She has been selling loom band creations at school this year.  It was perfect for her.  Plus, it looked like something I could do.  The only downfall is that some people have never seen a Rainbow Loom and so they didn’t get it.  But most people did I think.  She wore loom bracelets all up her arm, loom earrings and she made a headband too.  So cute!

Dylan has been superheroes for a few years.  I didn’t want to buy another costume.  But I saw Mario and knew he already had a Mario hat and he likes Mario a lot.  All I needed to do was find overalls- which proved to be tougher than you would think.  But in the end, with the help of Cheryl hemming them for me, it worked out.  He hated the mustache so I had to draw it on him for school and trick-or-treating.

When I saw this peacock costume I thought it was so cute and Sadie would be cute in it.  She’s not exactly a baby like the one on Pinterest, but I thought it would be pretty.  I had to find a blue shirt and I was supposed to find orange tights (which I couldn’t find anyway) but I figured leggings would be more useful to me in the long run.  I looked for a while for a blue shirt that would work.  I was getting nervous.  But Walmart pulled through with a $3 shirt.  Perfect.  This skirt was an afterthought.  I spent a lot of time on the feathers and Cheryl helped me sew what needed sewing and I used a lot of hot glue and it worked out quite well.  After these pictures I decided she only really looked like a peacock from behind and the front needed something more.  So I glued some of the leftover blue feathers on. (Those feathers were a nightmare to get as well!  I was told Hobby Lobby had feathers, but when I went they only had these tiny scrapbook type feathers.  So I went online.  The first one I ordered said they were going to take a month to get here, which would not have made it in time.  The second one I ordered ended up being ONE feather.  Finally I ordered a pack of 20, which was more than I thought I needed, but ended being useful in the long run).

Sadie wants to be Elsa.  Not like she begged me and I was mean and said no.  But I steered her towards other things when she first mentioned it and I didn’t hear about it again until she saw other people’s costumes and said, “will I ever get to be Elsa?”  Awww, I’m mean.  She doesn’t care if it’s completely overdone and predictable.  I should just let her.  I got her the Elsa dress for her birthday so maybe she can use it next year if she really wants to.  Boo…

I had a few good options for Kaden.  There are some stinking cute baby costumes out there!!  Some of them looked like I could make them, but he would’ve torn the hat off, or whatever.  The scuba diver was way cute, but would’ve been a lot of work and I didn’t know how to do the flippers.  You see, my personality type is a planner, and if I can’t visualize how it will work, I get stressed or I just avoid it.  That’s why Pinterest is great when it shows you how to do something.  Not so great when it just shows the picture and I have no idea where they found baby flippers, or how they made them.  Most likely they sewed them.  Anyway, my point is I have four kids and I was making all their costumes so I chose Clark Kent instead!  Because it’s freaking adorable and all I had to do was find a superman onesie and a pair of baby glasses.  The glasses were hard to find because they were all for older kids or adults.  So eventually I just bought glasses meant for older kids, and trusted that Kaden’s large head would fit them.  It did :)

We knew there was no way Kaden would keep his glasses on.  But I just wanted a picture.  We worked hard to get it.

This ended up being the only time he wore his costume.  I didn’t take him to school because I was helping with Dylan’s class and I didn’t want to be dealing with the baby the whole time.  And then it was too cold and windy on Halloween night to take him out so we kept him home then too.  Lucky him.

The parade at school is always fun.  And impossible to get pictures of because the kids are moving and the lighting is bad.  But the kids are cute.

Then I helped in Dylan’s class.  I was put in charge of Don’t Eat Pete.  Easy peasy. 

That was Friday.  Halloween was Saturday.  The kids had basketball games.  Then we carved pumpkins and hung out.  Dylan counted down the minutes until we could eat a quick dinner and head out trick-or-treating.

I ordered toys off Amazon and picked some up at Target.  No candy.  Seriously, the kids are not disappointed when they knock on my door.  The toys are pretty cool.  So cool that my kids wanted them and I wouldn’t let them have more than just one so they traded their candy for toys the next day.  Like, a lot of candy.  I had to tell them to stop because I figured eventually they would regret getting rid of all their candy for glow-in-the-dark fingers and aliens, and pencils, and slinkies, and bouncy-balls.

I took the kids out, all bundled up, around our block first.

Ryan stayed home and opened the door, in the meantime teaching Kaden to go down the stairs.  He learned it then and has been doing great ever since!  Quick learner!

Before we even made it around the block Sadie was saying she shouldn’t knock on any more doors because her pumpkin was already really heavy and she had enough candy.  But we made it home, emptied out what they had already, and they headed back out with Ryan (after eating a good amount of candy first).  They got color-changing cups at Dr Mudrow’s house.  They went through the haunted house at the Schneider’s. 

I was home handing out toys.  Jax the cat sat on the front porch, half the time he was sprawled right on the mat in the way, making people trip over him.  He’s so funny.  He scared away a few people who don’t like cats, lol.

Kylee and Sadie came home alone while Dylan and Ryan kept going.  All in all it was a good night!  They finished up at like 7:30 and spent time sorting/eating their candy before I had to be a drill sergeant to get them to go to bed.

Good times.  I love Halloween, but I don’t like dealing with the ‘hangovers’ and aftermath.  I told them the week following Halloween would be a sugar-free week!  So I planned out a week’s worth of breakfasts that are not sweet.

Call me crazy, but after my kids have been eating junk, they don’t want real food.  Suddenly they are saying “I don’t like chicken.”  “I don’t like broccoli.”  “I don’t like eggs, toast, hashbrowns, hotdogs, grapes, bananas, chicken nuggets, etc, etc.”  Basically I don’t like anything that’s not loaded with sugar!  To be fair, those didn’t all come from the same kid.  Different kids like / don’t like different things.  Life would be easier if they could agree on what they like and don’t like, but that’s how it goes.  I can’t please them all unless I give them sugary granola bars (and sometimes they still don’t like them).

I have a feeling it’s going to be like this until after Christmas.  Heaven help me.