Halloween 2013

I was so glad to make it this year because last year I was sick.

Nevertheless, Super Dad jumped in and managed to get the older two there with costumes intact and a dump truck load of candy came home.  (this is where my taste buds earnestly scream with excitement and my hiney sarcastically says woo-hoo!)

I love doing this photo collage to see the progression in their costumes, sizes and sweet little faces.

The festivities began once we arrived. 

 

 

Katherine wanted to dress up like Cleopatra.  She told me a week after Halloween it was actually someone else she wanted to look like.  Oh well.  She's barely recognizable with that black wig on.

At home, while getting everyone dressed, Brandon was stopped in his tracks when she turned the corner in the hallway and they came face to face.  He just stood there staring.  She just stood there smiling and I finally said, "say something Katherine."  She bent over, gently held his hands and sweetly said, "Hey big man."  He smiled and said, "Thissy?"

It was Adorabs!

 

Nathan chose to dress up like the current boob-tube idol in his life, Indiana Jones.

Again, Adorbs!

This is where Jim likes to pipe in and give his two cents: hand-me-downs.  Yes, Nathan wore this last year.  Yes, Brandon gets his hand-me-downs.  No, Brandon doesn't understand what's going on.  No, I do not feel bad.  There will be a day, coming soon I might add, that Brandon will be old enough to tell me he doesn't want hand-me-downs and he wants me to quit calling him fuzzy wuzzy.  Until then, I'm taking advantage of his communication deficit.

He felt so big and important in this costume, though.  The mask didn't make it that long.  He kept pulling it back where the strips would cover his eyes.  It was Adorbs!

  Ruby dressed up as Hermoine.

Henry, the Karate Kid, and Spiderman, I mean Brandon, filling their stash.

Bamah helping them fill their stashes.

Looks like he's got the hang of it.

Barry dressed up like a scare crow and actually had a broomstick handle holding his hands up.  Neat idea, I thought.  Until my husband, the resident 200-something pound 14-year-old who has managed to successfully father 3 children, mentioned to him that it would be really bad if someone kneed him in the groin.  He laughed, but I'm pretty sure the seeds of doubt had already been planted.

It wasn't much later I saw Barry walking around without the handle.

 

Nathan and Jonah enjoying a spider that periodically dropped from the trunk door and played scary music.

Halloween 2011

Halloween this year was a tad different than previous years 2009 & 2010.

Halloween Eve night I came down with a 24hr. fever.  Nothing else, just a fever, so that meant going to hang out with lots of cutie patooties to hand out candy was out of the question.  Just didn't need to spread my love that way, know what I mean?

SuperDad, aka Jim, took SpiderMan and the Butterfly of our household to go Trunk or Treating.  He's no where as annoying as I am when trying to capture a picture, so here are the best shots he got of our two collecting their stash.

The usual suspects.

Still hoping for a good face shot of her.

SpiderMan chilling with Princess Leia/his Sunday School teacher/Miss B.  He conveniently waited until Darth Vader was out of sight.

This kid is making the rounds.

Talking to not-well-known people comes naturally to him.  Welcome, The Ambassador.

"Dad, can I take off my costume yet?"

Something tells me she was trying to NOT look at the camera.  Sometimes it's on her radar, sometimes it's not.

Darth came back with a sword.  He must've heard SpiderMan was hanging out with his woman.

SHE HAS EYES!

The tractor was a hit again this year with the crowd.

Even the girls were interested.

Trunk or Treat 2010

Ballerina girl...
Don't worry, we've finally enrolled her in dance classes.


Farmer guy / tractor driver...

Enough said, party's over. That's all he's interested in for the rest of the night. Forget the candy, might as well pack up.
Past Halloween costumes...

Last year's Trunk or Treat

Pumpking decorating time

R & N had their annual pumpkin decorating party and the kids are finally getting old enough to enjoy it. I brought our usual assortment of patterns and knives for the big people and got smart this year and bought paints. They were a hit. Much kid friendlier than the knives, but a couple of them were bummed. They opted out of the carving part so they didn't get to put a candle in theirs. Go figure.

These 4 are a hoot together. I will cherish these simple pictures forever. They're all standing behind the pumpkins they decorated.

My attempt at carving and painting...
(Yes, that is Katherine in a tutu again. Good luck putting her in anything other than that or the twirly dresses I made for her back in the spring. You can't look less than stellar when decorating a pumpkin, can you?)

Nathan's Halloween outfit for next year

Daddy seems to always enjoy playing the part of "ask the child loaded questions to see how she responds" and it usually has something to do with me. Go figure. But this time, the table was turned about 90 degrees to be slanted towards brother.

Daddy: Nathan, you sure smile a lot. You practicing that for the girls? You gonna be a Ladies' Man?
Katherine: Daddy, what's a Ladies' Man?
silence from Daddy and slight change of subject
D: Katherine, do you think when brother gets bigger he'll be a Ladies' Man?
K: You mean for Halloween?

Note to self: next year's Halloween costume (while it's still cute and innocent)



Speaking of Halloween, here's the pics:

Our church had a Trunk or Treat. I'd never been to one, or decorated our trunk for one, so we didn't know what to expect.

Our trunk decoration that looks like a cheap Disney shower curtain.
Nathan tolerated this costume for, oh about 2 minutes. (That would be his parents torturing him by forcing a Dumbo costume on him then taking a picture)
Then we were on to costume #2. It was a sweltering 80 degrees at 6pm, so this one only lasted for about 10 minutes. And our beautiful princess Katherine proudly wearing her princess dress for year #2. (Fine with me, didn't cost a thing. Only had to let the 3" hem out from last year)
The usual suspects:
There towards the end, Nathan figured out that the "process" involved taking candy out of one bucket to put in another. So, he started collecting candy from wherever he could find it (sometimes our candy bucket, sometimes sister's bag she worked so hard to fill) and dropping it into passerby's bags, usually without them even knowing it. Here he is very proud of himself to be giving it away to Mrs. B. He was getting lots of praise from Mommy every time he gave some away. You see, Mommy tends to sneak A LOT of candy when children aren't looking, all... day... long... So he was helping the "lose weight" cause that I have pretty much forgotten about.