It's no secret that my kids L-O-V-E Halloween. They talk about their costumes all year long and get so excited about all the festivities that Halloween brings. This year was no different, except that I was able to talk my kids into a theme, had very little costume designing to do, and even managed to get Zach in on the action.
Our costume theme started when my friend, Jenny, offered me this adorable scarecrow costume she had made for her son. Obviously, I accepted without hesitation. It was adorable, already made, and fit Briggs just right. And then I didn't have to figure out how to make him a train costume, which was what Briggs initially told me he wanted to be.
Once I had a scarecrow, I remembered that Staley's cousin was Dorothy last year for Halloween. Although Staley had settled on being a bumblebee, borrowing a cute dress from her cousin was hard to pass up. A pair of ruby red slippers and a red bow was all I needed to complete this ensemble.
Although Adelie had wanted to be an owl, she's always game to go along with a plan. She didn't want to be the Tin Man, the Lion, or the Wicked Witch. However, when I told her about a fancy good witch who wears a crown and travels in a bubble...well, I had her hooked. Since we have plenty of pink, crowns, and wands at our house, her costume was pretty easy to put together. And although most people asked her if she was a princess, fairy, or ballerina, she didn't seem to mind correcting them, emphatically telling them, "I'm Glinda. She's a good witch."
As luck would have it, when I told Zach's aunt about our theme, she just happened to have a twister costume in her basement. A yellow t-shirt and some electrical tape later, we had ourselves a yellow brick road to complete the family theme. And Zach got a lot of mileage out of his favorite line..."Come on, everyone. Follow me!"
Our Halloween festivities started by going to the Pumpkin Patch Party at our (now old) church with some cousins last week-end.
There were games, snacks, cake walks, crafts, and lots of treats to bring home. When we started attending a new church, one of the first things the girls asked was, "Can we still go to the Pumpkin Patch Party?" The answer was yes.
I got to attend the Halloween parties for both the girls at their schools. Here is Adelie with all her little friends from pre-school getting ready to perform a few little Halloween songs for the parents.
It was so fun spending time with Adelie at her school with all her friends.
Luckily the parties were on different days so I got to share in Staley's party as well.
We picked out pumpkins to carve. Since Briggs picked out a non-traditional pumpkin, he just painted his instead.
The girls both helped carve their pumpkins. They drew on the faces and helped with the carving, although both still needed quite a bit of help to carve them. And none of my kids were willing to help clean out the pumpkin guts. They were happy to leave that up to Daddy. (So was I.)
Adelie's pumpkin
Staley's pumpkin
Although it was chilly, all my kids were excited about trick-or-treating. And the fact that all the grandparents joined us made it even better. We just walked around our block. About halfway through, both girls got cold and were ready to head home. But Briggs wasn't ready to stop. Even before he had gotten his candy in his bag, he would ask, "Can we go to another house?"
Another fun and successful Halloween in the books. And don't worry. The girls are already talking about what they are going to be for next Halloween.
