A blast I tell ya...

Halloween was a blast.

Before the big day, we decided to do something different with our pumpkins (got the idea from Adri). We let the kids paint them since carving is a little above their ability right now. And paint they did! These pictures don't show how MUCH paint is on these babies. It took a few days to dry. We did carve the Mom and Dad pumpkins with the kids on Saturday - Kelly wanted ours to be silly and Max wanted Ty to do a wolverine jack-o-lantern.

This picture doesn't do Ty's Wolverine justice...it was awesome

I don't really know why I think I can do these things that I've never attempted before, but I decided to make the kid's costumes this year. Well, I made them last year, but those didn't take a whole lot of skill or time to make. This year's costumes brought on a whole new world of sewing for me. (I called my mom on the video phone several times and she cut out pieces of paper to show me how the fabric should look when I cut out the sleeves and each leg of the pants, plus other helpful tips. Thanks, Momma!)

I love this picture - pure happiness on those little faces

Max to the Max decided (after MUCH deliberation for SEVERAL months) that he was going to be a soldier. *Oh, and I just have to add that when he put his costume on for the first time, he kept walking slowly past me all over the house and then would ask, "Did you just see me?" Get it? 'Cause he's camouflaged. :) I told him he'd have to get where he could blend in for that to happen...so there was a lot of laying close to the green couch and green bean bag with shouts of "Can you even see me?!" this weekend.*

I wish you could see the U.S. ARMY letters I painstakingly cut out and sewed onto the pockets on his chest. But do note the knife pocket by his ankle, and there is a pocket on his other leg, about halfway down, for a pistol - those were the two things Max insisted (after examining several of his little army men) that he have on his costume.

This boy means business. And, oh my gosh, I wish you could have seen his excitement when I did his face paint. The boy was OVERjoyed.

You definitely should not smile when you're giving your best army man pose

Kell Bo Bell had a hard time deciding between Jesse from Toy Story and Tinkerbell, but we watched a Tinkerbell movie just as it was decision time, so Tink won out.

A WINK from TINK...she busted her best wink out without being asked. Girl's got some personality.

I took the material off of some pink wings we'd had forever from the dollar store, bent the wire how I wanted it, put some white knee-highs I'd never worn over the wings, and added some glitter glue.

I could never get the perfect picture of her lashes; I put mascara on them for the first time...I'd been wanting to do that since she was 6 months old. Totally worth the wait :) they are amazing lashes.

I know, another one of Kelly. I like all of these pictures of her. It's a mom/daughter thing.

Everett D got to wear the lion costume Max wore when he was a babe (didn't make this one).

Oh my goodness, he's delicious. Putting make-up on a 9-month-old is a bit of a (smeared) trick.

All of those hours of sewing and they only got to wear the costumes for a little while. :) Actually, my kids are dress-up fanatics, so these will go in the dress-up box and will be loved and worn for a long time to come.

We went to the Trunk or Treat at Church last night and weren't going to go out tonight (partly because it's Sunday, partly because I was feeling lazy, partly because they didn't even go to all of the cars last night before they were done getting candy and just wanted to pass it out). But at 7:50, Max turns to me with a sad/panicked look after we answered the door for more trick-or-treaters and said, "When are WE going to go trick-or-treating?" So we threw on costumes and went to a few houses in the neighborhood. A few of our sweet neighbors said, "We've been waiting for you to come!" Max and Kelly are very friendly with the neighbors, so I was glad that we went.

Hanging in the car while Dad passed out the rest of the candy...

I am so not scared of you, little lion...but I DO want to kiss your face lots

Ty's super sweet stand-by "costume" for the past 8 years or so - a weird hat with weird red hair

After Trunk or Treat, we came home to have the traditional hot chocolate and donuts (we added sitting by the fire this year) and talk about how much fun we had.
I love Halloween with my kids! I just might sew costumes again next year? It's kind of like childbirth, the memory of the pain fades when you have the happy end result and times passes.