Hair-loween

We had a Viking Halloween in 2017. Bridget got her costume last year, so she's known she was going to be a Viking for a while. Colin wanted to be Ash from Pallet Town and Emil wanted to be a cowboy, but Brian convinced them to be Vikings with Bridget because it was Bridget's last year of Halloween costume parades at school and it's so fun to have group costumes. Colin said, "I can be Ash next year." I am SO EASY, because that still makes me teary with love and pride.

Bridget had such an amazing costume and I wanted her hair to be awesome too. Thanks to Alicia Cutler I know I can buy bags of hair at Taylor Maid for just such hair situations. I had Alicia do a four-strand braid, then I attached it to the hairdo I did in Bridget's real hair.

Every time I tried to take Bridget's photo her eyes would water like crazy. 

She looks so tough. :) And so different without glasses!

Bridget and Sami at their last Halloween parade at the grade school :(.

I "made" Emil's magnificent cape. Fur from JoAnn's and one of the millions of scraps sewn on like a binding for a tie. I bought the helmet and sword online and we got his awesome beard at Taylor Maid. That facial hair was my favorite thing! I watched Emil hold the mustache and beard back while Bridget put candy into his mouth. HAHAHAHAHAHA! (Mark Cutler made Emil a cool belt out of some of his leather scraps.)

There they are at the inaugural trick-or-treating at Daddy's new work. That cape, right? It's so heavy.

Oh, man! I can't see this sight without cracking up! It's funny because it WORKS. I bought Colin's entire costume online (Costume Craze). I didn't get him any weapons (that's Bridget's shield) because I knew that I'd be walking around every party holding them. I ended up carrying his helmet and putting his mustache in my purse a couple of times. Totally worth it. 

There they are trick-or-treating in our neighborhood.

I was taking photos of my kids in their costumes right before the ward party and Micah came over in his costume. I was crying with laughter at this sight - I could barely take the picture! Why is this the funniest thing I've ever seen?! 

Of course we visited Grandma and Grandpa that night. The kids were looking a bit rough by that time, but we did convince them to keep all the hair on to show Grandma and Grandpa.

Halloween Bosses

Monday is a terrible day for Halloween! Also every day except Saturday. We still had Senior Choir at the elementary school (I conduct two choirs at the elementary school, Senior Choir on Monday morning and Junior Choir on Thursday morning). I took the boys with me this time, usually I drop them off at Millie's and take Millie with me to the school. On Halloween, though, I had to bring Emil and Colin's costumes and beg them to be good while we were in the auditorium singing. After choir, I got the boys dressed and in make up before I took them to their classrooms to hang out with the morning kindergarten classes before the Grand Costume Parade began. You may recall, I have not been to this event since Bridget was in kindergarten because I know my limits. This year I had Front Row Joe thanks to my being there two hours early. Colin's class came in first, so let's start with him...

Bridget and I tried so hard to get Colin to be a classic monster or character from Hotel Transylvania like Bridget and Emil, but Colin wanted to be Luke Skywalker. I happened to be in the Disney store three-ish weeks before Halloween and all their amazing costumes were 50% off. It was just the Dark Side guys, though. I thought maybe Colin would go for a storm trooper costume - we could put a bloody hand print on the helmet like Finn! I decided to wait, though. When I asked Colin if he could be a storm trooper instead of Luke Skywalker he said, "Mom, I can't be on the Dark Side." He's right! I love him so much. I couldn't find a Luke Skywalker costume, though, so he's wearing the Obi Wan Kenobi costume I found that is a size six. In what universe, I'm not sure. (I had to work really fast on these pictures because we were at Thanksgiving Point and I didn't want someone to bill me for using this background. If I could go back in time, I would fix that stupid boot cover. Not stupid. Sorry. Colin has repeatedly told me that "we don't say 'stupid' in Lehi.")

Right after that first photo Colin started making weird faces. Not on purpose - it was like he forgot what to do with his face. When we put his costume on the first time he said, "I can feel the power." Ha! (I had to hurry and get the costume out of the bag since it had a big picture of Obi Wan Kenobi on it.)

Yeah, that light saber broke a lot. This one makes me laugh - never look into a light saber!

Emil wanted to be Dracula. "I don't say, 'blah blah blah!'" He was into EVERYTHING about this costume - the teeth, the white face paint, the cape, the weird necklace with the medallion on it. Emil even pretended to bite Brian a couple of times. Emil in character is pretty awesome. He came into the auditorium during the parade high-fiving every person he saw and smiling. On the night of our ward party he lost his first tooth! There was real blood coming out of his mouth. He couldn't have been happier.

 

I shellacked his hair with tons of water, the strongest hair gel known to man, and hairspray and it still wanted to be a mohawk. 

  He does say, "BLAH BLAH BLAH," by the way. :)

I bought this Bride of Frankenstein costume for Bridget from Pottery Barn Kids on October 31, 2015. She's not the kind of kid to change her mind, and she's been looking forward to wearing the white dress and the WIG for a year. Bridget is so shy, but she LOVES dressing up. Everyone who saw her gushed about how awesome she looked, so her shoulders were up around her ears every time she went anywhere in her costume. :) At the Halloween piano recital Grandma and Grandpa Lee didn't even realize it was her for a minute! She played her song memorized like it was no big deal. Bridget is a big deal, though. :)

This is the house next door to the Lehi Free Press office. We passed it on our way back to the van after trick-or-treating on Main Street.

We did trick-or-treating at Daddy's work the Friday before Halloween.

Trick-or-treating on Main Street - we started at the Lehi Bakery.

Here they are at Pioneer Party. This one was in the paper, too. :)

Visiting Grandma and Grandpa for dinner and treats, never tricks. ;)

This is my favorite photo ever. Nate is trying to get a milk dud out of that little box with his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle mask on. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Now they're in character. That's my favorite thing about Halloween - the kids are so good at BECOMING whatever their costume is.

Halloween 2015

We did it! All the dreams came true and now there is a lot of candy in the house. I'm going to start with photos from Daddy's work on Friday afternoon. We coordinated with Aunt Claire and got there at the same time this year.

Don't they look adorable?! Claire made Ian's costume. Respect. And I saw for myself that Moira can walk! Not in the parking lot - don't be crazy. But she can do it!

We were all staring her down. It was a lot of pressure.

This is the kind of cooperation I was dealing with. For once we were there on time and the kids had access to the good candy - and lots of it. When these guys had worn out one set of parents, we took our kids to the room where they were decorating cookies and watching a movie. What?! That's how late we usually are - I didn't even know that did the cookie thing.

Looking out Daddy's office window.

After we'd filled the bags and written all over Daddy's white board in his office, we went to eat at Brick Oven. You know, leg two of the Parental Triathlon. No photos, of course. Who wants to see the inside of the public bathroom anyway? The food was good, though. 

Halloween Day started with me running errands with Emil. I let him push the cart at Michaels and he didn't even topple one display! We found the glow sticks for my piano students, went home and ate breakfast and hurried to the piano recital. I love the Halloween recital because the kids dress up and some of them even stay in character for their performance. Everyone was my favorite - they looked so great and everyone played well. Bridget memorized "Harry's Wondrous World" and played it like a pro. 

We're a long way from the recitals where she wouldn't even sit on the piano bench without me. She's got this. 

We came home and did some Saturday stuff - I even planted bulbs (it's going to be awesome). Around 4:30 we went to see Grandma and play with Nate for a little bit.

Nate was a Minion. :)

This is how they play at Grandma and Grandpa's.

We got home and Emil insisted on waiting on the porch for Archibald to come by and pick him up. I guess earlier in the day, the Archibalds had hitched some wagons to their riding lawnmower and said it would be okay for Emil to ride in it to go trick-or-treating. They might as well carve that in stone. Emil didn't wait in vain, though. :)

Meanwhile, Bridget and I met Clara and her family to begin the trick-or-treating. The boys were just finishing our neighborhood when Bridget started, so Colin made a full two laps around the neighborhood.

This is one of their favorite babysitters. :)

One of our lovely neighbors was serving hot dogs and hot cocoa. I made Bridget sit by their cat because it looks just like Hermione's cat. She was into it.

Emil went home to get his fire truck. His helmet and trick-or-treat bag are in the back. Behind the ladder. Tee hee hee.

And then it was too dark for photos. We walked and walked and walked! Colin handed me his bag and Emil handed Brian his bag, the better to RUN to every door. All the kids had glow bracelets and necklaces on, which was really the only way we kept track of them. Emil walked next to me so I could listen to him complain about having to walk when he'd been able to ride behind the lawnmower. We heard a dog howl and Emil asked, "Was that a werewolf?" Me: "Probably." Brian and I were so tired by the time we got home at 7:30 that we hurried and got the kids bathed and prayers and in bed by 8:15. Secretly it was 7:15 because Daylight Savings was over, but whatever. Time for bed.

Hermione Granger, Red Power Ranger, and Fireman Mo

I didn't try to influence the kids with their costumes this year. That's a lie - Bridget wanted to be a disco dancer and...no. It didn't take much to talk her out of that and into being Hermione Granger. For about two years now, Brian and Bridget have been reading the Harry Potter books every night (except the nights Brian gets home too late). They're on the 5th one right now. I love to see and hear them reading together. In the last few months Bridget has started reading on her own for fun, which is huge. I think the time she's spent reading with her Dad has ignited her love for reading. 

Brian kneels by her bed to read. :) I read to the boys on the bottom bunk every night. The three of us fit side-by-side on that twin bed. So! Bridget's costume for 4th grade is Hermione! I bought the robe, tie, and wand from the official Harry Potter Shop and now they won't stop emailing me. I texted my fellow-nerd and sister Katy and asked if she could make a Mrs. Weasley-esque scarf to go with the robe. I got it the next day in the mail. Ha! But, for real, she whipped that thing up so fast! Costume secured, Bridget and I went to the local museum for their Harry Potter-themed night and I noticed they have a Hogwart's Express sign above their door. Like, all the time - not just for the Harry Potter night. I rented a trunk from a nearby antique store (when we pulled up to the store the boys asked, "Is this a junk yard?") and a broom from a nice neighbor's Halloween porch display. All this equals my favorite:

Hermione - first in line for the Hogwart's Express and reading a giant book to pass the time. It was totally raining outside, by the way. When I told Bridget to look up, she put her finger on the page to hold her spot - she was actually reading it. Funny girl. (It's a copy of Alice in Wonderland.)

Bridget is a little disappointed that Hermione doesn't wear make-up, but other than that, it's been the best costume yet. And she's had some good ones!

Every time I asked Emil what costume he wanted for Halloween, he said Fred. But that's what he wore last year. I'm guessing he thought that was his permanent Halloween costume. He said "fireman" two times in a row, so I went ahead and bought a fireman costume. It's perfect! Yes, I paid too much for it, but I didn't have to run around town looking for costume parts and I was only considering my nerves this year. We went to the fire station to see if they'd let us take a few photos on a fire truck. No one was there! We knocked on all the doors and called out several times, but no one answered. It took less than five minutes, and it was the perfect setting.

Can you just peek the red suspenders? All the stripes are reflective, which makes him easy to spot in the dark. It's kind of the perfect costume. Emil had a hard time not smiling constantly.

There was never any question that Colin was going to be the Red Power Ranger. I thought that was a piece of cake, but I guess all the little boys want to be the Red Power Ranger. We had to settle for the weird dinosaur version (what?), which Colin was cool with, thank goodness. It is a MIRACLE that we still have the sword. We went to a small junk yard close to our house because I wanted to be true to the production value of a real episode of Power Rangers. Hahahahahaha! They're always in some parking lot or junk yard.

The big day is almost here - but really it's mostly been about the parties leading up to the trick-or-treating. And now I can't finish my thoughts because I have two boys patting me and trying to get my attention. Their plan worked.