Halloween fun?!

Nicole's wig sort-of worked(?!), and Jared decided he needed some make-up too, in the form of scars....so I guess that means he switched over to a not very good ninja for his costume! :)

I have to admit...I've decided that Halloween on Saturday is not my favorite. Because it means two days of Halloween, which means two+ days of cranky, overtired, and sugar-wired kids. Between school in costumes, class parties, parades, a family party last night, and the joy of trick-or-treating tonight....yeesh! I'd had it today, and I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be dicey as well before we have a full recovery. :)

But on the bright side of today, we got the pumpkins thawed, gutted, and carved with plenty of time to even get to Costco this afternoon - because no Saturday is complete without a trip to Costco. The weather warmed up nicely, and more than we expected, so the kids just had a warm layer on underneath their costumes and didn't have to wear coats like I thought would happen. We trick or treated ourselves silly, and ended the evening at the "Haunted Creek".

We have some neighbors that back up to a creek that runs through our neighborhood, and for years they have spookified-up their backyards and the creek-bed that is dry this time of year. They place candles around to light the path, and build a few campfires for warmth. The big trees and fallen leaves add to the ambiance and they include some of the older kids and teens in the neighborhood to help out. Ron had been with Riley a few years ago, but I had never gone. This year, we asked the younger kids if they were interested in checking it out and they were feeling enthusiastic about it. As soon as we got there Ellie was freaked by the strobe lights and spooky music at the entrance, so Ron took her home. Jared got nervous once we got in the backyard, but stuck it out. They even freaked me out a bit with the box that was buried in the creek-bed....with someone in it frantically screaming through a plexiglass window to let them out....ugh! You had to walk right over it on top of them! I was feeling some serious sympathy claustrophobia with that one. The very end of the experience ends with walking through the tunnel under the road that the creek normally flows through. They have it boarded up and say it's an abandoned mine. Then you are asked if you want it to be really scary, a little scary, or not at all....Jared was ready for not at all, so we just walked through the dark passage with a strobe flashing and found a guy at the end with a "Jason" mask and a motorcycle. I found out that if you want it really scary, the guy actually starts up and rides his motorcycle right at you in the tunnel! Nice....glad my kid was with me and he chose not scary! :)

Here's a couple of little video clips Ron took of our night....one is of the kids as we were leaving, and the other is our hilarious and fun-loving neighbor really getting into Halloween....he challenged Ellie to a "dance-off" since they were both ballerinas and this is what we got:




(He only let Ron video this after we told him we wouldn't put it on facebook....we didn't agree to anything about twitter or blogs! BWA-HA-HA-AH-HA!!!!)

Costumes, Round 1a

As I mentioned, Ellie decided this morning that she was done being a flower princess, which is what she wore to her dance lesson and her Joyschool parade. She went back to her original ballerina costume. This costume was actually Nicole's dance performance costume from last year, and ever since Nicole was done with "Little Mermaid" this past June, Ellie has deemed it hers and loves to play dress-up in it. So my plan for Halloween was to get some sparkly shoes for her to wear with it and call it good....until she changed her mind the 1st time and found the flower princess costume. Needless to say, and because she is spoiled, I was a bit stressed out when she announced the last minute 2nd change of plans. I was happy to find out her thick white tights still fit from last winter (it's going to be a cold Halloween this year!) and even happier when I ran to Target and found the very last pair of silver sparkly shoes in her size were on sale for $9! We did a little face paint and glittering, and viola, Ellie the Ballerina:





I should probably put her hair up in a bun for the real ballerina effect...maybe tomorrow. Not sure what the deal with the tongue is....too much excitement? And yes, she is still going to freeze tomorrow night. Not many people will know what she is all bundled up in a hat, coat, mittens, and most likely her snow pants!

Oh, and while at Target I found a kid size geisha wig on sale for $5....I got it for Nicole to make her look a bit more complete with the black poofy geisha bun look...it is hilarious!

Costumes, Round 1

The kids were able to wear their costumes to school today...poor teachers! I honestly think they should get hazard pay for dealing with a room full of over-excited kids all day, and then the sugar rush of the afternoon halloween parties?!

I scurried around yesterday getting the rest of the "stuff" for the kids costumes. Had to get make-up for Nicole the Geisha(and wish I'd gotten it earlier to practice it before this morning, but she was excited about how it turned out, so I'm not going to worry about it.) I even had to make a quick run to Panda Express for chopsticks for her bun. I realized as I was resizing the pictures and posting them on facebook that we completely forgot about a fan. I couldn't find one at the store, so I was going to see if she wanted to make one....oops! I don't think she even thought about it though. I had to get both of them some warmer clothes to wear under their costumes as it might get into the 40's today....as the high. Jared was not happy about having to wear sweats under his costume since he now looked like a "puffy" ninja! Better than freezing though!

Ellie has announced that she is no longer going to wear her flower princess costume as she is pictured in the posts below. She now wants to be a ballerina, which was the original costume she was going to wear....sigh. Oh well, it just isn't right if they don't change their mind the day before, is it?!

Here they are before I schlepped them off to school....I'll post the new Ellie costume later!

I'm a Mean Old Witch With a Hat....

Hey, I'm not talking about myself! Sheesh....what are you people thinking?!

Well, at least most of the time I'm not wearing a hat.... ;)

But I digress:

Today was Ellie's Joyschool Halloween parade and program. It was short and sweet, and the kids thought it was great!

Dancing Princess

Ellie is taking a dance class this year at DanceMakers Studios. She loves it! It will be fun to see what she can do later this year in her performances....watching 3 year olds dance is always good for some entertainment!

This past week the dancers were allowed to wear their Halloween costumes to class. My friend was there and took some cute pictures of the girls that I need to share! (**Thanks Christiana!**)

The rest of Halloween...

Pumpkins all lit and kids ready to go. (Off-topic, what is with the 5 year old and his forced smiles?! Ugh!) Riley and some friends stayed home and handed out candy while Ron and I took the kids around. They were die-hards and went farther than ever! Therefore, they now have so much candy it is sickening. Add into that all our leftovers, and I think we're set for a few months of treats....not kidding...we have a 5 lb. bag we never even opened! We thought we'd have more kids due to the good weather and it being Friday night, but we over calculated...oops! We did have a little bit of rain, as the sunrise predicted, but it was just on and off sprinkles, not enough to stop our little goblins.

Nicole kept trying to take off and leave us behind....she had candy to collect! But Jared was pretty good about being the "helper" big brother that I'd asked him to be and stuck with Ellie. Here he's making sure she doesn't walk in front of the car pulling into the driveway. Ahhhh, sweet!

Here's the "trick" Jared received. One of the homes was giving the kids potatoes as their treat, but then telling them they could trade it for a real treat. Most of the kids traded their spud back in. Not Jared! He thought it was very cool to have a potato. Of course two houses later he decided it was too heavy to haul around in his bag, so I got to carry it the rest of the night. ( I kept trying to let him carry some of his candy but he didn't fall for that!) I asked him what he wants to do with his tater, and he told me he wants to make soup.

Halloween Morning....

We woke up this morning to this:
Wow! What do they say about "red sky in the morning" though.....I hope we aren't in for rain tonight! ;)

Princess Nicole on her way to the royal school:

Officer Jared gave out a few tickets and beat up a few criminals with his billy club....
he's a tough guy!

Pictures of Princess Ellie coming....I've got to fix her hair before we head to the school Halloween parade!


**Edited** Here is princess Ellie.....I tried to get her to be a witch....nope! She HAD to be a princess, and she and Nicole chose the same dress, so we have twinner princesses at our house...and a cop...and a teenager running around in a scarf and neon pink WordPerfect hat and calling that her costume(?)!

For a look at Riley this morning, go here and scroll down about a page...this was before the hat...