Halloween 2011

I feel like preparing for Halloween is all I have done for over a week.  I spent most of last week accumulating all of the costume pieces.  This weekend I realized I was still missing some key items.  That meant my morning was spent going to six different locations to get all of the finishing touches.  Then I spent the afternoon completing assembly. 

We had our traditional Halloween dinner - Papa Murphey's Jack-o-lantern Pizza.  I bought two simply so I would have something easy to pack in the kids lunchboxes tomorrow. One would have easily fed everyone tonight.

After dinner the mad dash to dress and style everyone began. Rehm's costume took the most prep work and assembly but was definitely the easiest to get dressed and styled. The girls took much more time as they all had to have various hair styles and makeup.  Over all I think they turned out great.

All four kids picked their costumes.  Granted I told Eliza Claire and Ruby that they had to pick something we already had as we had several costumes that still fit them. We spent 30 minutes today trying to find Eliza Claire's dress.  She had misplaced it and we could not find it.  Luckily, Michael saved the day and found it hiding in a seldom used drawer in her room.  I think she had put it there to keep it safe until Halloween and had forgotten where she put it.

Rehm's costume was inspired by one of his nicknames from school.  Apparently some of the kids refer to him as The Laptop because he is basically a walking encyclopedia.  But of course kids these days have no idea what an encyclopedia is so they call him a computer.  In telling us about this nickname, he mentioned that some of the kids even call him Super Computer.  And thus, a costume was born.

His tag line was "I'm faster than a quad-core processor, more powerful than your new laptop, and smarter than the internet.  I'm Super Computer!"  It is hard to tell from the pictures but his screen lights up and even has a power light.  He was insistent that his key board lift up to reveal his candy bag. 

Three houses into trick or treating Rehm ran into two girls he goes to school with.  He decided to go around the block with them.  When we next saw him he was with a different girl from school.  Go figure.

Charlotte had her heart set on being a mom.  I wasn't really sure what we were going to do to make her look like a mom but I think the final costume makes her look like one very hip mom, indeed.  I think the baby being in a Halloween costume it the icing on the cake.  Of course halfway through trick or treating she was done with the stroller and Starbucks cup. Her candy bag was my purse.  She complained at one point about how hard it was to juggle all of her stuff.  We laughed and told her "welcome to parenthood."

Ruby of course could not just be a poodle, since that is what she was last year.  So she decided she was going to be a fairy dog.  I think the final product came out awfully cute.  I'm so sad that this is the last year this costume will fit any of my kids. 

Eliza Claire was going to be a monkey but about a week ago changed her mind and decided to be a princess.  Her costume choice surprised me as she is not usually so girly.  I think she looks beautiful.  She was a bit disappointed that no one really commented on her costume.  Of course, she was the only one that everyone easily and quickly recognized and therefore didn't ask questions about and of course there were a million other princesses trick or treating tonight. 

The candy has all been combined and sorted into the fruity container and the chocolate container - can't have the flavors mixing, yuck!  The costumes have been put away and my bathroom no longer looks like Sally's Beauty Supply exploded there. 

All in all a successful Halloween. 
Jenn

Halloween Installment 3: School Celebrations

Ruby and Eliza Claire had a costume parade and celebration last Thursday.  Eliza Clarie kept insisting that she was going to wear and Indian costume they had in their class at school and that she did not need to bring a costume.  I insisted that we take her monkey costume in the car with us because I just did think this was the case.  She even made me braid her hair so she would be ready for her Indian costume.  Of course when we got to school and I asked the teachers about it there were no Indian costumes.  They had started talking about their Thanksgiving celebration and Eliza Claire had gotten confused on when she would get to wear her Indian costume.  She was a bit disappointed but happy to be a monkey in the end.

Rehm and Charlotte had a character parade on Friday.  They are supposed to dress as a character from a book.

All of the kids in Charlotte's class were mice.  They all had different books with mice characters.

Rehm as a very disheveled Harry Potter

Halloween Installment 2: Trick or Treating

We started the Halloween festivities with a little pumpkin carving in the afternoon.  Followed by a Jack-o-lantern shape pizza from Papa Murphey's for dinner.  Then it was time to don costumes and go!

Rehm's costume got rave reviews.  There were several houses where he had to wait because the person answering the door called someone else in the house to come see him.  It was funny though that several of the "Grandparent Generation" didn't know what he was.  I heard "Oh, your a remote control...," "Oh, your a TV," and my favorite, "So, are you in Jail?"

Rehm's comments that were my favorite were, "Hey, wait for the iPod!" "Expensive merchandise coming through!"


Rehm's costume is now in the trash.  It made it through trick or treating but was partially torn at the bottom of the screen on both sides when he got home.  The cats proceeded to knock it off the table and finish it off.  It was a fun costume to create.  Not expensive but a fun and challenging creative process.  Of course even if it could have been saved it would have been obsolete by next Halloween as it no longer even looks like the current generation of iPod Nanos. 

Charlotte's costume was probably my favorite this year. Why? Well because it appeals to my sense of practicality.  She already had the shirt and jeans.  While I had to buy the boots, vest, hat and rope, they will all get lots of use.  The boots and vest will be part of her normal winter wardrobe and Rehm has a play in Theater Arts that he needs to dress in Western wear for.  So I'm set.  I love a costume that can be reused and not just packed away for another Halloween. 

Ruby and Eliza Claire are so neglected.  They were really not given any choice in what their costumes would be.  I refused to buy them costumes since we had costumes in their size already in the house.  Their choices consisted of the costumes they wore or anything they could find in the dress up box.  Next year they will have the same choices as the costumes should still fit them.  Eventually, they might get some say, you know, when they are grown and paying for their own.
Ruby was the first child to call it quits.  She and I came home as soon as Michael rejoined us after making sure the house was still standing - we left pumpkin seed roasting and Michael set a timer and then didn't hear it when it went off in his pocket.  Oops! Luckily all was well and the pumpkin seeds were still edible. Rehm was the next child to head home.  Charlotte and Eliza Claire made it until Michael called trick or treating over. 

When we got home from trick or treating the kids all dumped out their baskets on the floor.  I immediately started sorting their candy into two large piles.  One for chocolate and one for everything else.  Rehm immediately commented on the sorting and knew why I was doing it.  It bugs me when the candy is stored together and the chocolate takes on some of the fruity flavor - yuck! Ruins it for me.  And you know the Halloween candy is all about me. 

Our kids don't get to keep their own stash of candy.  Everything immediately goes in to the community pot.  Apparently I'm a Halloween candy socialist.  Once it is sorted into chocolate and non-chocolate the kids have a few days to enjoy the spoils.  Then I start sending it to work with Michael and donating it various places to get it out of the house.  At the end a week whatever remains in the house goes in the trash.  I refuse to have candy sitting around until Christmas.  I am such a mean mom!  I believe last year the kids kept begging for candy at non-candy times and complaining about how many pieces they got and I got fed up and threw it all away well before the week was out.  Surprisingly, on the whole there are no complaints about the community candy or how long it stays in the house.  I guess they know better :)

All in all it was a great Halloween.
Jenn

Halloween Deja Vu

We told the children we weren't buying costumes this year. They could be anything they wanted to be as long as we already had it.

Everyone kept changing their mind as to what they were going to be. For the last week everyone was consistent. Rehm - vampire, Charlotte - poodle, Ruby - ballerina, Eliza Claire - skunk. Ruby made a game time decision to be a "butterfly." Of course, I had gone this morning to get tights and a long sleeved shirt for her to wear with her tutu.

Everyone chose to be exactly what they were last year. I can't believe no one decided to be something different.

The Lady Bug and the Shark

The big kids' school had a character parade at school this morning. The idea is that you dress up as your favorite character from your favorite book. My son always wants to participate but waits to the last minute, the night before, to start thinking about ideas. So then his choices are only things we have in the dress up box. This means that he finds an easy costume and then figures out a way to tie it into some book. He doesn't care what the book is or how lose the connection is. He just doesn't want to be left out anything, but doesn't care enough about it to actually plan ahead.

Last year he came up with being the boy from A Fish Out of Water. This year he decided to wear his shark costume and found some random shark book to say he was a character out of.


Charlotte's class all made lady bug costumes at school and were The Grouchy Lady Bug. This was great! She didn't have to make a decision on a character and the costume design was done for us as well. All she had to do was wear a red shirt and black pants. Given the laundry situation in our house that was a bit of a challenge but we did manage to find both pieces and both were clean. Crazy I know.