Halloween!

Here are the Halloween pictures. Evie is always really excited about Halloween and starts planning costumes months before. This year she was inspired by our Disney trip and the Peter Pan hat that Adrian got there. It became the catalyst for this year's costume theme. Of course if Adrian was going to be Peter Pan then Ainsley would be Tinkerbell and Evie would be Wendy. Easy, right? Well not. Unless you are an adult and want a "sexy Wendy" costume. Weirrrrd. So in the end I had to order the dress and found this great lady who makes them to custom sizes for no additional cost. Here's the link for those who are interested: http://www.magicalattic.com/ She did a fabulous job don't you think? Adrian and Ainsley's costumes I was able to purchase new with tags off E-bay. No making costumes for me. Although I did screw up and accidentally ordered a pair of shoes were listed as a 1 in the title but in the fine print were actually a 13. Arrrrgh! One size smaller is okay, two is not so I got to spend hours cutting them apart and sewing them back together so she could wear them. When I should have been preparing for the party. Yep, I said party.....



I told them we would have a Halloween party. Then I had a brief moment of sanity when I realized that was a bad idea with all that had been going on: Steve working 16 hour days and weekend, me being sick, the house being painted (yes exterior, long story, so that interfered with our usual outdoor Halloween decorations) Ainsley turning 3 and starting a new school the week before. But they'd told all their friends. And were sad. So of course I start to feel guilty and decide a week before to do it after all. My plan was to keep it simple. Okay, so I'm not really capable of that. Denial. It was a little bit of trouble but boy did the kids have a blast!


This time I got the dry ice for the witches cauldron. Yea! Thanks to my sister Sheryl who picked it up for me. Word of warning: It makes the punch undrinkable. We had popcorn balls, spider crackers (the kids made them), mummy dogs, bug pasta, "poison" apples, roasted pumpkin seeds, gummy body parts and a wee bit of candy. Ghost cupcakes and pumpkin ice cream finished things off.

Ainsley did not know what to think of all the activity and just sat there on the floor taking it all in. Maybe she was dazed by the disco ball and loud music. Or maybe she just couldn't move with those giant wings on. Maybe she's just not a party girl.....yet.

We played one round of pin the tail on the black cat. And that was it for games. Other than chase the louse around the house (seriously one of the girls' costume was a louse, it was actually quite clever). None of them really danced but they all seemed to have fun doing whatever kids do!

Auntie Sheryl came and helped out. Thank you Sheryl for saving the day!

After a nap Ainsley was spunky, hitting Adrian with her wand, and ready for trick-or-treating. Dressed with extra layers they were warm enough. Amazingly there was no RAIN this year! I stayed to pass out candy so I didn't get to see them trick-or-treat but I was a bit tired anyway and happy not to be walking the hills and stairs in my witch's heels.

After a little while they came back for a potty break and we asked Ainsley if she wanted to stay home with Mommy and she was most emphatic, NO! It is so great that she is now able to answer yes and no questions!!! I was surprised that she wanted to go back out for more trick-or-treating since last year she wasn't too sure about the whole thing. This year she LOVED it!

After they got back they spread out all their loot!

Ainsley was so excited!

The past two years we've bake chicken soup in a pumpkin, the recipe came from one of our Halloween picture books. I'd hoped the kids would agree to skipping it this year since the thing has to bake for 90 minutes. Sheesh. But of course I already had the pumpkin cleaned and ready to go and Sheryl had picked up some of the ingredients for us on her way over so we ended up doing it anyway and eating after they got back from trick-or-treating with bread and salad, yum! But still, it might be time to retire this "tradition" for something simpler.

The biggest surprise of the day? Guess who decided, after three years of trying it, that candy was not Yuck! Yep. Time after time she put this lemon sucker into her mouth. Wow!

I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!!!