Halloween Festivities

We had a busy Halloween season this year so I made sure to buy their costumes early. One Saturday after brunch with family I took Riley and Camden to the Disney Store so they could choose. They were expensive, but for as many times as they wore them this fall it was worth the money and they live on in our dress up collection.

Meet Merida and Buzz.  Just look at those happy faces as they modeled their choices for TG when we got home.


After skipping Air and Space for a year I talked TG into going again.  I got in on the fun and went as a cat.  They were so excited that I dressed up with them (by drawing on my face with eyeliner and wearing a $2 Walgreens headband).  It's the little things.


We checked out all the planes and exhibits and at one point when I asked Camden if I could take his picture he gave me this pose.

The whole museum is set up with treat stations, crafts, science experiments, story times, and character photo ops. They even had a Stay Puft marshmallow man - but neither of them would get close enough for a photo with him.  Riley was more excited to meet a fellow princess!

I should mention that when she chose Merida she insisted on having the red wig too.  We found out in the Disney store that they no longer made the wig so TG and I searched several stores before finally finding one.  However, once we put the wig on for the first time Riley was less than pleased and said "I look crazy!"  It was a crazy wig, but we convinced her that red, very curly hair is part of Merida's look and she relented.


Camden could not have been happier with his entire Buzz Lightyear get up.   Our little space man with a version of the real deal.


I'm not sure Buzz Lightyear would approve of an alien face paint, but then again maybe he would if it was an act of subterfuge.


At the end of the night they both had shed at least part of their costumes and TG and I were so tired, but these two were going strong. 

Halloween was on a week day so they both had parades and parties at school where they wore their costumes again.  TG was able to sneak out of his class and see Riley at her parade and hang out for part of her party.


She's pretty cute but that Ninja turtle kid in the background is killing it with his shell game.


After resting up for the big show we donned the costumes one last time and headed out to trick or treat.  Somehow this is the only photo I got of them dressed up that night.


The best action shot I could get.  These two were a blur of activity as they ran from house to house.  Camden said "Happy Halloween!" in the sweetest voice at every house and charmed most of the people into giving him more than his fair share of goodies.   Thankfully the weather cooperated and we were able to visit about three streets worth of homes before their little legs were done and their buckets were full.

My Little Chipmunks

At the beginning of September I gave Riley a Halloween costume catalogue and implored her to pick a costume, any costume, as long as I didn't have to run around town buying supplies and assembling something this year. She looked through that catalog full of beautiful outfits, princesses, fairies, characters galore and proclaimed that she wanted to be Brittany Chipette. Sadly, Brittany Chipette was not one of the hundreds of costumes available to purchase in that catalog.

No matter how hard I tried, I could not persuade her to pick something I could buy in one piece. So I did my best to assemble pieces of a costume to resemble Brittany. Once I finished getting Riley ready I said, "You look just like Brittany!", to which she quickly replied, "No Mom, I AMMMM Brittany."   Touche.


Later that night, Alvin joined her for some trick or treating fun!


We went trick or treating with two of the cutest unicorns you've ever seen. The kids were amped to say the least. They ran circles in the driveway until the adults were ready to go.

This was the first house we went to, but the scene at every house was the same. 4 little voices saying "Trick or treat!" followed by "Thank you!" before running to the next door.

45 minutes later we had run a circle big enough to nearly fill their little buckets.

This year both of our kids were old enough to understand and enjoy the holiday and it was our best Halloween yet!

The Skeleton Dance

Did you know that you can get a connector that lets you play your iPad through the TV?  TG discovered this a few months ago and we love it.  There are a lot of perks to it, but what we really love about it is the ability to make our at home preschool sessions more interactive.  We play all sorts of educational videos for the kids during circle time and instructional time and they absolutely love it!

In the weeks before Halloween we played this youtube video on repeat. Most of the kids just watched in happy silence, but then of course there is our Riley. She's always ready to get down.

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dancin' bones,

Shake your hands to the left,

Shake your hands to the right,

Put your hands in the air,

Put your hands out of sight.

Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle...wiggle your knees.

Doin' the skeleton dance!

La la la la

It was Elmo's World for Halloween.

Camden loves, loves, loves that red monster and we figured if he was going to tolerate any hooded costume it would probably be that one. When we first tried it on him at Party City he began to throw a hot fit and we thought it was a no go. But TG scooped Cam up and put him in front of one of their full length mirrors. After a moment of staring at himself he said "EL-mOOOH" and tried to hug/attack his reflection.  He wore this thing quite happily three separate times leading up to Halloween.

I wanted the kiddos costumes' to match so after some thought we decided Riley would go as Abby Cadabby. She's become a huge fan of Abby's Flying Fairy School so she was happy about the switch.  I made her costume with a plastic tablecloth, pink hair paint and a glow in the dark magic wand.  The rest of the items we had in the house.  Riley fully committed to her costume and LOVED having her entire face painted pink.  I was thrilled to later discover that the stuff washed off very easily - the black eyeliner and mascara I used not so much though.

The weather was perfect that night - the air was crisp, skies were clear, and thankfully there wasn't much wind. We only went out for about an hour before little man let us know he had enough.

Walking up to our first house of the night.

Ding-dong.

TRICK OR TREAT!

Riley was a total pro, and ran from house to house happily filling her treat bag. I had the idea to attach a flashing ghost light onto my shirt (thanks Mimi!) so she could see me at all times.

Cam was completely skeptical at the beginning, but like most first timers when he realized that he could get candy he was thrilled. He decided to skip the use of his treat bag and started going up and filling his little fists instead.  Camden turned into Mister Manners that night and every time he got a treat he would say "che-chu MA" which is his way of saying "thank you Mom".

More TREATS!!!

In addition to a few treats while we were out both kiddos got to pick one piece of candy from their bag when they got home before bed. Then we discovered that little man had found the bucket of treats we left out on our porch. He tore through the Kit-Kat wrapper with his teeth and was found swagger-ing around downstairs happily munching.

It was a wonderful night and even though I've never been a big fan of Halloween I have to say that celebrating this day with our own children is growing on me!

Air and Scare!

Oh dears, I was utterly exhausted after last week. Somehow the combination of a very full pre-Halloween weekend of fun followed by a full Monday of Halloween festivities wore me out. By this past Friday I was running on pure Diet Coke and coffee fumes and literally passed out in my bed at 8:15 pm and slept until 8:30 am Saturday morning. After another long nap on Saturday the trick or treating fog finally lifted and I felt like myself again.

Just in time to backtrack and blog about all of our Halloween fun with you. :)

Last Saturday we had a nor'easter here. Never mind that the local weather teams said we had a 10% chance of getting any "inclement weather". There was snow on the ground when we woke up and the snow and sleet continued all day long. It was cold and wet which is not my favorite weather combination.

We stayed hunkered down at home for most of the day, but we rallied that evening to go to Air and Scare! which is a Halloween event at the Udvar-Hazy National Air and Space Museum. Udvar-Hazy is a local favorite spot of ours and if you have children (or a love of air and space) you need to familiarize yourself with this gem. It's completely indoors, it's HUGE with tons of space for toddlers to run (ie tire themselves out), and it's chock full of airplanes, fighter jets, helicopters, hot air balloons, hang gliders, and yes an actual space shuttle.

On Air and Scare! Saturday they turned down the lights, set up treat and activity stations and opened their doors to thousands of children and adults dressed in costume.

Riley went as Minnie Mouse.

Camden was Elmo.

They were both very excited to be there.

He ran.

She got her face painted.

They both met R2-D2.

And we filled our bags so full of treats that Mama had to carry them...and us.

We had so much fun trick or treating, watching R2 whistle and beep at Riley, getting tattoos, and chasing after our little Elmo.  It was the perfect kick off event for our fledgling trick or treater and a great chance to wear our costumes more than just once.