Halloween 2012

{So. My lack of posting is indicative of my state of mind of late. But I found I had the time and the inclination to post today, so I'm going with it.}

Carving pumpkins. Eva hates the guts. Who can blame her?

Lucas doing his Joker makeup. He was dead set on being the Joker from the Dark Knight, even though we feared it might be in poor taste (given what happened in Colorado earlier this year). It's hard to tell in these pictures, but his hair was green.

Why so serious?

Eva announced that she has outgrown princesses and prissy girl stuff. Well. She wanted to be something creepy.

I didn't have to buy or make anything for her costume. Works for me! (By the way, the little drops of "blood" were her idea.)

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Lucas's jack-o-lantern.

Eva's jack-o-lantern.

Riley came over to go trick or treating with her, to the delight of both. Marc took them while I stayed home to man the door. Usually one of us will go out for awhile and then we switch, but this time they were fine with just an hour or so! I got off easy this year.

Landon came over to trick or treat with Lucas. They were gone for almost three hours!

They scored quite a haul.

Poor Max didn't get to do anything fun on Halloween, as he was finishing up a crazy huge assignment for his AP English class. A paper with 70 required sources! He finished. Whew!

Happy Halloween!

These were the costumes the kids wore to our church Halloween party on Wednesday (the youth put on a carnival for the primary). Max wore his old monk costume (although the glare here doesn't show the creepy bald pate of his wig). Lucas was a bodyguard.

Eva first planned to be a doctor (we have a tiny pair of scrubs that are so cute!), then a jellyfish, then a vampire, and then she set her heart on being a mermaid. I had to drive to Salt Lake to get a mermaid costume that was cute, and then I had to shorten the skirt 9" (by hand) to make it wearable for her. The things we do for our kids.

I ended up buying myself a witch costume at ShopKo, mainly because I was beguiled by the hat, which had tulle, feathers, and a fabric flower. When Eva saw me in it, she said, "sweet costume!"

Today, Max dressed up as Flo, the Progressive lady. (I didn't even know she had a name!)

It totally creeps me out to see him with makeup on. He told me his English teacher wouldn't look at him today! Ha.

Lucas went as a gangsta.

He was highly distressed that several people at school asked him if he was Justin Bieber. That was last year's costume.

Eva was still thrilled to be a mermaid. (She was highly distressed when people called her Ariel. Kind of like the year I made Max a fancy wizard's robe and he was distressed because people kept calling him Harry Potter.)

Apparently Flo was exhausted after school and couldn't stay awake to study chemistry.

When it was time to go trick-or-treating, we discovered that Eva's good friend Ava was also a mermaid! Peas in a pod. (Although Ava actually was Ariel.)

I enjoy seeing my kids get dressed up, be excited, and have a great time. But I totally get now why my mom never like Halloween. Totally.

costume parade

Max decided to be Octomom for Halloween this year. He borrowed a front pack and some dolls, and we bought some more at Savers.

This is Max's reaction at seeing himself in makeup and a wig. Mine was similar. It was so weird putting lipstick, eyeliner, and mascara on my son. (Also, what is the deal with boys having super long, curly eyelashes that any girl would envy? Sheesh.)

Close-up of the creepiest clown doll!

Lucas was Justin Bieber, "because what's creepier than that?" I have to agree. We found his gold lamé and purple iridescent shirts at Savers as well. I guess they really are our Halloween headquarters. I was disappointed that he couldn't find his big dollar sign ring that he got one time at Nickel City...

I straightened his hair, and lots of people thought he was wearing a wig! He likes it that way. He kept flipping his hair in the Bieber trademark fashion. (Incidentally, he won the best costume contest in his class.)


Not surprisingly, Eva went as a princess. Would you believe I bought this dress when she was a baby? I got it at T.J.Maxx because it was so detailed and beautiful, and I just knew it would make the perfect costume someday. We were both thrilled that she finally fits into it. (She didn't even mind having to wear a t-shirt underneath.)

She had very definite ideas about how her hair had to be. She was very excited to be able to wear blush and lipstick.

And, of course, her dress up gloves as "the finishing touch".

It was raining really hard on Saturday evening, and Eva insisted that a raincoat or umbrella would simply ruin her princess persona. Happily, the rain stopped just before Marc took the two younger kids trick-or-treating. (Max went to a party.) After Marc brought Eva home, Lucas went back out with some friends. This was the first Halloween where Marc and I were waiting for our kids to come home. We watched a scary movie after Eva was in bed. Good times.

Happy Halloween!

Creative Friday

Last Friday, I had plans to paint one of my white pumpkins (I had seen this on a blog and knew I had to do it), and Eva was dying to help. I was reluctant at first, but then I figured, what could it hurt?

I traced the design and outlined it with paint, and she filled it in. She was giddy with excitement, and said, "We hardly ever do the same projects together!" How could I have turned her down?

We were both delighted with the finished product.

A quote from Jill's blog: Another funny Eva moment came as she listened to me go on about how amazing I think our ability (as women) to multi-task is. I was recounting the craziness of my Thursday afternoon and the brilliant efficiency with which I handled things (if I do say so myself) and ended by saying, "We are just amazing." Then Eva said in a pouty, put-out way, "I'm not amazing." Then she thought about it for a second and said questioningly, "Am I amazing?" To which Michelle and I both replied, "Yes, you are, you're a girl!" It felt like Eva was being trained in more than just creativity this week.

I just love that.

I love the way Jill took a self-portrait in my Halloween kugels. Also the way she immediately assessed the threat of the fake spider Eva had arranged on the bowl (largely for Jill's benefit, ha!) and decided it was okay because it had a smile.

I felt kind of like a rock star for finishing a project before Eva even went to school, so after lunch I delved into another (making fabric flowers).

some of Jill's genius cards

She was highly productive.

Fall sweater self-portrait, hooray!

putting October to bed

I had to wear a costume to our ward Halloween party. The YM/YW put on a carnival for the Primary kids. This was the best I could throw together at the last minute, just a cape from our dress-up box, a hat I borrowed from Heidi, and a little extra makeup. Yeah, I'm fun that way.
Sadly, my kids were excited about this meager effort, because I usually don't do anything at all.

We had face painting, cookie decorating, "fishing" for prizes, a smashing spook alley that the Deacons put together, and even a photo station, complete with professional lighting equipment. Eva had a blast being part of the Primary before her time, since she had to come with me.

This picture of my little pumpkin (aka mean dragonfly) walking down the steps to preschool just tickled me. I love kids in costumes.

This was the best shot I got of all the kids together. It's what happens when multiple people are taking pictures at the same time. (Mom, Dad, and Grandma & Grandpa who came to see them in costume.) Max wore his false moustache to school and then decided he couldn't take it anymore. Too bad, it was hilarious.

Sibling love makes me melt. So tender.

Lucas and Eva jack-o-lanterns.

Max, Marc, and Lucas jack-o-lanterns. Love that Jack Skellington!

My pumpkin was carved over a week in advance (at YW) and had seen better days by the time we lit it last night.

Max and Lucas trick-or-treating at our cute neighbors' house. Eva opted to ride in the stroller again this year. I can't decide if that was a good or bad choice. On the one hand, it required either her brothers to pick up her candy for her, or for the homeowners to step down and put a treat in her bag. On the other, she didn't get tired out and there was no complaining from her. In fact, she never wanted to quit! She kept saying she wanted to "trick-or-treat a billion!". We didn't do a billion, but we did stay out for almost two hours. Lucas tired before Eva did (of course, he didn't have a ride).

We came back and Marc took the boys out a little longer. Eva had a couple of her treats and was giddy and giggly about the whole experience.

Max and Lucas's loot, after the sorting. I have fond memories of the sorting. Lucas showed Eva how to do it this morning, and she's already done it three times.

The kids had a great Halloween. Marc and I, however, are bemoaning the fact that we haven't watched any scary movies, as per tradition. Perhaps it's not too late.

In other news, I wrapped up the juicing project early this week and got everything cleaned and order restored. Just carrying them all down to the garage proved to be somewhat of a workout!

We had a record yield this year. When I realized that we will be in Paris next Fall, and therefore unable to profit from our grape harvest, I pushed myself to pick all I could this year. It paid off -- 34 quarts! My previous record was 24 (or maybe 25).

I was talking with a neighbor who also makes grape juice. She told me that she did 45 quarts, and then she dilutes them by half, so it ends up costing her only $.50 a bottle (she buys her grapes)! I consider it something akin to sacrilege to dilute the juice with water. I don't even like to drink it with ice, to eliminate all diluting possibilities. To each his own, I guess.

October seemed to zoom by, but now that it's November, it feels right. Holiday-ish. I like it.

five for Halloween Friday

I saw this orange sunrise today! So appropriate for Halloween morning. It was so fleeting, I'm sure I would have missed it if I hadn't had to let the dog out. I guess he is good for some things.

We carved pumpkins last night while watching (or listening to) The Nightmare Before Christmas. I love that show. Marc decided to carve our one white pumpkin into a Jack Skellington face. He was really struggling to get the top off, and when he finally did, we saw why! Check out how thick that is!

I've decided this is one of my favorite sights of Fall -- leaves on the ground. I like them on the grass, I like them piled on sidewalks and pooled in gutters. It almost seems a shame to rake them up! Apparently Eva feels the same way, because when we were out walking today, she asked me to gather up some leaves and throw them in the air above her.


I saw this when I was doing errands today, and I could hardly believe my eyes!

Boo the Little Ghost is history. This week, she's been Blue Bug. She's assigned everyone in her world to be a different color of bug, and she keeps them all straight. So now, in addition to saying, "You mean, Blue Bug?" every time we inadvertently call her Eva (which is frequently), she also corrects us when we call each other by our names. I'll call Max, and she'll say, "You mean, Yellow Bug?" Well, no. I don't mean that, actually. But nothing will convince her otherwise.

She came out of nursery on Sunday with a paper she had colored. They had written Blue Bug on it in place of her name. When I picked her up from preschool yesterday, I heard a couple of her classmates saying, "Bye, Blue Bug!"... She can be very persuasive.

And today, we went to do some errands after going to see the costume parade at Lucas's school. Several people stopped her and complimented her on her cute pumpkin costume. She corrected them all, saying, "I'm a mean dragonfly." Er, of course.