Wednesday, November 2, 2011

obligatory halloween post: fun! candy! stress!

and so it goes......
today i cleaned up my Halloween decor and put out some harvest stuff. I love this time of year, but am going to get a little neglectful on the house decorating to save it all up for the Christmas extravaganza that has to roll out a little earlier than usual this year (more on that later).

We had a super great Halloween- all October actually. I think there is no better place to be in October than here. Weather is perfect- cool nights, warmish days and leaves that change ALL month. It is spectacular in these hills! I always get into the Halloween "spirit"
Exhibit A: My mantle (ignore the hideous fan.... a switch out is on the to do list)

Halloween itself was a fun day. N dressed up as a crab, and seriously a truer costume has never existed :) Of course, crustaceans are hard to come by so I made his costume myself. It looks much more impressive than it really is- it was barely a challenge and I am sure it would have only held up for a few more hours, but it did the job and he loved it. The hardest part was figuring out the shell- I serioulsy lost sleep over what I was going to use. I went to the store the day before and bought 3 colored serving bowls to nest together like a spirally hermit crab shell. I glued them all together and was ready to fashion then to his shirt when I spied the random cardboard pizza pan from a pizza mom had brought with her.... and it won. I sprayed it with a little paint, left it stained with sauce and rubbed rotting brown walnut skins over it (from the backyard)... so his shell is totally earthy and refined. Wish I would've noticed it before I ruined the 3 bowls but what can you do?? Also, I realize I am two legs short.... sue me, I got sick of sewing!
What can I say, the kid rocks!
A was Minnie Mouse, a costume that occured by default when she freakishly left on a Walmart bought Minnie balaklava for two hours one night. Since she won't leave in bows or hats, I thought I'd run with it and made her a cute little polka dot dress and skirt out of a pair cheap fleece pj pants- it was perfection and enough for me to call my mom and exclaim "did you know i can sew?!?"
Great view of the back alley, I know. It is hard to get her to deliberately pose anywhere. This little rodent is the only kind allowed in my house!
Why I do this to myself is not a question that today's personality can answer. It was fun but time consuming. I guess I take issue in dropping wads of cash on a one night only outfit.... granted I may have spent more on the homemade duds but at least they can be taken apart and the pieces reused. We'll see if that happens though because N has decided that it is AWESOME to hit people with his crab legs and say "tickle tickle".

Trick or treating was fun! So was handing out candy and going to the Safe Halloween event at the school. All the resident here really get into it- get dressed up and sit on their decorated porches. It's wonderful, but then the holiday is dripping with Reeses Peanut Butter cups so you really can't lose! A's bucket got a little heavy for her but she pushed through and N is still on a sugar high.... I'd call it all a rollicking success!

 






1 comment:

Alicia said...

Those costumes are great!