Halloween

Halloween is such an exciting time for kids! And since my kids aren't picky about what they are going to be, it's enjoyable for me as well. :)

Last year I hit up Walmart after Halloween to get the clearance costumes. That got me 2/4 of the costumes I needed. I had one in storage from a yard sale years back for Austin, so I was left with only one costume to get. Zachary wanted to be Harry Potter. I pulled out an old graduation gown we had, but he was mortified I suggested a blue (Ravenclaw) robe for someone in Gryffindor. Gasp! Fortunately my friend Hilary came through by grabbing an "official" Gryffindor robe from her sister. He already had the wand I made for his birthday party, and we grabbed glasses from the dollar store. Viola! All the costumes were ready to go.

I was worried it was going to be freezing, because when we took pictures in the morning it was COLD! Last year it hailed on us while we were trick-or-treating. However, the weather turned out to be beautiful -- not too hot and not too cold. Phew! (So glad, especially since it snowed today quite a bit!)

Here are the cute kiddos, er, Darth Vader, Harry Potter, a witch and a giraffe:

Oh, and let me document the fun of teenagers! For a month I've been asking Becca if she'd like to have a Halloween party this year, and she kept saying she wanted to, but never got around to actually planning anything. I told her we had to plan games, refreshments, etc. before I'd let her invite people. (We also needed to plan how many to invite and for how long, etc.) After several prods, I finally just dropped it and realized she wasn't going to go through with it. Last week she finally mentioned that she wasn't going to have the party after all. Sunday afternoon I asked what she was going to do for Halloween. She didn't know.

Then Sunday night she came home from a fireside and said she had invited 10 people over for a party. WHAT?!? And they were coming from 6 to 11 p.m. on a school night. REALLY?!? These were the "little" details we were supposed to figure out before anyone was invited two weeks ahead. Sigh. She figured I had planned to make cookies anyway, so why not have friends over to eat them? TEENAGERS!!!

Oh, and Friday night was the masquerade at her school, and she wanted to make a cool mask this year. So she did (after much trial-and-error with paper mache -- instead of just asking for help or looking up how to make it. And her asking me to blow dry it onto her face? That's another story ...). Anyway, what she didn't inform me was that she had also decided to spray-paint her hands gold to match the mask? Really?!? Where does she come up with these ideas? Here's the final product:

And in case you're wondering -- no, the spray paint didn't come off with the initial wash. I only wish it had been harder to get off so she'd think before doing things like that in the future! :)