Halloween

Halloween was always done up right in my family. Everyone had a costume, and they were always handmade. We'd thrift shop at the Goodwill for items to make our costumes, and get accessories from the dollar store... everything was on a budget. Even my dad would join in - one year sewing together an Ewoke costume for me out of an old fur coat. Our faces were always painted.

We had pillowcases or Kroger bags in hand ready for the massive amounts of candy that would be coming our way. The night of we'd pick at our dinner- too excited about the coming events to clear our plates. We'd load up in the car and head out to the local neighborhood where mom and dad would walk along on the street while we made mad dashes from house to house to see who could hit the doorbell first.

It was always dark - none of this finishing-up-before-the-sun-went-down-because-it-is-safer. We always said Trick-or-Treat… and once that marvelous sugary piece of heaven would plop to the bottom of the bag - we'd say thank you… and bolt to the next house tripping over rocks and holes in the ground the entire way. And god-forbid your costume required dress shoes… you'd be slipping and sliding all over the drive ways. I bounced down a few drive ways in my time. (In our family, costumes didn't end at the ankles. You wore the right shoes- no matter how dangerous they may be to run in.)

The best houses were those who gave out popcorn balls, regular sized candy bars, and those who held the bowl out for you to choose. We'd dig right past the bottle caps, the lemon heads, and those little red candies that came in the strawberry wrapper to find the very last snickers… that one last chocolate bar brought so much relief and I almost felt bad for the kids behind us knowing that later on that night they'd be biting into a chalky bottle cap, while I enjoyed the milky goodness of your snickers and being at the right place at the right time. Such sweet victory!

The car ride home we'd sit in the back and blindly sift through the bag, our hands searching for a pixie stick, something unmistakable… and mom and dad would yell at us for eating too much candy. I so fondly remember the year of the razor blade scare when parents were warned to check their kids candy for razor blades before letting them eat it… I bite into my candy on the car ride home, half expecting it to slice my tongue off in the process.

Once home we'd immediately sort through our candy, tossing out the Werthers Originals and little boxes of sugar coated gummy things and trading my brother a few milky ways for his Kit-kats. That bag of candy would hang on my bedroom doorknob for the next 2 months. I ate it as I pleased. And eventually, when all that was left was unidentifiable clear wrapper hard candy, mom and dad would pitch the bags, but by then it would be Christmas - and that is a whole other candy experience in itself.

While we had a lot of fun this weekend, I have come to realize that Halloween is just not what it used to be.

Kids trick or treat in parking lots now because it's safer than knocking on a strangers door. Everything ends when it gets dark. Kids wear tennis shoes with princess costumes with lights and reflectors on their heels.

They don't make their costumes, they buy them. Little girls are not sweet glittery fairies, they are dark fairies with gothic wings and black make up. You have to ask them to say trick or treat… they reach in and grab as much candy as they like… and then walk away with not so much as a thank you from their lips. The whole experience looks painful for them, like their parents forced them into their costumes against their will and made them walk around to fill plastic pumpkins with candy from strangers for the parents amusement. Smile a little kids… it's not torture! And show some appreciation for the fact that I spent double what a normal bag of butterfingers cost because they come with wrappers covered in little ghosts and black cats.

We spent the day with Chris, Kristen, and their son Noah. It was both Noah and Evie's first Halloween which was pretty special. We headed over to their place after lunch to get the kids ready for a Trunk or Treating event at their church.

We decided to try Evelyn out in their Jumperoo to see how she liked it. After putting her in - something wonderful happened. Evie interacted with Noah for the very first time. Noah toddled over to her and they smiled and cooed at one another. Noah held her hand and she grabbed onto his.

Friends already.

And just to show off Noah's new big boy haircut - and just 'cause he is so darn cute…

Here he is in his Halloween costume… a charming little frog!

And the moment you've all been waiting for….

Our adorable little butterfly!

(How it was made: Black turtleneck, black leggings, black socks. The wings my mom found at the dollar store. I cut the straps off the wings… used a little fabric paint and glitter to spice them up a bit - and used industrial strength velcro to attach them to her so that we could take them off to put her in her car seat. I painted 2 small styrafoam balls blacks and poked black pipecleaners into them. I put her hair in piggie tails and then wrapped the pipecleaners around the base of her hair so that they would stick up. Vawala!)

Trick or Treating

We went with Chris and Kristen to their church's Trunk or Treating event. If you've never been to one, like us, everyone lines their cars up in a parking lot, they decorate their trunk, and kids walk along the line and collect their candy.

We didn't get the memo about decorating our trunk. We were so unprepared that the only decoration on our car were the two pumpkins we had in the back seat that we brought to carve later on and for the first half of the night kids fished for our candy out of a spare diaper bag.

Once the majority of the kids had gone through, we took Evie around for her first trick or treating... in other words, mommy and daddy gave away all their candy and needed to replenish their stock!

Carving Pumpkins

Later that night we carved pumpkins with Chris and Kristen. Kristen and Noah put together his Dracula Elmo pumpkin which Kristen thought would be an easy alternative and something Noah could help out with... well it ended up being harder than it let on.... but a hammer, screws, and 20 minutes latter...

Hard work paid off!

Matt cooked pumpkin seeds while I made our own little family of pun'kins!

The next day I took Evelyn around in her costume to see her great grandparents. I'm so glad that she still has greats! They adore her and are always so excited when we come for a visit! She was a trooper even though she wasn't feeling well and gave some big smiles to her great grandaddy, great grandma, and her great paw paw!

We finished up at my parents house.

Thank you mom for helping me with her costume!

Overall, I think it was a great first Halloween for my little butterfly! It was certainly exhausting but well worth it!

Random Stuff

I love love love that the weather is cooling off enough to put Evie's chunky legs in cotton tights!

And how about them cowgirl boots...

And we finally broke down and bought her an exersaucer... and she loves it! It's amazing that she is already old enough to play!










Overalls... with a touch of girl!

This girl already has a fan club... kisses from Putter!

She's even cute when she cries. I love it when she looks so intently at me like this.

Well, I hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween weekend! I know I did and I'm already excited about next year!! Now I've got a sick little girl who needs some cuddles! Until next time...