Do you like Halloween? I think I like it in theory. I always get excited about it when it's still a month away - when people start pinning cute recipes and costumes on Pinterest and I always get the itch to throw a costume party so I can serve all the yummy (and spooky) dishes. But usually, by the time the actual day gets here, I'm way over it. This year was no exception.
Our Halloween festivities started a week early with our neighborhood Halloween parade. I worked all night on Katie Wynn's homemade costume...a hot air balloon! Remember those gigantic balloons I used for her 2nd birthday party? Well she loved playing with them and that's really how the idea of her costume popped in my head. When I ordered them on Amazon, one of the suggested items they had to go with them was a net that would hold it to a flower arrangement. Or, in our case, a basket for a hot air balloon. :)
The basket itself has a hole cut out of the middle for her body to go through, and it has strings attached that act as shoulder straps so she can easily wear it. I cut all of those tiny letters out of felt to make her sign, and then just attached the giant balloon in its net. I was so pleased with how it turned out. So stinking cute, right?
Guess who disagreed and had a cow when it was time to put it on for the parade?
Our ride for the parade was waiting on us so we didn't have time for a meltdown. Luckily, I knew there was a cheerleading outfit in her closet that she got last year for her birthday, so I ran and grabbed it and changed her on the golf cart. What cheerleader doesn't have a bow and pom poms? Mine, apparently. Oops. We got to ride on the back of the cart with Queen Elsa of Arendelle!
Did I mention that it was blazing hot? That's why Thomas wasn't in his costume. We were all sweating by the time the parade was over. It ended at the lake in our neighborhood where they had games set up for the kids and lots of food and candy. Katie Wynn found a balloon on the ground and snatched it right up!
Please check out the little girl behind Katie Wynn dressed as Richard Simmons. That's her real hair. Is that not awesome!?
Hey there, cleavage. Why would a size 2T outfit be so low cut??
We didn't stay long at the neighborhood party because we had another Halloween event to get to. This one was with all of my bunco friends and their families. Last year we did Zoo Boo but this year we decided meeting at someone's house would be much better for our little ones. The Earls hosted us for "Costumes and Cameras" and we munched on hot dogs and chili and other goodies.
The first order of business once everyone had arrived was getting a group picture of all the kids in their costumes. Katie Wynn had another cow when Matt tried to put her in the hot air balloon.
My kids totally rocked it out for the group pictures. I mean, they're like mini professional models. #sarcasm
So what if he was falling over? Couldn't he have still smiled at the camera? #kidding
Thomas was dressed as a pilot to go with Katie Wynn's hot air balloon. It was a last minute purchase but ended up being great because it was just like a pair of pajamas. He wore it with no problems and didn't get way too hot in it. Since K-dub wouldn't wear her costume, we put Thomas in it (away from the crowd) for pictures in it.
Of course, Katie Wynn had to make sure he knew that it was hers.
Here are some of our friends from the party.
Caroline the lady bug with Henry the teddy bear
Olivia the bumble bee with her mama, Meghan
Cliff and Stephanie with Liam the dragon
Teddy Bear Henry with his parents, Jenny and Darrin
Me and Jenny with our boys
Liam the dragon
Snow White Wesley
Sock Monkey Everett
Olivia the lady bug likes the hot air balloon!
Actually touching her costume!
Grant protested against his costume too.
Sock Monkey Everett with his parents, Chris and Allison
Olivia likes to swing as much as KW does!
While making the sign for Katie Wynn's costume, I also made a Pin-the-nose-on-the-Jack-O-Lantern game. Basically just a big orange pumpkin with lots of black triangle noses. I thought it might be a good idea to have an activity for the toddlers. They were really into it for about five minutes, which is longer than I thought they'd be!
The week leading up to Halloween was one of those crazy dress up weeks at daycare. I have mixed feelings about this week. I like that they're doing something fun and different for the kids, but at the same time, it was really hard for me to put KW in pajamas in school when I spend so many mornings telling her she can't wear pjs to school so that she'll get dressed. Tricky. Thankfully, she has not asked to wear pajamas to school again so maybe she won't remember.
Monday = Hat Day. She wouldn't wear hers but still won an award for cutest hat??
Tuesday = Mix Match Day. So very hard for this matching mama to do!
Wednesday = Pajama Day. Skeleton pj's with candy corn in the belly were perfect!
Thursday = Pink Day for Breast Cancer Awareness. Also known as just another day for Katie Wynn.
Friday = Costume Day. Thankfully we had overalls in her closet for a makeshift farmer/cowgirl costume.
Guess who had skeleton + candy corn pj's to match her on Wednesday? Nope, not Thomas...it was Charlie!
Like I said at the beginning of this post, by the time it we needed to get ready for Trunk or Treat, I was so over it. I didn't even try to get her to wear the hot air balloon since I knew that would just be another meltdown. I did talk her into wearing her bandana around her neck to be a little bit more convincing as a cowgirl. I don't think many cowgirls wear white keds...
The temps dropped fairly low so our church moved Trunk or Treat into the gym and rented a big bouncy house for the kids. There were tables set up for them to trick or treat at. The event was open to the public and it was kind of a big, chaotic, sugar fest mess. Katie Wynn was, like always, too shy to do anything other than cling to us, so we only stayed long enough to hand out our candy. While she would not actually trick or treat, she had no problem filling her bucket up with candy from the basket I was trying to empty.
Thomas was happy-go-lucky when we arrived but all the chaos proved to be too much for him. Poor little guy feel asleep sitting up in his Poppy's lap!
By 6:15, we were in the car and calling it quits on Halloween. And I was A-ok with that. Maybe next year we'll actually try to go door to door for candy!