Halloween 2012

**Mr and Mrs. Potato idea totally stolen from Audrey and Dillon 

The Whitmer Crew Halloween 2012

My 2nd and 3rd attempt at freezer paper stenciling went much better! I just used some plain shirts we already had and the leftover white fabric paint from Charlotte's 4 shirt. Pretty cheap costume.

How to make a potato head- 1. buy cheap hats, potatoes, grab some yarn 2. Jam screwdriver through potato 3. Shove yarn through with screwdriver 4. Poke 2 holes in hat potato width apart 5. Tie yard to the underside of hat 6. Use your best posture to attempt to keep heavy hat on your head- the tighter/stiffer the hat the better

Cinder Charlotte made another appearance (I worked hard on that dress we're getting our money's worth baby).  Jessie/Abby the cowgirl told everyone who she was for weeks. And Woody/Olly the cowboy was only convinced to wear his costume when I told him he got candy if he wore it.  He took off his boots and socks under the table during dinner, at the preschool party... We did the cupcake walk until they all won.  I'm pretty sure it was rigged at the end.  Note: 2-year-olds do not get how to walk around in a circle

Bean bag- stand right in front and set it in the mouth game

Love Abby's chaps (consignment sale find along with Olly's vest and hat)- I wanted to find/make more authentic shirts but I was still happy with the results and everyone knew who they were- although most people couldn't remember Jessie was the cowgirl's name.

Yarn braid- I made myself- very easy, I was happy with how it turned out I just safety-pinned to the back of the hat - I used this tutorial

Nothing better than finding your friend in the same princess dress!

Preschool party parade, singing, cookies, craft

Pumpkin carving- I love that it's a daddy tradition! (sneak peek of the kitchen in the background! The window seat was being finished while we were at the trunk-or-treat, and Matt put on the drawer pulls between trick-or-treaters on Oct 31st)

They were bouncing off the walls excited to go trick-or-treating again on Halloween.  "Trick-or-treat Monster Feet!" as Abby would say.  They were all pretty shy still but they would hold up their buckets and say it real quietly.   We made it down our street and around the corner- about 1 hour- and a manageable amount of candy.  Instead of trickling the candy out for weeks allowing 1 or 2 pieces a day, I let them gorge themselves a few days then the rest of the candy "disappeared".  They didn't complain and I didn't have to deal with it until Christmas!  

I love Halloween with little kids!

Pumpkin Patch of Tantrums 2012

We made our annual trek to the pumpkin patch with our friends the Talbott's the day after fall break. It was the only day that worked for both of us. Sounds so quaint- and it usually is, until this year.

 It was  a disaster.

 My kids were so cranky.  I had to haul them out one twin in each arm screaming while Charlotte complained behind me.  We didn't even do the bounce house.  A week away from home, no sinks with running water, our house in total chaos,  and an outing was too much for us this day.  It was really only awful at the end, and they were even good for lunch after.  I realized I do still need to bring the stroller- they're getting too big to haul both of them out in each arm!  It was ridiculously heavy- good thing Cortney is a good friend!

Oliver really loves animals- he kept saying it tickled when they would eat out of his hands.

Smart girl- "Sure I can make it to the end of the maze- just climb over these dumb bales of hay."

Olly is an excellent follower.  He did NOT appreciate the hay in his diaper.

Our not so little fall "babies"! This is what made it worth it!

Trick or Treat Fireplace

Have I ever told you that the space above our fireplace- the focal point of the whole house- was blank for three whole years?  Should we do a painting? Mirror? Clock?  And when we finally did agree on a picture it was a picture of us?  How vain is that, right?  I mean it shows that our family is important.  

Whenever we get new family pictures I order a 20x30 print from Costco (it has to be off a super nice camera to turn out well at that size) for $10.   I had it matted and framed at Hobby Lobby for about $40 which isn't bad for that large and much cheaper than all the paintings we were looking at.  My sister-in-law made us the Whitmer sign for Christmas and even remembered to give me the vinyl names when the twins were born.

Anyway, the real reason I was taking pictures of my fireplace is that I finished the trick or treat banner- even a couple of weeks before Halloween.  Of course I cut out the letters and bought the fabric last year, but oh well.  It's a knock off of Crockery Shed like all my good ideas.  After I cut out the letters I thought I should have done, "spooky" or "boo" or "eek" or even "Halloween" would have been shorter.  I also wish I'd done "or" smaller to fit on one triangle.  I followed the directions for the banner from this link.  I've made one other banner and I have a few others I might make.  They aren't too hard but they do take some time.

I've been wanting the fall leaves garland for a while but could never find them on clearance after fall- so this year I used my 50% off coupon and bought at the beginning of the season.

The candles in the fireplace are a Crockery Shed copy cat as well, I bought mine at Wal-Mart.  Picture me sitting on the floor in the candle aisle for about an hour messing with the design.  I'm a little obsessed- I mean inspired, by Crockery Shed.  I saw a cute link where they filled their fireplace with a ton of different sized pumpkins for fall.  So fun.

Another fun fact- we've never used our fireplace for a fire- not once. Boring huh?  In our defense it is summer about 9 months of the year and we never had it inspected to make sure it's safe to use and there are a lot of "no burn" days because of pollution anyway.  It's basically just a very large decoration- that eliminates any usable corners in our family room- but does provide some extra (albeit hard) seating when needed.  The kids use it as a sort of toy table as well.  Matt wants to tear it out if we ever get around to getting new flooring.  We'll see.

Halloween 2011

Each year the holidays with kids gets better and better!  Our costumes got a ton of use this year with three separate parties and trick or treating.

1st Party
Summer 2010 Babies party plus siblings

The start of the party with 7 out of 9 babies in birth order from L to R

Here's at the end of the party with 8 out of 9 babies- minus some costumes

Here's what it looks like when you try to get that many one year olds to hold still- there was candy corn bribery involved in the other shots!

Charlotte's costume was a real challenge this year.  She actually had an opinion instead of just letting me have my merry way.  Approximately every two minutes she would change her mind. 

The time line:

• Beginning of September buy cheap red tutu and wings- "Don't you want to be ladybug girl?" "No, I no like it." (She does wear them at least once a day but apparently it was NOT Halloween costume worthy.)
• End of September "I wanna be Sleeping Booty!"
• Try to borrow a gorgeous Sleeping Beauty Dress
•  It's too long
• Look at pattern- decide it's not worth giving up every nap time in October to make it.
•  "I wanna be Cinderella!  Night and day it's Cinderella!"
• Find easy Cinderella tutorial online- almost make it
• Friend Kelli offered her adorable homemade Snow White dress. 
• Try it on... drum roll "I wanna be Snow White!"
• Proceed to seal the deal by watching the movie in costume every day for a month while acting it out- especially the dancing and scared in the forest screaming

 I lived in constant fear I'd have to make Kelli a new one- but the dress survived intact. Snow White is also a rough and tumble girl- we should have made her a Snow White rag dress to wear the rest of the time...

Snow White skin and Snow White hair- I drew the line when she asked for brown hair.  She loved the dress- thanks for making Charlotte's month Kelli!

Olly inherited the bear costume and took it off every chance he could.

Event #2 Our friend Easton's birthday party

Abby the fairy- no relation to Sesame street- she was not a fan of the trampoline- unlike Snow White who spent a good portion of the party on there. 

She was a fan of the play house

Sorry Matt- this was the only picture in focus and Abby looks so happy I had to put it in!

Party #3 the tail end of the Church Trunk-or-Treat- we missed the chili and games but managed to make it to pass out candy

Auntie Kori pumpkin and cousin Spencer the train conductor

And the family shot- any guesses which dwarves we were?  With that many gnome hats lying around it was just too easy- even though I had to make a bigger hat for Matt- possibly the tallest dwarf ever!

The actual Halloween- trying to keep the kids inside between trick or treaters- by the end of the night I let them run around on the lawn and I brought the candy bowl out there since it was still so warm.

Charlotte shared a sucker with each baby- by the time I found them they'd already eaten through most of the wrappers- oh well it is Halloween right?

Best part of Halloween besides the costumes is actually getting to know your neighbors- this was our first time really trick-or-treating and we loved it!

Garden Halloween

Serious garden fairy.

She took a nose dive when she was flying- hence the band-aid. No really it's because she won't leave her little scratches alone long enough to heal.

When she found my high heels and put them on you could tell she felt they completed the outfit. What a girl! She loved this costume. I was so glad it still fit. I bought it after Halloween last year and I was worried she would grow too fast. It was pretty snug but we made it work.

Daddy supervised the pumpkin carving. She was a little grossed out by the pumpkin goop but she charged right ahead. I'd expect nothing less from my daughter. I've always loved cleaning out pumpkin goop myself!

Daddy even let her hold the knife. WAY nicer than mommy would have been.

Two Peas in Pod-

They only wore the costumes for about an hour so I didn't get a good picture of it.

I walked around with Charlotte at the trunk-or-treat while Matt stayed back with the twins to give out candy. They were in the stroller when I left but this is what I found when we got back. I love how Oliver is holding on to dad for dear life. Maybe because they get put down so often but both twins love to cling onto clothes and hair.

I was pretty depressed this year that I couldn't come up with something good for me and Matt to dress up too. He says he was a pumpkin with his orange shirt.

The aftermath.

This year was crazy busy again with our friend's birthday party and the Trunk-or-treat at church. I felt like I was short-changing both events but I'm glad we were able to go to part of both of them.

We had one candy melt-down the day after when she discovered her mean mommy wouldn't let her eat the whole bucket but she's since accepted the 2 candy a day rule and doesn't seem to mind. It's no wonder Halloween is such a favorite with kids- staying up late, dressing up, and buckets of candy. What's not to love?