Halloween!

Along with the rest of America...except perhaps the few areas that celebrate Beggars' Night on October 30...the kids got dressed up Friday night to go around and get candy from total strangers.  Happy Halloween! 

 Actually, for a change, we started prepping Dom and Will's costumes about a month ago.  This occurred due to the fact that both boys wanted to go as lesser known characters from the movie "Lego Movie".  Metalbeard and Benny the Spaceguy to be exact. Amazon did not carry these particular costumes and being of little creativity or artistic talent, I outsourced the making of these costumes to Eric.  And he did an incredible job.  As soon as I asked if he would be up for it, he researched ways to make helmets, inventoried random things we had on hand, and then made a trip to The Dollar Tree (I love that store and so does Eric!)

 As a result, Will donned a paper mache helmet, which he and Dom helped make.  It was a pretty cool process where they layered paper on a balloon over the course of a couple of days.  Eric would have liked to sand it down to be more of a smooth finish, but Will was thrilled with the result and I told Eric to just keep expectations low...we have next year to think about!

 Prior to actually going trick or treating, the kids and I threw an impromptu Halloween party in our front yard.  I have to say, I really like the decorations we did.  I don't have any pictures, but they were simple, yet elegant.  I think I'll keep them up for a while.  Anyway, the party consisted of eating cupcakes, playing some Halloween themed tic-tac-toe and running around.  Oh!  and getting wrapped up as mummies!

Here are my four pumpkins.  Previously, we've done those intricate designs...but, this year Eric opted to keep it simple and the boys loved them just as much...probably because they got to use a knife.  My John-o-Lantern is on the far left.

 And here are the finished results.  The costumes turned out so well and they got lots of compliments.  So many that we were constantly waiting on them before going to the next house.  Granted, no one knew who they were.  I guess "Lego Movie" is not everyone's favorite movie.  Crazy!

 Dom's arm did get tired from carrying the shark and he said the boots were a little on the small side.  But, I think he looks awesome.  And Dom helped quite a bit.  One night at dinner, Eric was thinking about the parts he wanted to add.  He mentioned that he needed a parrot and Dom lights up and says:  "We have a parrot!".  It was part of a Little People train set that Eric gave to Dom for his first Christmas. (You can see it on the photo above this one). The shark was also a Christmas present from Grandma and Grandpa four years ago.

 Molly went as a beautiful butterly.  Samantha the Butterfly to be exact.  A funny story about Molly was that she didn't quite get the memo of what happens on Halloween.  When I explained to her that we'd go around getting candy, she got super excited and exclaimed: "I Love Candy!"  It was as close to that Seinfeld Halloween routine that any of our kids have ever come.

 And then there was Benny.  Will helped with just about every aspect of this costume.  And he was so excited to wear it.  He had no peripheral vision, and probably the rest of his vision was pretty blocked, but he hummed and sang all through the trick or treating adventure. 

 A little detail shot.  I wish I had taken a picture of Dom's back.  He had a smoke stack, flags, a steering wheel...maybe some other stuff.  Ann Strunk, that hat is the one you gave me last April.  It came in super handy!  Benny's jet pack was made from two 3-liter bottles purchased from the Dollar Tree!

 And....because Eric did such a great job with the boys' Halloween costumes, I also gave him the job of getting the boys ready for the Saints Day Parade at church.

We let both boys pick their saints this year (as opposed to last year when I strong armed them into saints that I readily knew how to dress).  And Eric did a fantastic job, once again.  A special shout out to Grandma for giving Molly a purple fur (but not a real purple fur, that's cruel) a few years ago. 

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 As well as the red cape she made for the kids last year.  Those capes are really coming in handy for church activities!

I should mention, the boys are St. Thomas More and St. Pope John Paul II. 

And now we are all back to our normal selves, gearing up for an exciting November!  Time to start school.