Happy Halloween from the Ninjas + Witch

I am not a fan of Halloween. Actually I’m not a huge fan of really any holiday, other than St. Patrick’s day and Thanksgiving. I’m just not a planner so both Christmas and Halloween stress me out a bit. Obviously Christmas more so than Halloween but still.

The planning for Halloween has the potential to be very stressful by making costume at home, but I took the easy, more expensive way out and bought Halloween costumes. We bought them about two ago, when they were 20% off. Because I kept putting it off, we saved money, but the choices were slim. Ms. Gail knew immediately that she wanted to be a witch. JP was fairly quick to decide on the green ninja costume. HD himmed and hawed for a while before also deciding on the green ninja costume. JP then decided they couldn’t be the same color so he grabbed a red one instead. JP not wearing green?! Seemed a little weird to me!

I sang Ms. Gail to bed the night before - some made up song that went like “Now it is time for bed for tomorrow is Halloween.” Of course I spruced it up a bit and made it sound scary. She loved it and woke up singing in the morning.

For dinner I try to theme it with something Halloween-ish. I used to make Halloweenies, which are basically pigs in a blanket, but they look like mummies instead. One year we had cheeseburgers and I cut the cheese into jack-o-lanterns. Other years it's make your own pizza. Because Ms. Gail had gymnastics right after school, I wasn't going to have a ton of prep time, especially because in the morning I went to quilting, and then right over to my neighbor's house to clean. This year, it was make your own pizza again, but I rolled out the dough into ghost-like shapes for them to decorate with pepperoni, sausage, and cheese.

Once dinner was out of the way, the kids eagerly jumped into their costumes. As always, I asked for a group photo before we left and asked JP to put his ninja mask on for the full effect. It went downhill from there. Instead of putting his mask on, he went to his room, took his costume off, and then sat on the floor and pouted. With a lot of convincing, I was able to talk him into getting it back on so we could get a picture.

 That's about the best picture of the three of them. I love when the boys match!

At one of the first houses we went to, Ms. Gail was taken as a hostage by the witches. They have a party every year, and the kids were excited to go trick-or-treating at their house this year, because they had scary decorations outside and knew what to expect. The ladies were tickled when they saw this little witch in training, and were even more delighted when she realized it was her neighbor! Ms. Gail walked past their house at the end of trick-or-treating, and said in the creepiest of voices, "There's that GLORIOUS house again!"

JP really just didn't want to go trick-or-treating. We went around the loop and I was having to push him up to each door and hold up his arm to get candy in his bucket. After a little while he just slunk around until Perry finally took him home and prepared him a cup of hot chocolate. In the mean time, HD and Ms. Gail were hilarious to walk around with. I don't know what it is about Halloween, but my kids are just so funny to listen to. HD declared, "This is the latest I've ever stayed up! It's practically morning!" It was 7:23pm, not even bedtime. At another house that had stairs leading up to it, he came back down and rolled his eyes while casually saying, "Well their dad needs to fix that crookedy stair." We also went to a house where someone was hiding on the front porch so she could jump out and scare people. Both kids decided they weren't going to that house after they watched it happen. We went to that house when the girl was taking a break. She was getting back into position when we were leaving, so HD and Ms. Gail said we had to watch her scare the next people, which she did. Ms. Gail then walked off saying, "Wow. That was so satisfying." Ms. Gail also pointed out that recognized one of her friends from school by her face and her hair. Is there another way? Hahaha!

Upon their arrival home, they immediately dumped out their candy to see what they got. It was so exciting for them!

After their candy had been sorted, both HD and Ms. Gail went back and forth trading candy WITH NO FIGHTING! JP eventually joined in with the few pieces I forced him to get, and the few handfuls his sister gave him from her bucket before he headed home.

 Bless her little heart, she gave him more candy when he was sorting through his small pile, because, "I just missed you so much!" She also gave him her Fun Dip because it was the best candy of the all, even after she realized it was the only one she got. Oh my heart! We later found out JP was just really tired....

Autumn Festivities

I always dread Halloween. For one, I don't like masked people. Mascots are a huge no for me, so naturally, Halloween is not a favorite of mine. Secondly, I don't like having to stress about what the kids are going to dress up as.

This year however, Halloween has come and went without much stress to be had. Miss Gail didn't care what she was going to be, and ended up dressing up as something different at every opportunity she had. HD was the easy one. He wanted to be a StormTrooper. There was no amount of convincing him otherwise. Because I wasn't buying a costume or putting together a costume for Miss Gail, I felt I could justify buying him his beloved StormTrooper costume.

JP on the other hand, came with a problem we might never know what caused. He was all in to be a cop and utilize HD's costume from last year. When it came time to put it on, there were so many tears. From what I gathered, he could see his chest when he put the top on, not realizing he had to wear clothes under his costume. I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to get him to put a shirt on under it, to no avail. When we eventually managed to leave the house for our first event, he reluctantly wore his dark blue cop pants, a long sleeved black shirt, and HD's batman mask from a couple years back. Of course the rest of the batman costume was no where to be found. He wonders why I wanted him to try his costume on a few days prior...

When we did make it out of the house to go to the school's Trunk or Treat, I had two very eager, but calm children and one not-so-happy batman. We weren't planning on going to the event, but the kids realized half an hour before it started there was going to be candy there. By the time we actually got to the school, there was only half an hour left, and most of the candy had been given out already. Regardless, they acted like they had never been trick-or-treating before. When we walked up to the parking lot, I literally had to push them up to the first car. Nerves anyone?

Things to note about this picture: This is Miss Gail's back-up princess dress. We got the first one soaking wet while do facials that afternoon. Her shirt is on backwards, but she insists it isn't. We would have been smiling but we had just seen Moana and the boys told her it wasn't the real one. She wanted to meet her but I heard her speaking Spanish, so I'm not sure how that interaction would have went. HD is convinced Storm Troopers never take their helmets off. Even to eat.

 The next morning HD, Miss Gail, and I walked down to the preschool for their Autumn Party. I love how Miss Gail walked around holding up her pant legs! JP stayed home because "I don't need more candy." I think he was still grumbling from the night before.

 We couldn't have had a more perfect day last Saturday. It was gorgeous out! HD wore his mask for most of the walk, and walked just like a Storm Trooper.

 We were one of the first ones to arrive, and again, their nerves were through the roof. The gym had about 10 games set-up and they wanted nothing to do with them. They would have rather I let them stand in the middle of the gym than play any of the games. I did manage to drag them around the gym to try out all the games before heading outside to the bouncey house and other activities.

 I think their favorite game was the cake walk. They would walk around on number while music played and stop on a number when the music stopped playing. If your number was drawn, you'd get a prize from the dessert table. Miss Gail chose a plate of cookies and cupcakes, where as HD chose a large piece of carrot cake. "It's my choice mom."

I love autumn so much. I love how leaves can bring so much joy! And just look at all the colors! Such a beautiful walk home!

 

 Finally we made it to Halloween where we had a Storm Trooper, a fully dressed and happy Batman, and his sidekick Robin. Batman insisted he get a picture with just his sidekick. He is so sweet to her. I love the relationship they have. Melts my heart!

When it was go-time, the kids sprinted across the street to Al's house. They stood outside for a little bit while my sister and I watched Al sprint through the house to the kitchen to get candy. After going next door to the other neighbor's home, Miss Gail declared, "This is the best day ever!" We made the loop, finishing at "the scary house" before returning home to empty their buckets. On our way up the drive to the house, Robin and I turned around to see a gingerbread man walking creepily up the road towards us. I have no idea where it came from but I wanted nothing to do with it so I shooed the kids up to the door. Once they knocked, the ladies on the other side started scratching at the door. All three kids were frozen. And then the ghost behind them started to play and swooped down toward them. I'm sure they were ready to turn around. After the fact they decided it was the best house ever! 

 Perry had just got back from work as we dumped out our buckets so he came out with us as we walked down to a few more houses before calling it a night around 7:30, afterall I had to get to bed so I could get a little rest before work.

The one thing I enjoy about working the night shift is the extra snuggles I get from my kids. Usually 2 of the 4 nights I go to bed around 6, I have a child join me around 7:30. In this case, it was my little princess-ninja-turtle-Robin who curled up into bed with me. I recall rolling over away from her, only to have her attempt to be the big spoon, as she draped her arm over me. I never want to her grow up!

An Un-Themed Halloween

For the past few years, I've themed the kids' costumes, but I just didn't have it in me to do it again this year. Instead, Perry and I took them to the Halloween store and let them pick out their own costumes. HD chose a policeman, JP picked out an army outfit, and Ms. Gail went with Minnie Mouse. The kids spent the afternoon playing in their costumes and then Ms. Gail lost her ears. We happened to go to Costco the next day and found an adorable Belle dress for her dress-up box and she immediately decided she wanted to be Belle instead.

 Her party at preschool was a few days before Halloween, and it happened to be after Perry started work in Oregon, so she wasn't used to not seeing dad. This made dropping her off at preschool really hard for her. She was excited to go to her Pumpkin Party until she realized it was at preschool. In fact, she was okay until we walked through the door. Then the tears came and didn't stop. It was heartbreaking! But we powered through and she had so much fun, like I thought she would.

 After school that night, I reluctantly took the kids back to school for pumpkin carving in the gym. I'm alway hesitant to take all the kids anywhere without help. But we survived. Towards the end, I didn't know if we would...

 We had carved pumpkins at Em's house a few weeks back and Aunt Em carved a cat into Ms. Gail's pumpkin for her, so Ms. Gail insisted we make another cat pumpkin. Girl is obsessed! (That's a cat sweater too!)

 Nanny and Papa joined Ms. Gail and I for the school parade on Halloween. There were a few policemen and a couple army guys, but it was easy to pick out my boys :) As soon as HD saw me, he sped up his walking so I'd miss a picture...

 Before heading home to meet Gage and his mom for trick-or-treating, we stopped by Grandma's office to see everyone during our last Halloween here. HD was tickled about Grandma's minion costume!

 This was Gage's first year here so I invited him and his mom to join us trick-or-treating this year since she wasn't sure where to go. The past couple years we stopped by Nanny's house and then hit up the neighbors so we stuck to that plan. 

The boys were anxious to get started and ran from house to house while Ms. Gail struggled to keep up. By the time we got to the end of the cul-de-sac, poor Ms. Gail was getting worked up because she was going to be late to the houses. The boys would be done by the time she got there so she'd hastily stick out her bucket and run off before candy could even be placed in it. I had to calm her down before I could catch up with the boys. JP was surprised when he trick-or-treated at his teacher's house, and she was delighted to see them too! 

I hope I meet someone that will take me under their wing next Halloween...

Nah Nah Nah Nah Batman!! Happy Halloween!

I had been thinking about Halloween since August and had no idea what I wanted the kids to be this year up until about two weeks ago. Last year I themed them Wreck-It Ralph, and the year before when Charlotte was only 5 1/2 months old, we did Peter Pan. The boys wanted to do Ninja Turtles this year, but I wasn't feeling it for Charlotte. Next year we just might all be Ninjas...

Because of JP's color obsession, finding a character who wears green can be quite the challenge. I also went with the Hulk for JP and another superhero for Hunter, but when I remembered Batman's sidekick, Robin, wore green I was sold on having a Batman theme. I did toss around the idea of him being the joker though...I recall Aunt Bobbi being the joker and wearing all green when she was little. Am I right family? I also thought about making their costumes and then quickly gave up on the idea when a pair of green leggings for JP was going to cost $15. For a little bit more, I could have the whole costume, with absolutely no stressing. Sign me up for that! It's also worth noting nearly every time we'd ask Charlotte what she was going to be for Halloween, she'd respond with, "I be Perry Halloween." No dear, you're going to be Catwoman...

Perry and I were at a concert in Bozeman the night before so I had gathered up their costumes for Nanny to send with them to school. She also went to the school Halloween parade with Charlotte dressed up in her Catwoman outfit to get some pictures for me. I thought we'd be back in time, but we spent a good 45 minutes walking downtown in the morning to retrieve the car...

 She must have gotten to the school early enough to sit in the front row. She was able to fine JP in the parade, but he was the only Robin there. Hunter was lost in the Batman's. It probably would have helped if she knew what kind of Batman costume she was looking for, but she stopped into his classroom after the party to take a few pictures of him. 

 Nanny had a problem getting into JP's classroom though because she wasn't on the "approved people" list, and even though the school has called me multiple times, they apparently didn't have my number to call me and ask, so they called Grandma Betty. Weird...? JP's classroom is in a separate building and has a doorbell on it, where as Hunter's is in the main building. But she eventually made it in and he and Charlotte had some snacks together before playing games. 

 I don't understand why JP looks like he hates taking pictures with his friends...

 One of the games they played entailed wrapping their teacher, and another adult in toilet paper to make them look like mummies. I think JP probably enjoyed this too much! 

 Here's the crew before we headed out for Trick-or-Treating. Batman, Robin, and Catwoman. I had to bribe Charlotte to keep her mask on. Our first stop was neighbor Dan's house. You see those white pieces of paper JP is holding? He made pictures to give to them. He loves drawing pictures for people!

We stopped by a couple more house on our lane before heading to Aunt Kim and King Julian's house, I mean, Barney and Betty Rubble's house! Aren't they all so cute! Kudos to Kim for making Julian wear a dress! ;) Next up we stopped at Nanny's house before trick-or-treating around the block. Last year the kids were ready to be done after only going to a couple houses but were ready to go this year! Charlotte was all about it too! I think on our second house someone said, "Happy Halloween," and that's all Charlotte would say after that. It was adorable! 

She did turn down going up to one door because they had big spiders hanging on the porch. "Spiders so scary!" She was so excited to run down the sidewalk to the next house. "Let's go this one! Gonna be fun!"

Even though it was a little rainy, it's safe to say everyone had a lot of fun!

A Wreck It Ralph Themed Halloween

When I made Hunter a Wreck It Ralph cake last year for his birthday, I was surprised as to how many people hadn't heard of, let alone seen, the movie. It's a Disney movie! Obviously it's one of my favorites too! Despite my annoyance with no one knowing the movie, we went ahead and had a Wreck It Ralph Halloween too. I sat down with the boys in August and asked them what they wanted to be for Halloween, and this was one of their ideas that I could actually do! 

 JP was the lucky one who modeled the costumes for me the day before. He wasn't thrilled about putting on Ralph's hands though so we were in the middle of a meltdown...Can't you tell? 

JP has been counting down the days since the beginning of October until his Pumpkin Party on Halloween at school. As soon as I packed up Hunter's backpack and explained what he needed to do to get his costume on for his parade, I helped JP get into his costume and off to his party we went. Not surprisingly no one recognized him, even when I said he's Fix-It Felix from Wreck It Ralph. 

 After lunch, we took a trip to Hunter's school to watch the costume parade and to check out his party. I was responsible for bringing some fruit to the party. I was going to bring oranges that looked like pumpkins, or the banana ghosts that I brought for JP last year, but I figured someone else would. So I instead brought cantaloupe and used cookie cutters to cut them into bats. (I was going to cut them into pumpkins, but I forgot about the seeds in the middle....) As his teacher was rearranging the food table, she looked at the bats I brought and said, "I think someone has too much time on their hands!" Then there was an awkward pause as I slowly said, "That would be me..."

 Anyways...JP enjoyed watching the parade. He couldn't take his eyes off the "guy without a head." There were a lot of original costumes there!

 Charlotte didn't get to watch the parade because I brought her inside in her carseat so she couldn't run around. And with a failed nap attempt, she missed out on lunch and instead ate while we watched. Hunter was so excited to be Wreck It Ralph, but I doubt many people knew who he was... 

 After the parade, we went back to Hunter's classroom to stop by his party, but his class was at recess. Just as we made it outside to say good-bye, the bell rang for them to line up to go inside. JP wanted to say good-bye to Hunter, so we made it over to Hunter's line before they went inside. Words cannot describe how sweet Hunter was to his little brother. My heart melted for 20 minutes. Hunter immediately took JP under his wing and told him exactly what to do. "We have to stand in a line, so you can hold my hand and walk next to me, or you can walk behind me." (Gah! We're not staying, but okay...!) Once inside they had carpet time where they sang a pumpkin song. "You can just sit right next to me." 

 Then it was craft time, so we tried to leave. "Jim, you can sit right by me at my table. Just stay right here and I will go and find you a chair." I'm pretty sure he stole someone's chair for his brother, but now that he had a chair, we had to stay a bit longer. It took a lot of convincing to get JP to leave, and to let Hunter let us go. JP really wanted to ride the bus home, but Charli really needed a nap soon. 

 When Hunter came home from school, we packed up in the car and drove to Grandma's work to do some trick-or-treating there. I only showed Charlotte once what to do with her candy and after that she helped herself to the candy and filled up her bucket before we left. On the way out the door, JP still hadn't grabbed any candy so I told him not to pick the kinds I liked or he might not get to eat them. On the way home, he held up a Kit-Kat bar and a Snickers and asked if I like them. I told him I loved the red on he was holding and would trade him something for it. He put both back in his bucket and pulled out a Reeces as asked if I liked that one. I told him if he gave me that piece now, I'd let him have a piece to eat out of his bucket, to which he responded, "No, I'm trying to figure out which candy you like, so I can trick-or-treat for them and give them to you." Seriously, how cute is that? This kid is going to make someone REALLY happy someday. 

 

Other than not dying Charlotte's hair, didn't I do pretty good?

 Charlotte has the energy of Hunter, but with JP's personality, which has been making it really hard to take pictures of her. 

 After we had dinner, which is usually halloweenies, but this year I switched it up a little and made mummy calzones, we got ready to go out. We had 3 trick-or-treaters this year...down 4 from last year. And one of them was Aunt Kim dressed as a pretty scarecrow.  A combination of a little face paint and being over-tired sent Charlotte into a series of meltdowns when Aunt Kim nicely said "boo" to her. We attempted to trick-or-treat on our street, but everyone was already gone at 6:00. 

 While the boys were attempting to trick-or-treat, Perry and I stopped by the one neighbor's house who was home and chatted for a while. I watched Charlotte side-step a good half length of their car, careful not to touch the car or step on the grass. 

 Even though Kim stopped by our house, we went to her house to trick-or-treat to see her boyfriend Julian. Then we went to one of their neighbors. After doing those two houses, JP exclaimed, "Wow, we sure have done a lot of trick-or-treating!" Three houses total and he was ready to be done! But we went to Nanny and Papa's house anyways and the boys were excited to see Aunt Bobby there. 

After loading up on candy at Nanny's house, both Hunter and JP were ready to be done, but Aunt Bobby convinced them otherwise. Nanny came with us to take them to a few more houses, while Perry and Papa Craig stayed home to hand out candy, something neither of them enjoy doing. After going to the house across the street, Hunter checked out his basket and said to himself, "Okay...okay...that wasn't so bad." He apparently had to psych him up for it. A couple houses later, someone answered the door and said, "Who do we have here?" to which Hunter responded, "I'm Hunter." Hahaha, I'm pretty sure they were asking what you were dressed up as! After a few more houses, JP's basket was overflowing with candy, so much so that he was dropping it as he walked. Hunter's wasn't nearly as full. Reminded me of Easter this past year...maybe that's because they were using their Easter egg baskets...

Hunter sorted his candy out when we made it back and was very protective of it. Charlotte took her candy out one by one and then put them back in her bucket, one by one, over and over. 

I think it's also worth noting that this was Nanny's first Halloween where she's been able to hand out candy. Hunter was already a pro at it!

 And shout out to Kile's family! Remember when Hunter and JP dressed up as the monkey?! Casey is too cute, especially with chocolate all over his face. But check out him and his dad! Curious George and the Man with the Yellow Hat. Who would have thought this would be their last moments as a family of 3?! 8 hours later, Casey's brother, Dylan, was born! And I added another nephew to my list of favorite kids!