Gobble-tee Goo-k

~Happy Halloween 2012~

Yes, all of these pictures are of this Halloween celebrated over about 4 days. Not ONE of the kids costumes were the same at any given party. 

I have decided that options may just be the key to less fuss. I hate talking my kids into wearing their costume, or messing with accessories falling off, or arguing that a cowgirl does NOT wear ballet slippers but DOES wear a shirt:) The thing that makes me smirk the most about costume selection is that my kids LOVE to dress up! It's our main staple for play time at home. They pick them out and put them on themselves and mostly choose the outfits that are logical together.....western wear goes together, dance attire goes together, superheroes have appropriate weapons, etc. So it baffles me when Halloween rolls around and we have selected and/or bought a special outfit that they would chose to boycott and argue about wearing it!! What's the deal with that?  

So in light of all that, I have learned to pick my battles on this one. Halloween costumes will never be one of them. In addition to the fact that I never plan ahead when it comes to costumes anyway it also may help me avoid the SUPER SCRAMBLE. So, they picked the costume they wanted for each party this year (with a minimal amount of direction anyway) and none ended up being worn more than once. Go figure. I guess it IS like having Halloween each day when you have a large dress-up bin!

We did Trunk-or-Treating with great church friends at the farm (friends property). The kids ran wild through a semi-haunted hay maze, chased barn cats, and picked at a wonderful potluck (that we adults thoroughly enjoyed) so they could get straight to business collecting candy from each car's trunk! 

Kai a SWAT member, Addie a cross between ballerina & gymnast, and Eli a one-eyed pirate. 

One-eyed E was quite proud of this manly mustache. When walking from car to car he was quiet to say "trick or treat" but lingered around at each trunk to make eye contact for his "thank you's" So precious!

Warm and happy to collect some sweet treats! She is wearing a turtleneck, a long-sleeved unitard and a leotard with a tu-tu with white socks and ballet slippers! Again, she chose this "costume." 

Eli playing a throwing game to receive his candy!

I voted myself most warm and cozy costume. I'm very willing to pull this one out again next year! We decorated the back of the van with spiders (spiders are super creepy in our house recently especially since we've been finding BLACK WIDOWS everywhere now that we are packing to move--yikes).

We went to our playgroup Halloween party! It was an art getting this pic....more than half the kids there are 3 or under. We had spooky treats and played ghost bowling and pin the nose on the jack-o-lantern. It was a wild time!

Addie was a ballerina, Kai was a SWAT member but less accessorized, and Eli was Mator from Cars.

Instead of tramping around from house to house, we decided to hit a church Harvest Party. There were games, face painting, food, etc. TONS of kids in fun costumes but also requiring waiting in line for activities.

Kai and Eli were cowboys and Addie was in her unitard with a different tu-tu and different sparkle shoes. We could just call her a "dancer."

Waiting in line patiently.......

 Each of the kids got their faces painted! 

Eli requested a "cow." Not sure where she was going with this one....slightly disappointing. When we reminded Eli to say "thank you" to the lady he gave a turned-up-nose-look and shook his head. Poor guy.

Addie LOVED her butterfly full face! 

This cowboy needed a horse.....pretty amazing if you ask me! I like how she tied it right into the sideburns he already had! :)

Our lil happy dancer (right before her meltdown)

Derrick taught Kai how to sort his candy.....yah, I know, who really does that? My OCD husband taught him the categories for taking proper candy inventory. Oh gezzzzz

Well, we all stayed safe and will be rationing our load of candy for weeks to come. I feel like there's always need for extra emphasis on thorough toothbrushing habits this time of year in our house! I honestly look forward to the years I sit at home waiting for the doorbell to ring with little tykes vs prowling the streets!  Hope you Halloween was more happy than spooky.