More Evidence That Chase is a Grumpy Old Man

When Chase saw that stores are starting to sell Halloween decor he told me he hated Halloween for the following four reasons,

He said, "One, you get too much candy. Two your bag gets too heavy. Three, you have to walk around all night carrying that heavy bag knocking on people's doors. Four, its a holiday mom--and I HATE holidays."

Halloween 2011

I already wrote about Madison's costume.  But here's another picture--just because.

She told me she's not sure if she wants to go as a dead ballerina or candy corn next year. I asked, "Go WHERE?" Next year she'll be in Junior High and I'm pretty sure that's the trick-or-treating cut off.  I'll probably end up making that dead ballerina costume anyway because, remember, she gets invited to parties now.

Kai went as a wizard. The first picture is how I told him to pose and the second how he thinks a wizard should pose. Apparently he thinks wizards are like rappers.

For the robe, I had him lay down on both pieces of material (the black with stars and silver lining) and cut around him in the shape I wanted.  Then I sewed up the seams.  I call this the Disney princess version of sewing. Then I took an old witches hat from a previous costume and covered it in fabric left over from Madison's skirt.  I stuffed the top with tinfoil so it would stand up the way I wanted it to. The staff is a stick with painted rocks wired to the top.  It was pretty heavy and got to be a pain to carry. We probably should have made the rocks out of Styrofoam.  

Chase doesn't do Halloween and told me he didn't want a costume, so I didn't make him one.  But one night last week as Michael and I were putting the finishing touches on the other costumes, Chase started grabbing left over supplies and made himself an elephant costume.


Unfortunately, or fortunately--depending on your point of view, when it came time to go to the ward Halloween party he ditched his elephant costume and just went as Chase.

Don't worry, if he'd decided to wear his elephant costume I would have made him put on some pants.

This is Chase as Chase--cowboy shirt, bolo tie, gray mouse in the front pocket.

Anytime someone suggested he was dressed up like a cowboy he would get upset and say, "NO. I'm just Chase."

The boy really doesn't like Halloween.  I had to pick him up from school early on Halloween because he didn't want to be in (or even have to see) the Halloween parade, eat the special Halloween lunch, or have anything to do with the class Halloween party.  He told me that Halloween is ruining his life.

So instead of trick-or-treating he chilled at Grandma's house and was plenty spoiled. So much so that the other kids are contemplating skipping trick-or-treating for a night with Grandma next year.

And last but, if you've spent anytime with Davis at all you'd know, certainly not least, Davis decided he wanted to be a robot for Halloween.

Michael took this one on.  He took a garbage can and created a robot costume complete with blinking lights and beeps.

I covered it with tinfoil and made the hat--which should be obvious because it has hearts on it. However, the hat got to be too much, and after two houses it came off never to be worn again.

Happy Halloween!!

The First Costume Is Complete

I have one costume done.  Madison had a Halloween party to go to, yes she does that now, so we had to finish her costume first.

This year she wanted to be a Gothic Rag Doll.  I had no idea what that was so the first thing I did was google "gothic rag doll."  Thanks to google and pinterest I was able to get an idea of what she wanted, cried a little, and then I got to work.

This year she helped me with her costume. It was awesome because her help was actually helpful. 

Without further ado I give you Madison as a Gothic Rag Doll.

We made the wig by sewing white and black yarn (don't worry knitting friends I used red heart) onto a black beanie I purchased on clearance for 33 cents.  We used two full skeins of yarn-- and were still a little short.

For her shirt I found a boy's black t-shirt on clearance for a dollar and serged the edges of the sleeves (making them shorter and more girly).  I also serged around the neckline and bottom of the shirt.  then I cut up the center of the shirt, serged the edges, sewed it back together and sewed on fake felt buttons.

The skirt was super easy.  We took strips of black and white tulle and tied them around elastic (the oldest tutu making trick in the book) and once that was done I sewed a piece of gray fabric around the inside.

I made the sleeveless gloves by cutting the toes from a pair of striped knee socks and making a little stitch for the thumb.   We made the necklace with clay beads (we used sculpy brand clay) and some fine gauge jewelry wire.

Oh and don't forget the creepy make-up and white crackle nail polish!

Gothic Rag Doll COMPLETE!  Now to to the wizard . . . .

Halloween 2010

Today is the school Halloween parade.  As you know Chase and Kai are going as clone troopers, Madison is going as a pirate, and Davis is going as Chewbacca.

I tried to make clone trooper helmets for the boys but they ended up looking like something out of Nacho Libre so had to come up with a new plan.  As it turns out Kai has a friend who has a really nice Clone Trooper Rex helmet he is going to let the boy borrow.  But that still left me high and dry when it came to Chase.  Then Michael said, "um, why don't you just knit one."  Freaking brilliant.  WHY didn't I think of that.

I am excited to say that in the wee hours of Wednesday morning I finished the last of the Halloween costumes.  Unfortunately I am sorry to say (though not surprised) that Chase doesn't actually like his costume. He does, however, like the clone trooper hat.  So this is what the kids looked like as they walked out the door this morning.  Kai isn't wearing the helmet because masks that cover the face aren't allowed at school, but he'll wear it trick-or-treating and I can get a good picture then. So between the two boys you have one complete clone trooper costume.

Of course, I made the boy try on Chase's hat so I could see the costume all together. 


I took notes as I made the hat so as soon as the Halloween craziness dies down I think I'll write up the pattern.

The last few days the boy has been in the hospital having an NG tube put in (the tube you see coming out his nose) and I have to say it goes with his costume quite well.  In fact I think some people might be surprised when he still has it on when he goes back to school on Monday.  However if we'd know he was going to get the NG tube before Halloween we could have sent him as Darth Vader in the scene where he takes his helmet off--because that would have been AWESOME.

And just because he's cute here is Davis in his Chewbacca costume.

I Swore This Wouldn't Happen Again

Every year I swear I will not make the kid's Halloween costumes the following year and every year I end up making them anyway.  

Chase and Kai have decided thy want to be clone troopers.  Davis is going to be Chewbacca and, because heaven forbid she go with the theme, Madison is going to be a pirate.  I even showed her an AWESOME pattern for knitted Princess Leia buns and she still wanted to be a pirate!  Okay so, I don't really mind that she is going as a pirate.  Pirates are easy.  Chewbacca shouldn't be too hard either. But no way was I going to make one clone trooper and much less two!  That is, until I found out how much it would cost to to buy one.  As it turns out I'm cheap. 

Anyway I started my first clone trooper this weekend and all I can say is hand stitching through duck tape is not my idea of a good time.  That being said, so far it looks awesome. 

I ♥ Scotch Tape

Chase is super excited about Halloween this year-- which is pretty cool because in the past he hasn't really been too thrilled with the idea of dressing up.  He and Kai are both going as clone troopers.  NOT storm troopers, CLONE troopers.  They have made this distinction very clear . . . several times.  I think they are worried about my lack of Star Wars knowledge.  Seriously though, last year I made the boy a ghost of Obi Wan Kenobi costume so I think they should cut me some slack.

Chase comes home from school every day and says, "Mom.  Its almost Halloween."  He is a little frustrated that I haven't started to decorate yet.  In fact yesterday he took matters into his own hands.  A little imagination and a roll of Scotch tape later he presented me with "Mummy Windows."

 

He also discovered he could use same technique all over his face, hands, and feet to turn himself into a mummy.  But he wouldn't stick around long enough to let me take his picture.

A Grand Unveiling

After several trips to the craft store and many hours hiding away in my craft room I finally finished the kids costumes.

Madison is going as Hermione

















Kai is going as the ghost of Obi Wan Kenobi


















Chase refuses to have his picture taken.
So instead of going as John Deere Farmer
he'll be going as an Amish farmer.

















and Davis is going as a Halloween pumpkin.

Bring on the candy!

Costumes

This year each of the kids knew exactly what they wanted to be for Halloween. Long gone are the days when I could convince them to go as some sort of theme. Even Davis, at the sweet age of 2, knew he wanted to be a pumpkin as soon as he saw this seasons first crop in the grocery store. Regardless of Michael's urging them to go as various Ben Ten characters, this is what they have decided they want to be . . .

As I said before, Davis is going to be a pumpkin, Chase is going to be a John Deere farmer, Madison is going to be Hermione Granger, and Kai is going to be the ghost of Obi Wan Kenobi. Thats right. Not Obi Wan Kenobi, the ghost of Obi Wan Kenobi. Speaking of which, do any of you know how to make a 7 year old glow?

The Two Little Ones

I didn't get great pictures of halloween this year, but here are pictures of Chase and Davis in costume anyway.  

Chase was lighting McQueen

and Davis was a dog.

Halloween 2008

Yesterday I took the kids to Michael's office for some pre-Halloween trick-or-treating.  The kids came home with little bags full of chocolate, suckers, and licorice.  Some of them even got cookies.  

Kai however was the only one to come home with a can of soup.  When asked, "do you want candy, or soup?"  He chose soup.

Breaking the Rules

I love decorating for Halloween.  It is the only time of the year when I feel justified in violating the "one skull at a time" rule of fashion.  

This is my mantle this year.   

I got the eyeballs at target last year and glued them into the skull.  I also put some eyeballs in various jars.  The white candles were on clearance at Target and I poured fake blood on them.  We got a bag full of tiny little black spiders from Oriental Trading that I put all over the black netting.  My favorite item is the black bird my mom found and gave me.  In fact he'll stay up through thanksgiving.  I'm still trying to figure out an appropriate way to work him into Christmas.

I found a 2 dollar shelf at the local thrift store and decided to use it for this in the entryway.

 I'm not sure where I got the idea, but I know I saw something like it on the Internet or in a magazine at some point, but I'm too lazy to track it down right now.

School Appropriate

The kids can't just wear anything to school on Halloween. Each class has a theme and if they want to dress up, they need to adhere to their theme.

Because I didn't feel like putting a lot of time and effort into two costumes we threw together some class room themed costumes last night.

Madison's class theme was Peter Pan so she went as Tiger Lilly. The brown and the green material is left over from Chase's costume last year. She drew on the front of it with markers. She has a feather in the back of her headband, but it is kind of small so you can't see it.

Kai's class could go as a character from any of the stories they had talked about so far. He decided to go as Johnny Appleseed because then he could wear a pot on his head. He is wearing Chase's overalls. I wanted them to be too short, but when I put them on him they fit just fine, so I had to tighten the straps and roll up the pant legs. Then we made a pot out of duct tape. This is the face he made when I told him to smile.