Trick or Treating 2012

And finally the last and much awaited event of the day- real trick-or-treating.  We skipped the neighborhood parade/picnic since this always drives my children completely bonkers (why are we walking past all these houses and NOT getting candy?!?) 

We headed first next door to Grams.

I gave Miles and Isaac glow stick swords to match their costumes while Ethan and Isla got glow stick wands.  I was hoping they'd be so excited to carry them around that they'd keep using them and be more visible to cars.

Isla was all over hers- at least her tongue was.  She seriously licked the star for over an hour until it fell off and got lost and then she just moved on to the stick itself.

Here's a shot of the whole family.

Yep, still licking.

More "pooky" houses to visit as Miles says.

And the annual candy dump and inspection at the end of the night.  Boy was it a fun and exhausting day.

Visiting the Greats

We ran from one thing to the next on Halloween but we just HAD to make a stop at my aunt's house in Draper where my grandparents are living for the moment.  They hadn't met Isla yet and I couldn't resist showing her off in her costume.  I don't think my kids can have too many people in their lives who love them and will look out for them.  We're so excited that grandpa-great and grandma-great are here to stay!

Party at Corp.

One of our favorite parts of Halloween is always the work party Taylor's company hosts.  It's really the only time they invite family into the office and it's always a very interesting costume contest, fun and easy trick-or-treating for the kids, and a yummy free lunch.

Miles enjoyed visiting grandpa all dressed up as (what else) a golfer.  He can't be bothered to take a real picture though- there's candy to be gotten!

Isla decided to eat her wings since dad was holding down her tutu.

My cute group trick-or-treating through the hallways.

Did I forget to mention Taylor dressed up too?  All the employees are supposed to and there's good prizes for the contest winners.  For weeks before Halloween I asked him what he wanted to be and offered to go find him or make him a costume.  He kept telling me he wasn't going to dress up this year.  Until 7:30am Halloween morning when he noticed Isla's green wings on my night stand and had the brilliant idea that he'd like to be the Tooth Fairy for Halloween.  Could he borrow the green wings- he asked.  No WAY!!!  But since both Miles and Isaac had already both lost their costume swords and I'd promised to run to the dollar store to get them some, I told Taylor I'd see if they had more wings.  Sadly for him they only had the slightly more girly red and orange wings left so I grabbed him some red wings and ran to the fabric store and made him a tutu in less than 15 minutes.

At first he told people he was the tooth fairy and after no one got it, he started telling people he was Isla's "wing man".  So funny.  Just cute to see a daddy so in love with his daughter.

Isla might have gotten left on the floor for a few minutes while I grabbed lunch for everyone.  She doesn't look like she minds though.  Always happy to lick the tulle.

Isaac was out of his mind excited to see that his cousin Jesse was also dressed as Peter Pan and that his family had done corresponding costumes.  His dad was Tick Tock crock so Isaac begged to borrow his crocodile hat.  So excited!

And then to top everything off, Jesse's mom dressed up as Captain Hook.  Isaac and Miles were hilarious when they saw her walk in.  They both sunk down into their chairs and in quiet scared voices said "it's Captain Hook"  Of course from Miles it sounded more like "it's cap-an ook".  Miles turned to me and said "how much do I have to eat so I can go see Captain Hook?".  Seriously.  He was willing to finish his lunch so I'd let him get up and go visit the scary captain.

Isaac with his twinner cousin Jesse-Peter Pan and cutey lion Amelia.

Here's a shot of the whole group.  So fun to have everyone dress up and hang out for a little lunch together.

Clint dressed up as a scary Jazz monkey.  The kids were totally scared until he let them try on the mask.

A fun day at the office.

And to top it all off Taylor won the contest for "prettiest" costume.  So funny but we got fun treats and a gift certificate out of it.  I'd say that's worth my 15 minutes making a tutu.  He makes a good wing man.

Isaac's Parade

And finally it was Isaac's turn.  They paraded out the back door and around the preschool.

And back around to the front.  Isaac of course managed to get himself to the front of the parade.  Such a silly guy.

Ethan's School Parade

Ethan's turn.  We dropped Isaac off at his school and then rushed back to Ethan's to see his parade.  And randomly the only spots left were just 10 feet away from Ethan who was waiting for his class to join the parade.  The older grades start out first and filter down through the school so all the other students can seem them, and then outside where most of the parents are waiting.

So we waved to Ethan and saw a bit of the parade and then took off early.  Fabulous.

Isla was wonderful as always and spent most of the morning in her carseat- either in the car or at parades, but she was cute as always and very smiley.  Just waiting for her wings and a tutu.

Milo's First Halloween Parade

Miles loves Joyschool.  It certainly fits into his vision of himself as a big boy.  And since both Ethan and Isaac were having Halloween parades at their schools, it was perfect that Miles' teacher for that week decided to hold their own parade.   So we dressed them all up and took pictures.  

And they marched up the street 3 houses.

And back again!

And while I laugh about that being a parade, do you see how excited he is.  He thinks he's a rockstar.  And this momma loves him!

Finally done with 12 hours to spare

Whew.  It was a nail biter but I finally finished up the kid's costumes Tuesday afternoon.  Miles was actually the catalyst for all the other's costumes.  He is currently OBSESSED with Jake and the Neverland Pirates so when I found that costume at Costco for 12 bucks I was sold.  And he was in heaven.  

Of course once I brought it home Isaac was so excited and insisted that he needed to be Peter Pan.  My searches for a good Peter Pan costume were fruitless so I decided to make him one myself.  Which actually turned out to be super easy.  Who knew little boys shirts, leggings, shoe covers, and felt leaf hats could be so easy.  Done in one afternoon.  And so cute.

Isaac and Miles tried to convince me that Isla needed to be Izzy (the girl pirate on the show) but since even I don't really know who that is I decided she needed to be Tinkerbell instead.  And what a cute fairy she was!  So excited to chew on the tulle.

While Isaac's costume took just one day, Isla's took WEEKS!  Who knew it was so hard to make a onesie.  I remade the thing 3 times and it still looked silly up close.  Luckily no one looked too close at her costume when she was smiling like this!  The tulle skirt was super easy and done in 20 minutes flat and the dollar store wings worked great.

Isaac and Miles decided that Taylor should be Captain Hook and Ethan should be Tick Tock Crock but unfortunately for them, both Taylor and Ethan said no way.  Ethan had his heart set on being Harry Potter and after the disaster of Isla's costume I was happy that Walmart came to the rescue.  Done!

Ethan's been practicing his spells all week.  Boy are we ready for the big day!

A Halloween Dinner

With Taylor gone I had to think of a few ways to make dinnertime more fun.  Pinterest to the rescue!  Clementine slices make great vampire teeth.

And Grandma Tina was fabulous and send the boys Halloween cups and skull straws.

Isla did not get to partake in the festive food but banana flavored mum mums made her happy.

Mummy dogs.  Mmmm!

We painted on the clementines with sharpies to make them jack-o-lanterns.  Super easy and super fun for all.

Assemble the Minions!!!

It's no secret we love the movie Despicable Me.  The minions "ba-na-na" YouTube song is definitely a favorite too.  We were sad to have dad gone for 5 days for his Law Conference but excited to have him back... and he brought presents for everyone.  How adorable are my 3 minions and my littlest minionette?  Love them!  These are now the first shirts they grab after I do the laundry.  Go dad!

And when asked to sing the "ba-na-na" song this is what you get:  pure excitement and really loud, silly boys.  Apparently Ethan is the loudest since Isla is totally watching him.

Fairmont Halloween Carnival

With Taylor gone we definitely needed to find a few out of the house activities to entertain everyone.  Our local Boys and Girls club was hosting a Halloween carnival at the local pool so we went to support and to have some fun.

There were so many cute games perfect for little kids.

Plinko- a personal favorite.

Throwing spiders in buckets is new to me but a favorite of little boys.

Isla as always was a good sport and chilled in the stroller.

Miles was overjoyed to see the penguin mascot.

Isaac has great bowling form.  Those are my genes there :)

There was also sugar cookie decorating.  Miles twice tried to eat the sprinkles by themselves- there was a spoon in the bowl of sprinkles.  I had to show him how to frost and THEN put on the sprinkles.  Apparently a spoonful of sprinkles is appealing to Miles.

They even had a not so scary spook alley.  The boys LOVED it and went through it again and again.

It's dark but the tunnel maze was their favorite part.  A good way to pass a Friday afternoon without dad.