Happy Halloween 2013!

Halloween this year was an absolute blast.  Evelyn wasn't too keen on it yet, but Miles and Vivienne were very aware of what was going to take place and they were ridiculously excited about it.  Leading up to Halloween, Miles decided that he wanted to be a space shuttle.  (He will literally watch about 45 minutes of real space shuttle launches on YouTube and then ask for more.  Can we say "obsessed"?)  I spend a few nights making Miles a homemade space shuttle costume, and I think it turned out great.  I even put the flag backwards on the right-hand side of it.  And it said "Miles" on the right wing where the names of the shuttles usually are (well, depending on which shuttle pain job you referece... on the Endeavor, for example).  While he refused to wear it at first, he quickly warmed up to it and absolutely fell in love with it.  I put it a lot of time into it, and it was so nice when people complemented me on it.  Quite a few people told me that they thought it was the best costume they had ever seen.  It made me so happy that it made him so happy.

Vivienne said that she wanted to be a princess, so I bought her a box of princess dress-up clothes on Craigslist for $10.  Of course, the day before Halloween, she watched a Dora Halloween special and was inspired to be a bee like Dora.  After chasing down a bee costume, she decided to stick with princess for the morning and Piglet (loaned from a friend) in the evening.  For her princess costume, I curled her hair and pinned it up (first time wearing hair pins) and put on a *tiny* bit of mascara and blush.  She looked adorable.

Halloween morning, our friend, Julia, had an amazing party at her neighborhood club house.  They had ghost bowling with pumpkins, a bean bag toss into a pumpkin and a costume parade, not to mention a ton of delicious Halloween treats and story time.  Julia is an amazing photographer and got a beautiful shot of me and my kids (a rare treat, seriously like a once-a-year treat).

 After the Halloween bash, we came home for naps.  Then I woke Miles up a little early (because Viv and Evelyn were ready to go) and we went to Jason's work to trick-or-treat at the cubicles.  The kids had a blast and loaded up on tons of candy.  They really liked being at Daddy's work, and they really liked the candy.

Then we came home and were greeted by Grandma, who is probably their favorite person in the world, so that made their day.  They played with her and showed her their costumes for a while before we headed over to Hippsley Manor (our new neighbors from Ireland) for a little pre-trick-or-treating fun.  For the evening events, Vivienne decided to dress up as Piglet (who is the same character as her precious lovey, Bea).

Then Jessica and Nathan came over to join us for the biggest event of the day - trick-or-treating.  Miles and Vivienne were absolutely delighted to run from house to house and get their treats.  Miles kept his space shuttle costume on the entire time, and he would run back from a house and show us his pumpkin and say, "Mommy, Mommy!  I got MORE candy!"

This photo is terribly out of focus, but you can see the joy in her face as she runs.

Eventually Evelyn tired out, so Jason brought her back home for some one-on-one time with Daddy and bedtime.  Miles, Vivienne, Jessica, Nathan and I made the round until about 7:45.  One of the last houses we went to had a really spooky voice and a guy that jumped out of the bushes, and that was about enough for Vivienne.  By the time we got home, the kids had probably walked about a mile (with Miles wearing his space shuttle nearly the entire time).  Their pumpkins were so full of candy that they asked us to help them carry them. 

Halloween this year was probably one of the most fun days that the kids have ever had.  It was a blast all day for them, and Miles woke up this morning and asked, "Can we go trick-or-treat again?"  Next year, buddy.  Next year.