Halloween!

Halloween was really fun this year.  I ended up taking the kids to our Church's Trunk or Treat. I wasn't planning on it. I figured they would get enough candy walking the neighborhood and didn't need additional treats from Church, but at very short notice, Derek was called into work and may not be home in time to keep a sleeping Jocelyn so I could take the kids out.  Luckily he was able to get home soon enough so I didn't have to lug a screaming tired baby up and down the street.  

This year Charlie had his heart set on being a Mummy.  I remember my Sis-in-Law had her boys dress up as Mummy's last year (they looked way better), but after they got all wrapped up, there was no going to the bathroom. So I compromised on his costume so he could wear it all day and be able to take care of business.  Some people got right away that he was a Mummy, others thought he was a bandaged patient.  

Leah is slowing moving from little girl to pre-teen.  Instead of a princess, she wanted to be a rock star.  It is her life's ambition to become a rock-star.  No amount of dissuasion will change her mind either.  So we had fun picking out the fabric and I created a look circa 1980's rock-star.  We had planned on her wearing her costume to school on Halloween, but the day before the school sent home a notice saying kids could only dress up if they dressed like book characters.  A little notice would have been nice.  There was no way I was going to comply to that.  So with the help of friends, we altered her by name only to be Jem from Jem and the Holograms.  They had several books written in the 80's.  Good enough for me.  

My littlest munchkin was fun. I didn't need a crazy warm costume like I have in the past.  It was 80 degrees on Halloween.  I found some cute peacock costumes online and I recreated that for Jocelyn.  Her's was proabably the hardest only because I couldn't find what I wanted and I had to settle for what was available.  I wanted her in a turquoise blue onsie and orange tights.  Yeah, they don't make those.  I looked everywhere.  She still ended up stinking cute.  

 At the church for Trunk or Treat

Jocelyn's first sucker.  She was hillarious.  I had to pry it out of her fingers when the stick started to break.  

Birthday Boy

I have a few meager pictures from Charlie's 5th birthday.  I always want to take more, but it's take pictures or wrangle a house full of 5 year old's.  I chose the later.  

 We had Charlie's birthday party after his actual birthday  So for his birthday, we had his favorite meal, spaghetti with meatballs, ate cupcakes and opened family presents.  You have to feel special on your birthday.

 Charlie wanted a monster birthday cake again this year, so I had him sit with me while we looked at pictures on the Internet.  We found an image similar to this that he loved.  I thought we might get a green monster this year, but at the last minute, he wanted blue....shocking since it is his favorite color.

 Charlie had several little friends over to celebrate turning 5.  We had a Halloween themed party with party games.  A first for me.  Usually we just let the kids play, but after last years fiasco with Leah's party, I realized we needed a little structure.  We had pin the spider on the web, pumpkin bowling, Halloween bingo and a balloon spider pinata.  And of course I didn't take any pictures of this.

Charlie and his friends seemed to have a great time.  He was very happy to have all his friends over to play. So I'd say having a happy kid makes for a successful party.