Off to NeverLand!

I'm finally ready to post about Halloween! Hooray!

Halloween is not actually a holiday I really look forward to too much. I will say, though, that since I've had kids it does make it a lot more fun. We really try to concentrate on the fun, innocent part of Halloween, and not the dark, scary side of Halloween. And that will not change as the kiddos get older.

This year I really wanted to do themed costumes for the whole family. Brianna really wanted to be a princess, which is okay, but definitely not my favorite choice. I also didn't want to spend too much money on 4 costumes. Chris already had a pirate costume from VBS last year, so I was trying to come up with a theme that would allow him to wear that costume. Then, one day in September, my sister sent me a Pinterest pin of a little boy in a home-made Peter Pan outfit and it was just SO cute. I figured Chris could be Captain Hook and wear the pirate costume, Bren could be Peter Pan, and we could satisfy Brianna by making her Tinkerbell. I, of course, was Wendy :-).

I made Brianna's costume (using a piece of elastic, strips of tulle in various greens and sparkly white, and a ribbon for the belt) and glued the pom-pom on her shoes that I found clearanced for $3. I bought the wings and wand (came as a set), and thought she was good to go. However, she was very worried about having "Tinkerbell hair", so I worked hard to give her an up-do like Tinkerbell's, then sprayed her hair with glitter spray for some fairy shimmer :-).

Brenson's costume was also pretty easy to make. My sister helped me make the tunic out of flannel I purchased at Hobby Lobby, and we also made the hat together (which isn't perfect, but it worked). I couldn't find leggings in the color I wanted, so I bought a pair of cream leggings and dyed them green. His belt is a piece of twine, and Chris made his dagger. The boots we already owned, and even though Peter Pan doesn't technically wear boots, they worked.

We had to bobby-pin the hat to Bren's head.

Making their costumes did take some time and work, but I really didn't mind because we had 5 events/places to wear our costumes this year. We definitely got good use out of them!

The first place we wore our costumes was to our Friday Pre-school class, Miss Shelly's. My kids were SO excited to be dressed up!

Poor Tinkerbell had so much dress to try and work around during class. By the time class ended, she had lost her wings, wand, and shoes, haha!

Peter's costume was much less cumbersome.

See? SO excited!

I thought this view of Tinker from behind was cute!

Peter decided to take off his boots about half-way through class. I really didn't mind this EXCEPT that his leggings I dyed were girl leggings and had lace around the bottom. Oh well!

The following Sunday, we went to a Trunk-of-Treats that our good friends participate in and invite us to every year. My sister and her family came with us (my sister made Chloe Jo's Snow White costume and it was amazing!)

Peter was excited to get candy!

Tinker was too!

These looks are, "Okay mom, enough photos. Let's get candy!"

My costume was also made by my sister. Didn't she do a great job? We actually traded services . . . I did a family photo shoot for her and she made this dress for me. It worked out perfectly! Oh, and it was a bit chilly this night, but not too bad. We were thankful for that because we never know what the weather might be like on Halloween.

It didn't take the Bs long at all to catch on to the whole trick-or-treating thing. Brenson was all business (no surprise) and just wanted CANDY, haha!

My friend, Kendall, had a trunk decorated like a bakery and her girls were cupcakes. SO adorable.

Chloe Jo really like this trunk where the girls were dressed like princesses. She fit right in (and see her great costume?)

The following Wednesday, we wore our costumes to Library Story Time. We generally go to this every week, and I was glad when they invited us to dress up. I snapped this photo before most of the children arrived.

Tinker and Peter are very good listeners at Story Time.

This is totally a side-story, but I had been working with Brianna on learning to write her name. She hadn't really been cooperative, which lead to me being frustrated and, in turn, her being frustrated. I decided that it wasn't worth everyone being frustrated, so I would just take a break and re-visit it later. Well, this day during the craft portion of Story Time, I looked over and saw this on Brianna's paper:

It was a proud Momma moment! I was so happy to see that she WAS getting it, even though she wasn't acting like it.

The next morning, on actual Halloween Day, we had Music Class. Every year, we wear our costumes to Music, so it was fun that it fell on actual Halloween this time!

I dressed up, too, but Chris didn't. He took this day off from work to spend with us. The kids love it when he goes to Music with us!

We are currently taking a break from Music, and this was our last class. These photos make me miss it!

After Music Class, we went to eat (which was fun since we were dressed up), then we headed to our friends' house to meet their new baby. Baby Sadie was born to our friends Ross & Tia just a few days before Halloween.

Brianna was beyond excited to meet and hold Sadie. Brenson wasn't too sure at first, but warmed up quickly.

 Brianna just kept looking and looking at her.

I had actually gone to the hospital when she was born, so I'm going to throw a few of those photos in here. Wasn't she such a cute newborn baby (about 15 hours old in these pics)???

I was so happy to get to hold her. Precious girl.

Me, Sadie, and her Momma (who hates to take photos, so I was lucky to get this one!)

After our visit, we rushed home for a quick nap, then off to our last Halloween activity for the season. We went to Boologah, a fall festival in the town where my sister lives. Once again, Tinker and Snow White raked in the candy!

Peter had the candy thing down pat by this point. His little bag was SO FULL.

The church where we're members had a booth set up, giving away candy that was donated by some of our members and reading material. Chris and Peter Pan helped work the booth for a while.

After Boologah, we headed to my sister's house and a few of the adults took the kids trick-or-treating around their neighborhood. We still have a ton of the Halloween candy as I've tried to not eat it at all, and I only allow the kids one piece every day or two. Next year, I think we may skip the door-to-door trick-or-treating!

It was a good thing that we didn't have any more Halloween activities after this because Bren's costume was straight up about to fall to pieces. We did have a great time dressing up, but I was honestly pretty glad when it was all over :-)