It is finally starting to come off. I haven’t shied away from washing it but I haven’t really tried to scrub it off, either. That makes three showers. Can your lipstick do that?! 
Category Archives: Halloween
Two Katie bugs
We felt bad about Owen not getting to trick or treat so we went to another city.
Owen missed trick-or-treating since he was at the MSU game…and I felt bad that he didn’t even get to wear his costume. So Tom and I agreed to go to a neighboring city to take them. It was freezing so it was a big deal.
We actually went to a fellow TCFers house to park.
I am definitely not a lipstick artist!
I was volunteering in Owen’s class party so felt I had to do something since I wasn’t dressing up. This took two tries and is still kinda pathetic…but it won’t come off!!
Surprise Halloween delivery!
We truly live in a great neighborhood. We just had a neighbor lady we’ve never met ring the doorbell with BAGS of candy for the kids (and us!)! She said she loves Halloween and wasn’t home last night so she was delivering bags today and knew that kids lived here… 
Katie’s Halloween Afternoon
While the boys were away at the game, Katie had a birthday party to go to…and some trick or treating to do. (Our city, for whatever reason, holds Halloween the Saturday before.)
She made me a mask.
The group of birthday trick-or-treaters.
It was a tiny bit insane as they literally made a mad dash from house to house. It was also freezing.
And then they were all tired and cold after only 30 minutes so it was back to the house for a piñata.
A good time was had by all… And Katie even stayed to play and watch a movie so I had the house to myself…
Eyeliner is hard.
When you start to do fun eyeliner for a kids birthday/Halloween party and it keeps growing out of control. Then you just figure it’s a good time to practice so why not just go for it.
Our Katie bug is a ladybug!
The primary classes had a costume parade. Of course it was freezing and Katie’s class was the very last one!
Pumpkin Day
I volunteered to help with Pumpkin Day in Katie’s classroom. I had no idea what would be involved but then I got the email saying we’d be carving pumpkins so bring a knife and bowl if we could. Hoo boy—I hadn’t carved a pumpkin in years…
The classroom was a bit insane (I don’t know how she does it without an assistant—we were spoiled with Owen’s class having one) but overall it went well. There were four moms total so we each had a group of six. We had to measure the pumpkin with blocks and chain lengths, write what the pumpkin felt and smelled like, weigh the pumpkin, see if it sank or floated…and then design and carve the pumpkin. In an hour.
As you can imagine it was pretty much like herding cats. It started with the teacher switching Katie’s seat with someone so we could be at the same table…and the kid completely lost his shit and was a crying hot mess because “he wanted his seat.” Really, kid? You lose it over moving seats for an hour? And then some kids couldn’t pay attention for more than three seconds. One had no idea how to draw an H (“we haven’t done that letter yet”). A few wrote their numbers backwards (71 for 17) but fixed it after I told them—except one kid who literally kept writing it 71 no matter how many times I told him it was 1-7 not 7-1. One kid wrote all his letters on top of one another. You get the idea. I’m not bragging when I say that Katie seemed among the most advanced in her group (able to pay attention, answer questions, write her letters and numbers correctly, and follow instructions).
This is a snapshot of mass chaos before we even started.
I didn’t take many pictures because I was very involved in every step of the way—plus I didn’t have pockets, remember.
Katie was the badge collector.
And then it was time to go home so Katie got to ride home with me. She had a good time and was happy I came.
#firstworldproblems
When you want to wear your Halloween-themed leggings to your kid’s Pumpkin Day but the outfit doesn’t have pockets so you have no place to put your phone and you know you’ll want it to take pictures. (Yes, Eagle Eyes Readers, the sweater has pockets but I know I’ll be taking it off!)
2016 trick or treating with friends!
Our two Pokemon: Squirtle and Pikachu!
Our yard and porch! This was the first year we’ve left the lights on and just left treats out for kids to grab. I kind of miss carving a pumpkin, but honestly it’s a lot of work and I don’t miss the stress about needing to get it done. Plus, I have this light-up pumpkin that I can use.
Starting at our neighbor’s house…
We weren’t planning on going with them, but she was ready when we got to their house, so we all went together!
Maddie, a neighbor friend.
Then, on another street, we ran into more friends, so our group grew!
Trick or treating hours were from 6:30-8 and we used every last minute! We were walking back into our yard at 8:00!
The kids got entirely too much candy…and were super excited!
Family Costume Party!
Friends (the Brownes) invited us to a costume party and we hadn’t been to one in ages—and I’ve never been this thin—so I eagerly bought myself an awesome costume! I mean, I figured why not?!
So, you saw the sneak peek:
And Tom had a few costume options from previous years…but I had seen a friend do Cousin Eddie (from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation) and thought it was brilliant…so I picked up the pieces for that. And of course we had the two Pokémon kidlets.
On our way…
Ta da! Thankfully we had an unseasonably warm day and we were actually comfortable in these.
Who wore it better?! 
The consensus was Tom, though Randy showed more nipple. 
I loved all our costumes but I really want to have a theme one year. We briefly tossed around being Team Rocket or Ash and Misty from Pókemon but the costumes were too expensive for what they were and I didn’t feel like creating them myself. Maybe next year will be the themed year.
Our themed hosts:
Even Squirtles need to eat.
And Pikachus need to potty.
I really lit up well in the black light…but I don’t think it even looks like me.
The kids had a blast—we barely saw them the whole time. They were playing in the yard and going on a treasure hunt with 20 other kids.
Black light paint!
The funny thing was that we were all thinking it was like 9-9:30 (it was dark and we were tired) and we looked at the time…and it was only like 6:45! Are we old or what?
Once the sun went down it quickly got chilly so they started a fire and we hung out there for a bit but then we called it a night and were home by 7:30. ARE WE OLD OR WHAT?!
Sneak preview of my costume.
Neighborhood Fall Festival
Our neighborhood has a decent fall festival so I took the kids down today while Tom continued working on the new landscaping!
Katie’s first time bobbing for apples. Or, more accurately, attempting to grab a stem with her teeth.
The costume contest! Our friend Kayleigh won!
2016 Halley Fall Festival
So, it was an interesting night to say the least.
It started with deciding at the very last minute to take Katie as well. We hadn’t been going to do that and she was a little bummed but then the mommy guilt got to me and I changed my mind. We had a minor fight with Owen about what costume he was wearing—we bought him Squirtle because he really wanted to be Squirtle…and instead he wanted to wear some random skeleton costume with a mask (they aren’t supposed to wear masks) so we said he needed to wear his new costume.
On our way…
So.
Then.
Every year thus far, Owen has had a sudden onset of shyness or nervousness when we approach the school for the festival but it was never anything bad or lasting—we’d just walk in and he’d be glued to our sides for about three minutes until he saw all the fun going on and saw his friends…and all was forgotten and he had a great time.
Except this year. He COMPLETELY freaked out and wouldn’t even set foot in the building. At first we thought it was just his normal routine, but when we tried to coerce him in, he refused. REFUSED. And got visibly upset. We tried to be nice and loving and that didn’t work. We tried tough love and that didn’t work. After 10 minutes or so, I went in with Katie and Tom stayed in the hallway waiting to see if Owen would come in the building. I talked to his teacher and she tried to get him to come in. Nope. A few of his friends went out to try and get him to come in. Nope. I tried again. Nope. It was absolutely maddening. He had a whole litany of reasons he didn’t want to come in, the biggest of which was he hated his costume, it was stupid, and he knew everyone would laugh at him and he’d be embarrassed. It didn’t matter that everyone who saw him said they loved it (I mean, Pokemon is ALL the rage!) and people had heard about the Squirtle costume and were LOOKING FOR HIM.
He also said there were too many people and they’d all be looking at him. What? The kid who has no problems (anymore) of speaking in a group in front of an assembly? The kid that everyone seems to know and like? The kid who loves people? I was gobsmacked.
It didn’t matter what anyone said. He was NOT coming in and he was in full meltdown mode.
In the midst of this, I was with Katie playing the games and getting her face painted and she was having an absolute blast. (The face painter was Miss Anne, the assistant in Katie’s classroom that she also had last year and is a friend of ours.)
Putting her name on her treat bag!
Picking a sucker for a prize! (Bonus: notice that they reused my signs from last year?!)
With our neighbor, Jackson (first grade).
Getting her picture taken.
Then Tom texted me to say he was DONE because he had just had to chase Owen down because he ran off. What the hell?! So we went out again for me to try talking to Owen—at this point he was actually in the building quite a ways so I thought I would have more luck, but nope, he was still refusing to come in to the festival. And when I tried to coerce him in again, he literally turned and ran away down the hall. Some older kids saw his costume and came up and told him how awesome it was. Nope, still not moving. Still thought his costume was embarrassing. By this point I was just done (he’d been out there for almost an hour) and told him we were done—he was either going in or we were both going to sit in the car until daddy and Katie were done. Which is exactly what we ended up doing. 
So, Tom had switched places with me and had taken Katie in to the cafeteria to dance…where she had even more fun! It would have been even more fun if we were all there together. Ugh.
A bunch of snippets of Katie dancing…and frolicking!
So, overall, Katie had an absolute blast, Tom and I had fun when we were each with Katie, and the rest was a hot failed mess dealing with Owen. We have NO idea where this all came from or why it was so traumatizing for him. Of course, now we’re worried that something else more serious is going on that we don’t know about or he hasn’t told us about…
I almost forgot we had this shirt!
Pre-K Halloween Parade
The kids walked through the whole school and lots of the classes were waiting in the hallways to watch them. And everyone LOVED Pikachu!
Her trick-and-treat bag (they got a small treat in the main office):
They picked their Halloween costumes!
Pokémon all around! Katie is Pikachu and Owen is a Squirtle.
Owen: I love my little Pikachu!
Halloween in Grayling
The kids were super excited about treak-or-treating at Gramma’s house…and we were, too…until the Michigan weather happened. Yeah, it was 38° and rainy. Egads. If you look closely enough you can see Katie’s polka-dot long johns under her white tights (and she also had on pink tights!).
On the front porch where my Halloween picture was taken every year…
Everyone (including Uncle Rob) ready to head out!
There weren’t many houses lit up but the ones that were were handing out TONS of candy! You see how full their bags look? We had only hit maybe six houses at this point!
After about 15 minutes they gave up on the umbrellas and just ran from house to house while we waited at the road. Soon enough we were back at Gramma’s door!!
Home after an hour of being out in the rain—they were soaked but happy!!
Tom gave the kids a hot shower and put them in PJs while I made them hot cocoa!
Eating Mallow cups from daddy and Uncle Rob—they were Grandma Marsha’s favorite treat and someone brought a bag of them for the boys.
LOOKS AT THEIR HAUL!! The weather sure stunk but it was great for quick candy accumulation. They got 9# of candy from less than 20 houses!
Halloween starts tonight!
Owen’s school Fall Festival was tonight and we wanted some one-on-one time with him so asked friends to watch Katie. They were going to a Trunk or Treat event so she was excited! She was Rapunzel—with Pascal on her shoulder!
And then we had Harry Potter—SO stinkin’ cute!
With his fresh scar:
Getting his new shoes tied. I bought these shoes on clearance about four years ago and they’re finally the right size…and worked well with his costume!
Couldn’t you just eat him up?
We kept bouncing back and forth between the games in the gym and the music in the cafeteria. He didn’t want to dance but loved playing with the hula hoops! He was very shy because he didn’t know many of the kids.
And you’ll notice he’s missing the glasses. Yeah. He decided about 15 minutes in that he didn’t want to wear them. Or carry his broom. Kids. :/
Back to games!
And then since it was crazy crowded and he was pretty much done, we suggested frozen yogurt—and he wanted to leave immediately.
Katie actually got home later than us! They said she qas very well-behaved and had a BLAST! And she came home with a TON of candy!
The vampire teeth were the favorite thing.
And, lastly, pics from Katie’s night. Her friend Ainsley is Tinkerbell.
The kids’ pumpkins!
We went the dollar store route this year—plastic face pieces!
Halloween Schoolwork
I’m behind in posting Owen’s school work, so here’s some from around Halloween.
He had to list and draw five orange things: crayon, orange, bib, pumpkin, trick-or-treat basket
I used the wrong send-home sheet for the orange assignment, so this sheet was things to do with Halloween: pumpkin, bat, moon (the C thing in the upper left is his first attempt at the moon)
They had a whole project with pumpkins:
Trick or Treating!
The last hour post-dinner/pre-trick-or-treating was the worst (ToT didn’t start until 6:30). Owen was asking me every minute if it was time yet. We just kept the Tivo playing and hoped for the best.
We started getting them dressed (SLOWLY) about 6 and then started inside pictures about 6:20 (none of which turned out)…then outside pictures at 6:25…and it was a good thing that didn’t take too long because Owen started to see neighbor kids come out and he WANTED TO GET STARTED. Tom was super excited, too, as he has missed the last two trick-or-treat nights. The weather was chilly, but not bad. I just had on a sweatshirt, Katie had a turtleneck, and I layered two long-sleeved shirts on Owen.
And then one quick cell phone shot as we were headed out!
We ran into one of his friends at the second house.
And then the house that he visited with Grannie Lin with the RIP sign with glowing eyes!
Katie did pretty good walking and keeping up, but when there was a long stretch with no houses, Tom would carry her (and when her pumpkin got too heavy with candy—as it did towards the end of the night—I’d carry that). She would repeat everything we said—like we’d say “Owen, go up to that house” and she’d parrot back “Owen, go up to that house!” The whole night. And she kept saying “I trick or treat! I trick or treat daddy!” It was adorable.
About 10 houses in, they were finally getting the hang of walking up together, actually saying TRICK OR TREAT, and saying THANK YOU. They didn’t have it mastered until almost the end, as usual.
When we were done with our street, we asked if they wanted to do more or go home. Both immediately said MORE! But, by the time we were done with the second street and we asked the same thing, Owen said he was ready to go home! They had plenty of candy so home we went.
The first thing Owen chose to eat? Pretzels.
Katie? Milky Way.
Giving daddy a big smooch!
She did well for being up way past her bedtime, and we let Owen stay up later as well…but he was definitely ready for bed at 9.
Spirit Day and My Little Pumpkin
I was originally excited thinking that kids would dress up for school today but with the school-wide party last week and early dismissal today, today was a “spirit day” and they were supposed to dress in orange and black. And Tom actually was home this morning and got Katie dressed—and then I remembered at the last possible minute before heading to the bus stop that I had to put her in the sweater that I’ve been waiting a year and a half for (a hand-me-down from the Beson girls!).
Pumpkin fun at school!
Owen’s class has been learning about pumpkins. (These pictures were stolen from someone else who was there helping out the class and posted them in Facebook.)
Today they cut some open!
And got to see what was inside!
And even helped scoop them out!
HOA Fall Festival
I had to make her an MSU Cheerleader today!
Craft table! Which I had to do while also carrying their bags, his light saber, and my camera. Tom was running late because he was finishing up the back steps.
Katie LOVED the train. This was the first of many rides.
Snack time and water break!
Costume contest! (A puppy won it.)
Attempting the Mummy Race. Owen understood he had to wrap Katie up, but he wasn’t careful and the toilet paper kept breaking and he just kept wrapping it around her neck so she was screeching “I’M STUCK! I’M STUCK!” It lasted maybe all of 45 seconds.
Piñata!
Anakin meets Darth!
Owen’s first Halleyween!
Owen’s school had a Halloween (Halleyween) party tonight with games and snacks and dancing! It was quite loud and chaotic, so we didn’t stay really long, but we did stay long enough for Owen to play a few games, see some friends, and have a cupcake!
Anakin!
Katie was screaming inside the house so we let her come out to take pictures, too.
Using the Force!
Decorating his goodie bag.
Pin the nose on the pumpkin.
Broom race!
Witch hat ring toss—his first attempt made it!
CUPCAKE!
Build-a-skeleton!
More broom racing!
We ended the night with a stop to get frozen yogurt!
A Brave Grannie
It was Linda’s idea to make a Halloween cake and let the kids frost/decorate it.
Pumpkin Patch Field Trip
Owen’s first out-of-school class field trip was to a local nursery that has a pumpkin playground. I really wanted to go and help chaperone but I couldn’t take Katie on the bus, so we just met them there.
I actually went to the school first so I could follow the bus, so we got to visit Owen’s classroom for a few minutes. One of Owen’s classmates said to him “Owen, your sister is sooo cute!” and Owen said “Thank you!” The classroom assistant said the two looked a lot alike and I said “Really? You think?” But then she said it was the eyes.
It was only about a 10-15 minute drive from the school. We parked while the busses unloaded so this was waiting for Owen.
Owen’s class (the assistant is on the left in the green tee and his teacher is on the right in the white tee):
Owen grabbed the hands of two of his classmates in his group and off they went!
Their first ride on an old-style merry-go-round. THEY LOVED IT.
A quick climb on a train…
And then off to another merry-go-round!
Time for a hayride! Well, a tractor ride—there was no hay.
He went right down this slide with no hesitation!
Katie wanted to go down the slide so I sent her up with Owen and instructions to help his sister (or go down with her), but of course it didn’t happen!
After I helped her up the slippery walk twice she could manage on her own!
I think these were her first horsey rides! It was great because they didn’t take coins—you just pressed the button!
You can see how dirty she was. It had rained A LOT the day before and everything was wet and muddy. I had thought about the ground being gross so Katie had boots and Owen had old tennis shoes…but I hadn’t thought about the climbing things being covered in muck…so they were both a mess.
We got to pick a small pumpkin on the way out!
She loves pumpkins and wanted another one!
Katie took a tumble right as we were leaving so she was really muddy. We got to the car and I literally stripped her down, changed her diaper, then put her in the car seat.
My lamppost ghost!
We had one of these growing up and I always wanted one of my own but I never lived anywhere with a lamppost!
Until now!
I asked, and Gramma Jean made one for us when she was here! After seeing the neighbors with their decorations, I put it up after getting Owen on the bus.
