Halloween 2012

Yes, apparently I do have a blog and yes I sometimes remember to update it. Also I just realized I haven't posted about Cara's birthday that was over 1 month ago!  Well I'll do this out of order since I am already doing the Halloween post and hopefully remember to do Cara's birthday next week. Yeah, we'll see.

We didn't do the complete family theme this year. We sort of split up. KC and I were District 12's Katniss and Peeta (pre-hunger games). Andrew and Isaac were characters from their favorite video game Minecraft and Will and Cara were classic Halloween, a pumpkin and a ghost.

Getting ready to go trick or treating.

The boys couldn't wait to get out and get going.

Cara practices walking while she tries on her ghost tutu. 

Katniss, Peeta and a pumpkin?

See? I got candy.

Isaac as a skeleton archer from Minecraft. After a while he got tired of the box head and just went around in the sweats.

Andrew as "Steve" from Minecraft. After a while he got tired of falling down (the box was too long so he couldn't bend his legs well) so he finished trick or treating early and spent the rest of the evening giving out candy on the porch.

Cara enjoys the treat or treat walk. It was beautiful weather for a Halloween in Utah.

 Here are the reference photos we used for our costumes.

Halloween!

A little late on the sharing of the Halloween costumes this year. Our family theme this year was the computer game that has become a sort family obsession, Plants vs Zombies. Andrew wanted to be the Cherry Bomb on the game it looks like this:

 Andrew looked like this:

Isaac wanted to be the giant zombie called a Gargantuar Zombie, he looks like this in the game:

 Here is Isaac as the Gargantuar Zombie. In the game he sometimes carries a stop that he smashes the plants with instead of a telephone pole. Also on his back is an Imp zombie that rides in a trash can on his back.

KC wanted to one the more common zombies on the game. He chose a Cone Head Zombie. On the game he looks like this:

Here is KC as the cone head zombie, notice the detail:

I made a Pea Shooter costume for William that I wasn't sure he'd wear to go trick or treating. In the game the Pea Shooter looks like this:

But he surprised us all and actually wore the pea shooter hat the whole time he trick or treated around the neighborhood. Again he exceeds my expectations.

I was supposed to be a sun flower as seen here:

I didn't get a picture of me individually, there wasn't much to see, obviously my costume didn't get as much attention as everyone else. Here is the whole family just before they boys left to go trick or treating. 

 Cara here is in her leopard/cat outfit, she was supposed to be a bumble bee but she was sleeping and I didn't get a chance to change her... oh well. This picture is of her earlier in the day:

My Heroes

Is your land in danger from an evil king, sith lord, emperor, or magician? Never fear! Call 1-800-MY HEROES and we'll provide you with the right hero for the job.

The hero, Andrew Who Could Fight always has the right weapon for the job. With his magical sword, super hammer, bombs, and arrows, he is ready to fight both dungeon bosses and evil magicians.

 If a samurai ninja is more your style, we have Ninja Isaac to protect your people.

With Scottish heart and fighting skills, William Wallace is ready to free your people from the tyranny of kings.

Do you have a Sith Lord Emperor plaguing your galaxy? What your rebellion needs is a good Jedi Master.

Does organization, structure, and cleanliness bog you down? Pumpkin Boy with pumpkin power will fix that with his ability to empty cupboards and throw food. His signature mess of pumpkin innards lets organizers know who's in town.

Is your city overrun by mental crime bosses? We also have special relations with a bat obsessed group who can put those criminals behind bars. Sign up now and we'll include a free signal light.

Arrr Matey!

We had a lot of fun this Halloween. This is the first time we've really gotten into the dressing up and decorating. We even had a little party for the kids and their friends. Inspired by William's hand-me-down costume from when Isaac was a baby, we all ended up being pirates. I made all of my costume minus the hat and boots. I made none of KC's, most of Andrew's, and some of Isaac's. William rode in style in his own pirate ship. He was the highlight of our trick or treating outing.

Something came over me when I envisioned turning our long, boring, and tall front entry hallway into a Haunted Hallway. Armed with large rolls of black plastic, some black lights and fluorescent paint we created a pretty cool little spook "alley". The visiting trick or treaters loved it when the fog spilled out when we opened the door and they saw spooky ghosts, bats, spiders, skeletons, and graves. I put together a track of spooky sounds that played in the background on the porch. It was a lot of fun to open the doors and give out candy this year. Next year we will probably do the same and may expand it out to the porch a little more. I can't wait!

Happy Halloween and Why I Now Hate November

So this Halloween Isaac must have really been into the spirit. No fake mummy bandages for him. He wanted it to be authentic so he bumped his head on the coffee table so he'd bleed and need a bandage until it stopped.
Actually it wasn't that bad, I didn't put the bandage on until later after it had already stopped bleeding once. A mummy would have been too "scawee" for him any way.

Both boys were really excited to finally get to wear their costumes and go trick or treating. Andrew had to be Tigger this year. I'm not sure why, but I think he thought if he had the costume he'd be able to bounce on the tail like Tigger does. He was a bit dissapointed that he couldn't really do it, but he still loved being Tigger. Don't call him Tigger though, he will say, "No, I'm Andrew." We asked Isaac a few months ago what he wanted to be and we got, Duckie. Big surprise there, although he hasn't been playing with the duckies as much lately. He refused to try on the costume until the time came, but he always said the the costume was, "Aww, cute." We just loved the tail of the duckling costume, it waddled when he walked. Too funny. I think he'll hate us in 10 years for this. Most of my pictures came out blurry, but here are a couple okay ones. ( I hate my camera now, anyone want to dontate one that is newer than 4 1/2 years old?) This is the first house they visited, see the tail?This is on our porch. The pumpkin on the left was painted by Isaac and the one on the right by Andrew. The other side of Andrew's pumpkin had an "ahhhh, scawee" face.

So October was great. Weather was nice and we had fun. November hasn't been fun yet. I don't like November anymore, well at least the beginning of it. Why? Daylight Savings ends. It used to be so cool, fall back. Yes! Another hour to sleep in! Until I had kids who have amazingly accurate internal clocks, who demand cereal first thing. I bet most moms agree. Get rid of it all together. Why mess with our delicate sleep schedules? I used to not like Spring forward, now with kids I can use that time to have a week where they sleep an hour later, YES! But I'd happily give that up to keep it simple. Maybe I can convince KC to move one more time to Arizona? Hey there's one reason to vote for McCain, he's from a smart state.

Here's one last picture, Isaac really likes the suckers.

Baby's Costume

As of yesterday Mystery Baby is not a mystery anymore. HE even had a costume for Halloween. Doesn't he look sort of freaky?
After 4 different checks for gender by the doctor we figured it out. One was a "does that look like a hamburger?", the other 3 were "That looks suspicious." My doctor tends to be vague, can you tell?. KC said, "More like a hot dog then, right." That's more specific. In the end we all agreed, boy #3 is on his way. We are keeping up a tradition as well, since KC grew up in a house of 3 boys as did his father.

There are other important things to check on the first ultrasound besides looking for boy or girl parts. There was the counting of the body parts, (Yup, 2 arms and 2 legs.) checking the head and spine, counting 4 chambers on the heart, and the measurements. I love the measurements part. That was when I first got an idea that Andrew and Isaac would be tall. Their femur measurements were always on the larger side. I worry for this baby though. His measurement was average. Fifty something percentile. Maybe he'll hit a growth spurt the next few months. Keep your fingers crossed for him.

P.S. - Name ideas anyone. I'm fresh out of boy names.

Halloweeny Time

Well the long awaited Halloween has arrived and is gone. The boys, Andrew and Isaac had a lot of fun trick 'o treating in the neighborhood. We didn't go to all the houses, we actually skipped most, and I used the double stroller to make trick 'o treating with two little kids easier. It was also great weather for the activity, unlike last year.

Andrew insisted that he should be a snowman. When I asked Andrew what Isaac should be he first suggested a "hole". I'm not sure how one could be a "hole" but maybe Andrew has an idea. Mommy was to be a Ghost and daddy was to be a "bush" both according to Andrew. Neither of us actually dressed up, which Andrew didn't really seem to notice. Isaac ended up being a pumpkin. I was planning on making both of their costumes, but I luckily found a homemade pumpkin costume at Savers that was similar to what I was thinking and better. For Andrew I had some white fabric, batting, and felt already. It was fairly easy to make. So basically I only had to purchase some sweats for them to wear underneath. It certainly took a lot less time than last years costumes which took me a month to sew.

So here they are... Andrew as "Snowman"


And Isaac as "Pumpkin Boy"