Post Halloween

Since Genius Golfer didn't dress up--he barely made his way upstairs yesterday--and The Boy was too "cool" to dress up for school and is too old to go trick or treating, someone around here had to hold down the fort and show show Halloween spirit.

Groovy, huh?  I'll tell you the Afro wig was so tight it gave me a headache, but I held on and made it through the pitiful numbers of trick or treaters we had last night.  I didn't even go through a whole bag of candy.  WHAT?!  That has never happened.

Well, once I got my groovy self down, the rest of the night was far out!  Besides the wig, it was like wearing pajamas.  I'm cool with that.

It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Well, not really the GREAT pumpkin, but my Primary kids were all VERY excitable yesterday at church about Halloween, candy, dressing up, candy, trick or treating to my house and candy.  Man, they seemed like they were already on the sugary high.

One of our lone boys said he and his brother were dressing up as the guys from Duck Dynasty.  I'll be watching for that one, just to see how they look.  The girls were the usual fairies, princesses, witches, etc.  We'll see how it all turns out for them Thursday night.  If they are anything like The Girl used to be, she could still change her mind two or three times before the actual dress-up night.

I do miss Halloween for kids though.  The Boy isn't dressing up and  we have no parties to go to this year so no dressing up for me, I guess.  Probably not the most professional thought for work.  And for all the work they required, I miss making Halloween costumes.

A Downside to Teenagers

With Halloween coming, I asked The Boy if he was going to dress up this year.  "Uh, no!" was his exact reply.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised, since it has been many years since he did.  But this really affects me take with the "Candy Tax".

If The Costume Fits....

Halloween this year was more of a "come as you are" event.  As you can see by the photos:

The Girl went as a "swimmer"....what a stretch!  And The Boy?  I think he dressed as a "sophomore".  At least, that is what I like to think.

And me?  Yes,  I AM the "Killer of Dreams".  That is just what I am...at least, if you are a swimmer or a sophomore.

I got several giggles form the high school staffers when I arrive to work the school PTA store.  Then several kids saw me and were instantly depressed.  Like I said, it was a "come as you are" situation.

On A Lighter Note

Yesterday's post was a little heavy, wasn't it?  It didn't begin that way, but if you read much of it, you can see the slide.  I'm just frustrated with the negative campaign ads and the nastiness that comes as the election gets closer.  Let's just vote, already.  I am, in fact.  Today.  We have early voting, and while the wait was about an hour when it began on Monday, last night the website said there was a 10 minute wait.  I'm going this afternoon.

But today I thought I would post a lighter fare.  It is Halloween, after all.  The Girl dressed as a swimmer--ooooh, big stretch.  He wore her suit, shorts a warm up jacket, flip flops, and tucked her cap and goggles into the leg of her suit.  I hope the school doesn't have to call me to bring her some appropriate length shorts.  But they might.

The Boy?  Yeah, he didn't want to dress up.  He is too cool for that I guess.  But he did inspire my costume.  I get to work at the Viking Store today--as many of our volunteers have little children and were needed in Halloween parties at the elementary schools.  So I am dressing up while I work the store today.  The Boy gave me the idea...I'm going as the "Killer of Dreams".  I  made myself a sash and a crown--sparkly, of course.  I'll get a picture when I get it on together today.

In the meantime, here is my favorite shot of the kids for Halloween:

The Mermaid and the Cowboy.  So cute.  Boy I loved making their Halloween costumes.  It was fun imagining with them, and then trying to put their imagining into fabric, glitter, accessories and makeup to send them out to be so cute!  But that mermaid outfit nearly did me in.  The sequin fabric didn't agree with my sewing machine. But I persevered and she was happy with it.

Too bad they are all too big to make anything for them now.  Good thing I have lots of pictures of them in their costumes--and loads of great memories.

It's a Sadie's Hawkins Halloween

Tonight The Girl and three friends took out their dates for the high school's Sadie Hawkins dance.  It was a "Halloween/Thriller" theme dance, but the girls didn't want to mess much with costumes--so they decided on a variety of funny accessories and sticky back mustaches.  So much for undefined creativity.  They did ask me to take their pictures--in the local cemetery.    Maybe that was enough.

I hope they have a great time.

Realizations

[You'll need to click on the cartoon strips to see them in larger, full size versions.]



When the kids were smaller, their Halloween costume ideas weren't just imaginations, they were "options", as Jerry Sienfeld has said:

As the kids have gotten older, their Halloween ideas are just, well,  more and more cynical. 

(I can't imagine where they get that from?!)

Happy Halloween!

Here you have The Boy as Justin Beiber.  And The Girl is Velma, from the Scooby Doo cartoons.  Her three other girlfriends dressed up as Shaggy, Daphne and Fred.  They each did their own costumes this year.  The Girl bought herself that skirt--which was long--and she shortened it and hemmed it, then scrounged at our local thrift store and found the turtle neck , and we happened upon the striped socks at a local clearance market.  Not too bad.  The Boy just borrowed his sister's clothes.

I got to hang out at the junior high during the lunch periods today.  I figured the kids get pretty wound up on Halloween, even at junior high ages, so I volunteered to go be an extra set of adult eyes, along with the three administrators, watching for behavior that only comes when the kids are dressed NOT as themselves.  They were actually better behaved that I would have thought.

The Boy did not even recognize me when I stopped by his table to say hi to him and his too-cool-for-school buddies.  I can't imagine why:

Have a groovy Halloween tonight, man.

Mismatched

Miss Elizabeth Bennett meets Robin Hood.  It works for us.

The designated Party Pooper was whisked off by her Fairy Godmother, shown here on the left, and dressed for the ball, as seen on the right.  She ended up enjoying herself, in spite of herself.

"The Boy?" you ask.    Well he was "working" the spook alley and was unavailable for photos.  He had a BLAST!

Conflicted!

I have spent the morning taking pictures of old Halloween costumes I have made and held on to for years. I am preparing to post them on Ebay to try to make some space in the shed (for Genius Golfer's light show equipment). But I am having a hard time of it.

Halloween is my favorite holiday because I love to get dressed in costume. Even last year, with one in 8th grade and one in 6th grade I made myself a costume to wear to the junior high for suckers sales. The kids' costumes were all made with love--except the Sleeping Beauty from kindergarten one. That one was made with mumbling under my breath and a grandmother's saving sewing skills. The small satin pieces nearly made me crazy that year.

I've photographed the costumes hanging on the back of the front door. I have hunted down the photos of the kids wearing them in the year they trick-or-treated in them. I am hoping to make a little money from them, but my heart is just not in it yet.

I figured if I post the items in September, then people looking for Halloween costumes for their kids might be looking about then. If I get them all posted, then I will deal with the "letting go heartache" only if they sell.

Why am I so attached to these items that the kids wore once, maybe two times?! They weren't the lovey items; they weren't the favorite t-shirt that gets worn out from so much wear and tear. They were just costumes.

But in trying to sell them and make space for other things, I am forced to face the idea that my kids are growing up--YIKES! The Boy told me he didn't WANT to dress up this year for Halloween--and in some little way need me less and less. Or at least, they are past the phase of pretending with a Halloween costume. And I will miss that stage.

Pardon me while I feel old and sorry for myself at the same time. There. It will be fine. At least, until someone makes an offer on these costumes. Then I might have to curl up in a ball and cry a little more before sending them away.

True Story

This was my costume for Halloween yesterday--I'm Robin Hood. I try to make a costume that is appropriate to wear to school and that I can move around in freely and that is comfortable, as I am usually in it all day.

I wore this to my shift at the Junior High.I had left my bow and quiver in the car while at the school. I met my PTA friend Taffy there, who was wearing her best Jamaican Rastafarian outfit.
I was explaining that I left my arrows and bow in the car to Taffy just as Mr. E, the principal, came by our table. Our other PTA friend, Sandy, who was working with us, asked him if he had confiscated any weapons yet at school today and he told us he had: a toy rifle, a play handgun and a set of handcuffs.

Then he sarcastically added, looking at Taffy and myself, "Now all I need is drugs and weapons from the PTA and my day will be complete."

Hahahaha. Junior High school principals have to have a good sense of humor!

Halloween Today!

Some of you asked me "Where are the other years' Halloween costumes?"

Here are the 2006 and 2007 editions. The missing years (or missing children in a costume) in yesterday's pictures meant that I either didn't make a costume that year (in preschool, The Boy was a store bought [gasp!] Fireman or they wanted to repeat a costumes from the previous year like, The Girl wore the Mermaid outfit a couple years in a row).

Bill Gates (I know, but that is what he wanted to be) and the Pirate Girl 2006

The Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail (which The Boy has not seen in its entirety, thank you) 2007

Princess Leia with hair buns even! 2007

So, Happy Halloween today, my friends! Beware of the ghouls and goblins--and that is just for cars that pass those of you walking children to school! Be safe but have fun! It is my favorite holiday!

3 Halloweens Ago

I love Halloween and this is what I made for my kids and me three years ago. The Boy chose to be a Civil War General--any one of them, so long as they were the winners, he told me. Union, it is. The Girl was Fleur Delacour from the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire book. She didn't want to wear at witch's hat though and two other friends borrowed the pattern and were other magical, fantasy witches with her. Me? Of course, I am Miss Elizabeth Bennett, from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. The kids at the elementary school had absolutely no clue who I was, but the teachers knew and I got a lot of smiles from them when I walked down the hall.

I love the dressing up and the pretend part of Halloween. I dislike the gory, disgusting, scary event that it is turning into as the years go by. I figure there is enough REAL scary stuff in the world, I don't want to invite it in for a fun kids' tradition.

Lady, start that sewing machine!

It is Halloween costume season at our house. The opening bell rang on Saturday when The Kids and I went to our not-quite-local Joann's fabric store and picked up some patterns (while they were on sale) and fabric for The Girl's costume and for part of mine.

We went down thinking The Girl would be "Princess Buttercup" from The Princess Bride. I figured, if she was that, I could talk The Boy into being "The Dread Pirate Roberts". The plan didn't last past the pattern books.

Now The Girl, hoping to talk her two good girlfriends into her plan, is going as a "Forest Fairy". She thinks her two girlfriends should be a "Water Fairy" and a "Fire Fairy". Apparently Fairies are still OK to dress up as in Junior High.

The boy, meanwhile, thinks he is hilarious and wishes to be a "Nerd". Really, he just wants to wear his pants pulled up to his pits and put on some funny glasses. At least that takes him off the sewing schedule this month.

As I still get to dress up at the elementary school, I try to make something historic or from literature or a movie. I've been Martha Washington, Jane Austen, Laura Ingalls, and last year was Edna Turnblatt from Hairspray. I think I am going to go for "Robin Hood" this year. Yes, it is a cross dressing idea, but I have short hair already and the wig last year made me crazy! We shall see. I could end up as the Dread Pirate Roberts myself. I'll keep you posted and will add a photo when I'm done with everyone.

Happy Monday, everyone.