A little witch and a turtle

So this year we started talking back at the end of August/early September about what in the world the kids wanted to be for Halloween. Kale was always going to be a turtle, the kid loves them and this is likely the last year he's going to just allow me to pick out and make his costume so I found a pattern and went with it. Haley on the other hand... well, there was a point where she was going to be a Strawberry Shortcake/Alice in Wonderland/Cinderella/Witch. I'm really glad we were able to find a focus there because I can't even imagine what that costume would look like otherwise.

Last year I managed to make Kale a really great dinosaur and subsequently learned that following a pattern is definitely not rocket science... at least not for a kids costume. So I figured this year that I could make two costumes if I started early enough. By the end of September/early October I had patterns and supplies and was off and running. Originally I bought a pattern for Haley, but realized that she had a black shirt and tights were only $5 at Wal-Mart so all I had to do was find her a hat, and sew her a tutu.

Here's the great thing about making your kids' costumes: I could make them as warm and modest as I want. Hence, Kale is head to toe fleece because typically, out here in Colorado, it's like -25 degrees and snowing horizontally. Or so I hear, we've been here for three of them and each one has been uncharacteristically warm - like no coats necessary. But just in case I keep my kids as warm as humanly possible. For Haley, I made her skirt a bit longer than a lot of witch costumes out there (and we just won't even talk about some of the older kid costumes coming down the pipe in the coming years). I did this for two reasons, one, a longer tutu is cute - it gives it a bit more room to fluff, and two, this will fit her for a long while - instead of using an elastic waist (hindsight that might have been better but...) I did a satin ribbon tie so she'll be able to wear this thing for a long time.

Yeah... Blah blah blah. Here's what you're waiting for: the pictures.

This is at the zoo. This is the second year we've done their Boo at the Zoo and really enjoy going around to see the animals while we trick or treat at stands set up by lots of local businesses. Below them are the zebras and "G-Raffes", the tree is there for the vultures but it was a perfect scary backdrop.

For actual Halloween we went to our friends' home - they live in a "Socially Superb" neighborhood. My little girl makes a great witch. Also, we found her a kid's sized hat but it didn't have anything on it, and it really needed something so we got this feather boa stuff and I had to hand sew it to the hat - tedious and there is still a ton of purple fluff roaming around my house, but it really completes the outfit.

No, she is not capable of making a normal face in pictures. I think we used them all up for the wedding.

My Dude-a-Turtle. If you asked him, he was a Scary turtle, but mostly he was just cute and mildly uncomfortable with that shell on him. I wish we got a picture of him from behind, it was a really cool shell.

And the family picture. Jeff really wanted to be The Cat In The Hat, but thought this up at the last minute (I'm sure I could have made him an awesome one too). So we found the kids' dress-up costume, tied it around his neck, pinned it in the back and threw a giant afro wig up in the hat to make it stand up - Done! Cat In The Hat. Now, you can't tell in this picture, because, as usual, I'm overtaken by kids, but I'm wearing a pair of Haley's fairy wings, and her tiara from the wedding, my hair was all loopy and cute.

I've decided that once my kids no longer want or need my costume creating services, I'm going to hire myself out... costume sewing is just fun. Also, while the kids got a ton of candy, there were not nearly enough Butterfingers to pay me for making their costumes - bummer. Oh, and BTW, this year we carved some super awesome pumpkins, I could describe them, but honestly... Boring. We did these the Thursday night before Halloween and I stuck them outside thinking we would just get pictures with the kids on Halloween night when we lit them up. Yeah, Friday was hot and the darn things just melted. They literally look like they melted, all of the faces, and designs just fell from the heat. This is especially sad because four of the 7 we carved (we had a total of 9), we grew ourselves in our garden. We didn't even light them up they looked so pitiful. Note to self for next year.