Tag Archive | Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween… a Bit Belated

So I MEANT to post this the day after Halloween but got knocked out by some sort of mutant plague the kids and their Baba felt they just HAD TO share with me… so please enjoy (a week+ late) our costume fun!!!!101_9977

Youngest to oldest…. Echo’s was an easy choice. The dress was one of the super pretties that Grandma had given us before we moved down from Canada. It finally fits, all beads and lace. For photos only I paired it up with my original veil for a bride picture or two.101_9912 101_9917 101_9915 101_9921

Then it was on with the crown for a very pleased princess.101_9919

And wings for a fairy.101_9924 101_9928 101_9930

Day of we paired it all up with her big sister’s church coat. Our very own snow princess!!!101_9970

101_9931Miss Trinity was one we had been thinking about since LAST Halloween… the Disney version of Alice in Wonderland. With her lovely long blonde hair and the addition of some black shoes and a black hair ribbon the costume we bought online suited PERFECTLY! We had to adjust the apron as apparently a little girl needs a MASSIVE apron but that was a quick fix.101_9937 101_9938 101_9942

Emanuel was our big build of the year. One that Ken took on HIMSELF! I am so pleased with how healthy he has gotten… old Kenny would have NEVER done such a thing. Emanuel chose to be a Minecraft Squid and Ken completely copied the head piece pixel by pixel using cardboard and paint.101_9965

IMAG0223What a success!!! Time consuming but a huge success. And a huge number of people recognized it right away!!!101_9966

Mr. Gavin was a bit of a struggle. He changed what he wanted to be a couple of times but settled on a traditional ghost… with a pirate sword. So Ken (again!!) made a lovely scabbard out of duct tape and I sewed a toque to the sheet to keep it steady. Rather awesome.101_9962 101_9963 101_9964

Even Zander’s costume has a bit of a story. Originally he was supposed to be a ninja as a repeat runner but on our costume odyssey for the rest we came across a Dominoes shirt. Gavin hemmed and hawed but turned down the idea… it was not until we were walking in the door from shopping that Zander FINALLY spoke up and said that HE wanted to be the Dominoes delivery man. So the next day we had to make a running trip BACK to Goodwill hoping to find the shirt still there. Then a couple days before Halloween Ken called Dominoes and was able to get us a small pizza box to finish off the costume! Not bad not bad!!!101_9950 101_9956

We heard about free ice cream(frozen custard) at Culver’s if you show up in costume so we doubly spoiled the kids with the very rare DINNER out as well! They have some super yummy burgers there.IMAG0249 IMAG0251_BURST001

Our plans, as usual, had us meet up at the Novak’s for trick or treating. It was a brisk day and we had a third family with us. We were out about 2 hours (less than last year).IMAG0257

But our haul was huge!101_9982 101_9981

And we ended the evening with a nice long visit with the Novaks. Halloween well spent!!!IMAG0266 IMAG0271 IMAG0272

Sorry about the massive pictures but we had a great time!101_9976 101_9977

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Halloween Here We Are

October 30-31

The day before Halloween was the best day for us to watch The Nightmare Before Christmas. I was surprised… Trinity watched it one and a half times! Even Echo sat through most of it. They giggled, they wiggled along to the music… it was great! I really need to get my hands on a copy of The Corpse Bride.  The kids decided the front needed some Halloween decorations and went out and did all this wonderful art on the sidewalk without telling us as a surprise!!

I think this is the haunted house

Jack-o-lanterns

Zander’s skeleton

What else did Tuesday have going for it? Well, we worked on our pictures from our Lego and birthday party sticker sets… the kids did their spelling and such as usual.. Emanuel coloured a child in a DINOSAUR costumepicture instead of learning about a NEW dinosaurs…

In dinosaur costume

There was also that SECOND pumpkin to spiffy up. This time everyone but Trinity put their hands in (or spoons at least) and got it cleaned out. We did a ghosty, vampire face on this one! I think it turned out rather neat!

Group effort

Gavin trying carving

Pumpkins together

And then to top off the day we took the kids out in the front yard for a trial run of the costumes! I will definitely redo the ones of Trinity and Echo, Trinity with face paint and Echo to get the BEST image we can of her with the Death of Rats (seriously we love Terry Pratchett can you tell?). In fact, that feltie is my idea designed by Ken and stitched by yours truly! 

Death and her Death of Rats!

Our very own Chococat

Batman (Zander) and Spiderman (Gavin in ACTION POSES

One of my all time favourites… PENGUIN !!!

The 5 together

We took the advice of Art for Kids and did our own water colour resist using crayons and black water colour paint. You can find instructions HERE. They had a blast drawing their spooky pictures and then painting the black over. I am not sure where all my water colours went as I am rather sure I had some small packages BUT Gavin was nice enough to share his set! 

The painting

Our finished art!

Now HALLOWEEN! Well, it was a wonderful day! I slept in way more than I expected to… this bug had me looped and I was up late the night before working on Echo’s Christmas present (photos  to come), thankfully Ken was able to continue his application code and job search and let me sleep while the kids had fun with Legos and toys and things. We have recently done a clothes sort for the season so it SHOULD be easier for the boys to keep their room clean with less clothing in the drawers. Note I said SHOULD. We did work on some pictures I printed from Activity Village(my go to place for so many crafty things) and enjoyed the sunshine at the kitchen table. 

Playing with goo

I have yet to let the twins know but as of Halloween they BOTH met their 20 sessions of reading and earned their pizza coupons! So now we have to determine when they can use them.  I took some time and baked some chocolate cakes and as per Darcy’s request we covered one in ORANGE cream cheese icing (sorry no picture). I actually found a nice and simple recipe for it as follows (ok not the cake, that was a box mix!): Quick and Easy Cream Cheese Icing Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup of butter (1 stick), room temperature
  • 8 oz of Philly cream cheese (1 package), room temperature
  • 2 – 3 cups of powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

METHOD

1 With an electric mixer, mix the butter and cream cheese together, about 3 minutes on medium speed until very smooth. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure even mixing. 2 Add the vanilla extract and mix. Slowly add the powdered sugar. Keep adding until you get to desired sweetness and thickness. 3 Either spread on with a blunt knife or spatula, or spoon into a piping bag to decorate your cake or cupcake.

Once all of that was done, Ken showered and the kids prepped to go we packed our pumpkins up and headed out to the Novak’s. When we got there they were having an impromptu dance/carving party so our pumpkins fit right in. 

Carving

Our pumpkins came along for the ride

Since Andrew and Anthony were not ready for their plans Ken and I took Aidan (and briefly Alex before he headed back to wait for his ride) and our 5 and started trick or treating on the street the Novaks live on. We made it all around and back to wait for Darcy while she dropped off the 3 big boys for their groups. Darcy got back and we piled into their van and headed to a newer neighbourhood to round off our fun with a couple more streets.

Trick or treat!

The 6 we took out all together

After that it was back to the house to eat some candy and play some bingo! 

Bingo!

We hung out until nearly 10 when Echo was definitely in need of bed and all of the Novak boys were home (well except Big Andy who ended up with truck issues).

The whole group!

On the ride home we had 4 of 5 kids ASLEEP in the van (Echo went back and forth, I think she is getting closer to potty training and was annoyed that her diaper was wet… sadly with all the goings on we have been doing disposable more now). We stopped off for the closest thing I could get to a slurpee – fountain pop… and then home we went.  Definitely different from our previous Halloweens but in a good way. Our kids had fun, they spent time with special friends and basically family and Ken and I got to spend time with not only an amazing friend but our godson too. The kids really look forward to their time with the Novaks and when they ARE all together it seems like they do nothing but have fun. 

We had soooo much fun!

This entry was posted on 03/11/2012, in Uncategorized. 2 Comments