Halloween Prepping
I have the sneaking suspicion that this Halloween is going to be TOTALLY EPIC!!!! (In the words of Michaelangelo, a good friend of Niall's). It didn't dawn on me until a week ago, but once the brilliant idea popped into my head, I knew it had to be lived...
This, my friends, is the making of a family of ninja turtles. Not one, not 2, but all of us will be rockin' the turtle shells together this year. It only makes sense, since we are a family of 4 (and since I secretly really wanted to dress up as something this year).
I made the shells out of roaster pans from the dollar store and used green spray paint to turn them into the real deal. Then, I used felt and black puffy paint to do the front shell. The brown ribbon is for tying around the elbows and knees as the shin/elbow guards, and colored ribbon for the "mask" of each of the characters.
Niall designated each of us the turtle of his liking-- Matt is Donatello, I am Raphael, He is Michaelangelo, and Brendan is Leonardo-- which is very fitting because Leo is the leader of the group and B is definitely running the show around here these days.
If there's one thing I've learned about toddlers and Halloween-- well, let's make it 2 things--
a) kids under 3 may decide that they would rather die than get into a costume and the more you try to force the issue, the more likely it is that the kid will never ever get in that costume.
b) kids over 3 generally do want to get in their costume, but they will desperately try to change their mind about what they want to be at the last minute-- after you've already bought what they asked for 2 weeks ago.
I'm choosing to ignore Niall when he tells people that he is now going to be a dinosaur and then looks at me like maybe I will just go with the flow and magically turn his costume into a dinosaur. I just smile, say "oh that sounds like a great one for next year", and change the subject. Should be interesting on Halloween day.
This was the first year that Niall got really into decorating, so that was fun.
He loved helping with the spider webs...
And I have to say, when those little spiders fall out of the webs and you see them dangling in the walkway, it really does get me every time.
I'm pretty excited that we didn't rip out these massive overgrown bushes yet, though... turns out they are actually great for the whole Halloween effect. I thought the bottom of the stairs turned out pretty good ...
...but then I got lazy--
This one was probably not my best parenting choice for decorating a house of less than 4 yr old children, but it had to be done for the sake of all other children wanting a good scare...
And this pumpkin?
LAME.
Not my best work by any means, but that's what happens when your husband says he is going to carve the pumpkin with the kids and then abandons ship to watch the Redskins game.
Niall did help with carving the pumpkin, so he proved to be more useful than his dad in that department (and by helping, I mean that I begged him to put down the carving utensils that I wasn't using and he continually responded that he knew how to be "gentle with knives").
I will post pix of the real day to see how the costumes actually turn out. I wouldn't get my hopes up, but hopefully they will slightly resemble turtles in the end. Happy Early Halloween!
This, my friends, is the making of a family of ninja turtles. Not one, not 2, but all of us will be rockin' the turtle shells together this year. It only makes sense, since we are a family of 4 (and since I secretly really wanted to dress up as something this year).
I made the shells out of roaster pans from the dollar store and used green spray paint to turn them into the real deal. Then, I used felt and black puffy paint to do the front shell. The brown ribbon is for tying around the elbows and knees as the shin/elbow guards, and colored ribbon for the "mask" of each of the characters.
Niall designated each of us the turtle of his liking-- Matt is Donatello, I am Raphael, He is Michaelangelo, and Brendan is Leonardo-- which is very fitting because Leo is the leader of the group and B is definitely running the show around here these days.
If there's one thing I've learned about toddlers and Halloween-- well, let's make it 2 things--
a) kids under 3 may decide that they would rather die than get into a costume and the more you try to force the issue, the more likely it is that the kid will never ever get in that costume.
b) kids over 3 generally do want to get in their costume, but they will desperately try to change their mind about what they want to be at the last minute-- after you've already bought what they asked for 2 weeks ago.
I'm choosing to ignore Niall when he tells people that he is now going to be a dinosaur and then looks at me like maybe I will just go with the flow and magically turn his costume into a dinosaur. I just smile, say "oh that sounds like a great one for next year", and change the subject. Should be interesting on Halloween day.
This was the first year that Niall got really into decorating, so that was fun.
He loved helping with the spider webs...
And I have to say, when those little spiders fall out of the webs and you see them dangling in the walkway, it really does get me every time.
I'm pretty excited that we didn't rip out these massive overgrown bushes yet, though... turns out they are actually great for the whole Halloween effect. I thought the bottom of the stairs turned out pretty good ...
...but then I got lazy--
This one was probably not my best parenting choice for decorating a house of less than 4 yr old children, but it had to be done for the sake of all other children wanting a good scare...
And this pumpkin?
LAME.
Not my best work by any means, but that's what happens when your husband says he is going to carve the pumpkin with the kids and then abandons ship to watch the Redskins game.
Niall did help with carving the pumpkin, so he proved to be more useful than his dad in that department (and by helping, I mean that I begged him to put down the carving utensils that I wasn't using and he continually responded that he knew how to be "gentle with knives").
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