Stow Aways: Halloween 2012

Many apologies to the out-of-town relatives who have now had to wait over a week to see the little darlings in their Halloween costumes. I really wanted to get this one done sooner for you.

This year, we had an Olympic Gold Medalist (London 2012 games) and Strawberry Shortcake!

Halloween has become multi-faceted. We really get a lot of use out of those costumes.

First, we hosted a little Halloween party for our ABQ friends who go back in time to college days. These two families provided many of the reasons we moved here. The Wixoms, constantly taunting us with tales of gorgeous sunny days, plentiful outdoor activities, and to-die for local food (ie - green chile.) The Howards, Alex, to be precise, finished it off with an actual job opportunity for David in his lab along with promises of many adventures to be had between our children and theirs, who are the same ages. I have to say, none were empty promises. We have truly great friends.

Kid Picture: Grace and Christian (as Alex put it - they're basically the same person), Harriet and Maren, and little Rylee.

Ryan and Alex pretty much take the cake for the funniest Halloween costumes I saw this season. I'm still unsure of the total idea, but when 2 guys pull up in your driveway looking like white-trash (zombie?) tail-gaters wearing U of U gear, it's at the very least, entertaining. They even brought their own chairs and a cooler.

Finding a dressed-up-for-Halloween-David is kind of like finding a Unicorn. No one can really be sure they did, much less have evidence. He even dressed up twice, once for this party, and once for the trunk-or-treat. I did not take a single picture! Ryan got a couple of blurry shots and sent them to me for proof. I've decided that current events make the best adult costumes. (I will never top my Sarah Palin costume from 2008.) David went as "doping" Lance Armstrong "7". Nice one babe. Thanks for dressing up.

I can't believe out of all the years I wish he had dressed up, he chose to do it the one year I had absolutely no time to figure out a costume for myself. I put a little face paint on one eye for the party and called it good.

I know everyone "loves" the pumpkin carving. The adults always have to do more than they like, but come on, it's FUN!

I asked Grace to grab the camera and take some shots since I was up to my elbows in slime. She did a pretty great job, actually. She kind of has an artistic eye and took pictures I never would have.

Ok all you kids, line up with your pumpkins and SMILE and pretend you did most of the work! I kind of secretly want to have one of these every year as they grow up. You'll thank me for it when you're 30.

Then, we make 'em glow. Grace always chooses a luna (white) pumpkin and carves a wolf into it with the moon glowing behind the wolf.

Harriet tried for eyelashes on a Happy face.

We did head on over to the ward trunk-or-treat. Except, this year, I think, there wasn't much to it. Our kids were done in about 20 minutes. Hardly even time to snap any pictures. Grace took off with her friends and we barely saw her.

I took these pictures when we got home. I did work hard on Grace's costume. I found this awesome track jacket at a thrift store. It was hanging there as though it had been waiting just for us. Perfect size, colors, everything. Then, we ordered a few things from the US Olympic Committee to customize it and tried our best for a rough replica of the gold medals they handed out in London this summer.

Harriet's strawberry shortcake costume was so perfect for her. I was so glad when she chose it. I try not to influence them in their choices too much. (I did steer Grace away from the speed metal rock star she was gaining vision for though.) Harriet originally picked out this sparkly Taylor Swift costume that she was in love with. A couple weeks later she asked if she could take it back for Strawberry Shortcake. I was so excited to make the switch. She can always be Taylor, but time is running out to be Strawberry!

We love getting giant pumpkins from the Galloping Grace patch to carve on Halloween day. We decided to get a little crazy this year and create "Peter, the Pumpkin Eater." Poor little pumpkin who is getting eaten...

This might have made me the most happy. In all the kid years we've had, Harriet has never been able to knock on her own Grandma's door to trick-or-treat. Grace did when she was 1 and 2 years old and the years between were filled with Grandparents we adopted in the neighborhood. This year, Grandma and Grandpa Chapman were home and the girls got to knock on their door.