Halloween Wrap Up

Is today November 8th? 

Yes

Am I just now posting about Halloween?

Yes.

Am I just now attempting to revive this blog after an interminable break?

Yes.

So this year, as opposed to in years past, I only made ONE of the Halloween costumes this year.  And it wasn't the witch...and it wasn't the cheerleader...

 

Only Mr. Man consistently requests costumes one cannot actually find in a store.

This year, he was the Joker from Batman. But not just any Joker - he had to be the Heath Ledger Joker.
He may be one of my heart-throbs...but dude was just plain creepy as the Joker. Truth.

So I hacked a pair of pants & a purple blazer from some Goodwill finds and whipped up a quick Green Vest from some fabric on hand...and viola! The Joker! (plus about a pound of white pancake makeup, etc.)

And of course if we had a Joker...we had to have a Batman/Woman.
I just had no choice!

^The Obligatory Porch Photo^

And of course this year we journeyed out to Irvington to decorate our windows for their Annual Halloween Festival. Just like last year The Munchkins' Aunt Rosemary was able to snag a window right outside of Black Sheep Boutique (just a hop, skip and a jump from Jockamos, Black Acre, Homespun, and other local favorites) So the kiddos got to work with promises of hot pizza and warm conversation at nearby Jockamo's for dinner.

 The Monkey illustrated a scene from "The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown"
I'm pretty proud of the originality...and inclusion of Linus's blanket!

 The Biz did a bucolic Pumpkin Patch scene...using every last drop of the blue paint.
And if you think that went unchallenged, you obviously don't have kids...

And Mr. Man, after much debate, decided on a graveyard scene...with some bloody bats flying above (because no black and no blue left. oy.)

But my FAVORITE part about Halloween this year?
My Minion Pumpkins.
Now this is a case where Pinterest was just soul crushing.
But, you know, in a good way.

I thought I was being original...I had this great idea...to paint my pumpkins to look like Minions! Guess what? about 3 million other people had that same original idea. Hah. Oh well. So after floating through 50+ Pinterest photos of other people's Minion photos I just turned the phone off and decided to wing it.

I'm pretty pleased. These little guys are adorable.
And eight days later? I just haven't had the heart to toss them in the dumpster yet...

Halloween Prep Round Up

More Halloween? you gasp

Yep.

More Halloween.

Go Big or Go Home, folks.

Here's some more Halloween Prep we got taken care of over the weekend!

Okay, so, explanation time:
We have the above giant barren wall in our entryway.
Granted, it's not barren now. In fact, it rarely is. I had these grand visions of getting a cozy little padded bench with storage for shoes and such, and maybe a snazzy little portrait or picture gallery...but usually it's just this great blank canvas of a space that gets altered every couple of months (admittedly, usually with construction paper) to coordinate with the season.

So the entry way wall now sports this spiffy little yarn wreath, which I already had wrapped and languishing in a corner somewhere. I just added some Dollar Tree Ribbon and Voila! Hallowreath!

The construction paper bats just sort of took over.
Oops.
Isabelle was down for the count Saturday and the other two natives were getting restless, so I put them to work tracing and cutting out bats. It kept everyone relatively happy for a good couple of hours. Score.



My favorite bit about the wall right now? The One-Legged Red Mummy riding a bad (see above). It's Mr.Man's little addition to the decor. Sophie's was a black blob of construction paper she cut out and stuck onto the closet door. When asked (in the nicest way I could possibly find) just what the heck it was, I got a patronizing look and an eye roll. "Mooo-ooom, it's a Walrus. Get it? WALL-rus?"  That kid is creepy smart. And funny. I got pwned by a four-year-old.

The Monkey is also responsible for the Punkin Patch lining the baseboards all around the entry way and adjoining hallway. I told you they were quiet and busy for a couple of hours!

And then...we carved pumpkins!
And by we...I mean me.
Because The Munchkins always seem to love the idea of carving pumpkins, just notsomuch the execution of it all.  I think The Monkey forgot how icky scooping out pumpkin innards can be.

Mr. Man was, appropriately, making monster faces in nearly every picture.



Except for this one!

Check out those gourds, baby!
It was a LOT of seeds. Seriously. A LOT.

I have no idea what's going on in this picture...

Bell, obviously, still flu-y and not happy about  missing out, decided to sit and watch. Then she promptly went to throw up again. Ew. Poor little Munchkin.

And, after all the decorating and pumpkin carving that went on this weekend, we still had more to do! Since Halloween itself falls on a Monday, there were class parties to prepare for.
*caveat* did you know that in public schools you actually aren't allowed to call them Halloween Parties? Everyone is having "Harvest Celebrations" AND, down to brass tacks, the classrooms themselves aren't even allowed to recognize any Holidays on the calendar at all with the exception of a "Friendship recognition" in February and an "End of the Year" celebration in May. Poor things. 



But, YMCA to the rescue!
The Munchkin's Before & After-School care programs were having a monumentally gargantuan Halloween celebration this afternoon. So, the excuse was born to try our hand at Caramel Apples.

My God, what a pain in the ass these were. Seriously. 30 Caramel Apples later I've vowed to spring the $2 a pop for them next time. It's so worth it.  Don't believe all the blogland divas out there who say whipping up your own batch is a piece of cake! I did. I desperately wanted to believe I could turn out gorgeous, evenly coated apples with a minimum of fuss and muss. But I couldn't.

Oh, and don't even get me started on the disaster that was Cake Pops.
Those little boogers just weren't happening. Maybe I'm just a perfectionist? But if it looks more like poop on stick with googly icing eyes? It's. Staying. Home.  I'm not sending poop on a stick in for 20 four-year-olds to giggle at. I have my pride. 

So the PreSchoolers got individual treat bags full of tootsie rolls and suckers and candy sticks...and I ran out this afternoon on my lunch hour to replenish the Trick-or-Treating stash. Thank goodness I keep random crap like ziplock trick-or-treat bags on hand! See? Being a pack rat pays off. BooM.

And Biz & Mr. Man, ultimately, after some unique swearing and after-hours drinking by yours truly, skipped off to school with 30 Caramel Apples.

Plus a few extras, because I was already swearing, and drinking, and covered from fingertips to elbows in semi-dried caramel.


Happy Halloween, gang. Happy Halloween.

Little Red... and a continuation of the sew-along

I. Have. Been. Slacking.

Seriously.

But I'm making up for lost time.

I've completed my second (of the three months I'm supposed to be participating in! Typical.) project from the Oliver+S Little Things to Sew sew-along over at a little gray!

Huzzah!

Also typical? SO not the project everyone else was doing this month.

Don't get me wrong, I had the material all picked out and the pattern pieces all transferred over to freezer paper for the Bias-Trim Apron, it just got set aside at the last moment in favor of a Halloween-Emergency Little Red Riding Hood Cape.



Here's me furiously stitching the lining in last night.
I used a deep crimson, thin-wale corduroy for the exterior and the cherries quilters weight cotton for the interior. I used a snippet of bright blue grosgrain ribbon for the button closure and just an old antique-y looking button from my stash to finish things off.

Also? I apologize in advance, dearest daughter, if the bottom hem falls out at some point during Trick-or-Treating. You see, I snapped my last machine needle clean off when I stitched right through a pin. Argh! So that bottom hem there? The bit that should have taken me another 30 seconds to stitch up and turn and be done with? That bit took me nearly an hour in hand-stitching. I would never complete anything if I hand stitched everything!


Still. It looks pretty awesome.
(Tooting my own horn)
And I'll have completed pictures tonight once the eldest Munchkin gets her grubby little paws on it.
(It was completed sometime around the 2:30am mark last night. *yawn*)

Huzzah for procrastination and last-minute projects!



*****************update!****************

The Biz loves her new capelet.
She wore it to school Monday, Trick-or-Treating, and I caught her wearing it randomly around the house the next day as well. I'd call this one a successful project!