This was the year that Halloween lasted and lasted. Costume ideas were generated in August... Grant, a pirate, and Olivia, the corpse bride. Olivia wanted to be the corpse bride last year (taken from the cartoon movie, The Corpse Bride- which is quite good) but chickened out. She wasn't quite ready to break from the girly stuff. The pumpkins were purchased the end of September on our return from North Carolina. We decorated the house on October 1. Olivia and Grant attended a costume birthday party for their friend Weston. We went to another friends (Chance) Grandpa's house for a halloween party - complete with hay rides, ghost hunts and spooky decorations. Oh, and a stumble into the fish pond. I guess Grant wanted to try out his pirate skills. Then it was halloween parties at school and finally, the big night of trick or treating. Whew...
First: Halloween Prep
We carved one pumpkin each night during the week to prolong the fun. Olivia and Grant came up with their designs on paper and Don carved them. We may have helped Grant a little in his design interpretations but Olivia's is 100% hers. I think she did well.
Grant and Olivia Pumpkins...
All aglow...
The Great (family) Pumpkin...
We had our yard decorated to the max this year. Each year we add a little bit more to our decor collection. We have gone with the creepy graveyard theme. We have tombstones, skulls, bones, corpses coming out of the ground, cobwebs and spiders and staked skulls. This year Don added a body inside our front room window. He stuffed his mechanics suit and placed a lifesize skull on top with creepy eyes stuck in the sockets. We sat it in a chair looking out the window. With the strobe light flashing behind it, it was enough to creep me out much less some of the trick or treaters. Some wouldn't even walk up the path. Success! All this and I cannot believe we forgot to take pictures of it. We promise to next year.
The morning after we decorated, I awoke to giggling outside of our bedroom door. Grant and Olivia were being sneaky and trying to place a worm inside of our door. I let them finish and listened to them whispering and laughing on the other side for a little while. After snapping the photo (blurry, I know, but it was early!!) I opened the door with a scream, much to their delight.
Second: School PartiesBoth Olivia and Grant had Halloween parties at school this year. I volunteered to bake cupcakes and the kids helped and in fact, did most of the work.
We made spiders and pumpkins...
Costume prep...Grant as a pirate...
Olivia was a cat for her school costume. When the party notice came home, it stated: "Please, no weapons, masks or scary costumes." Don and I conversed and I won the "is the corpse bride too scary to wear to school?" discussion. I will let you be the judge if you think the costume would have been too much for a first grade classroom...
Any-hoo... I left work to attend the carnival at Grant's school. It was so nice and quaint. Grant goes to preschool at First Presbyterian and the school itself is small, nice and quaint. We are very happy there. Thanks for the recommendation Veronica!Grant and one his favorite assistant teachers, Ms. Whitney...
The carnival was run by volunteers from the church. It was complete with bean bag toss, treasure hunt and...Fishing...
Face painting, or mustache touchup...
Personal hay rides. Grant's fave...
He made this poor volunteer lug him around the courtyard at least 10 tens. Luckily no other kid really had any interest.
Going down hill was the best part...
Lastly, they went trick or treating in the church. Getting prepped...
Grant was wheeling and dealing with the minister and asking for more! I was slightly embarrassed but it was funny... he was quite sincere about it.
After it was all over, they had a seat in their room and were allowed to choose one trick or treat item to eat. Grant chose cheeze-its and in his excitement and determination to open them himself, the bag ripped open and they flew all over the place...
Finally: The Big Night!Olivia's friend Aislinn (and our friends Nicole and Kieran) came over to do some trick or treating. Olivia the corpse bride and Aislinn the cool, pretty witch. Quite a contrast. If you look closely you will see Olivia's blue swim cap under her wig. She complained that the hair itched so we thought we had the problem fixed. No luck. She complained from the moment it went on and complained and complained, and complained some more. Unfortunately I could only make her wear the hair for about 10 houses. Then I carried it and the dead flower bouquet and the pirate sword and eventually the pirate hat the rest of the night. Oh well. At least the pictures look good.
And for costume #3 for the year... post trick or treating, we turned Olivia into the joker...
And now, my favorite picture of the Halloween season (courtesy of Veronica). Olivia and Grant were invited to their friend Weston's costume birthday party (is that grammatically correct?!) I was working the ButterflyFest and met up with them later. So, Don dressed them and got to the party a little late (they were at the Fest with me). As they approached, he noticed lots of little girls dressed as fairies, princesses, angels, etc. When they turned to say hi to Olivia and Grant, their jaws dropped a little and they just stared wide-eyed at Olivia. I suppose she is a sight to behold for 3-6 yr old little kids. She almost lost her self confidence but Don cheerleaded her on and she had fun at the party. You will notice the little angel is standing jjjuuuuussssttttt far enough away and looking slightly uncomfortable...
Priceless!I think what is the most fun about this costume choice is that in Olivia's mind, she is beautiful. Let me explain... in case you haven't seen the movie, "The Corpse Bride" it is about a lovely young woman who was killed by her husband shortly after being married so he could take all of her money. She so desperately wants to be loved and married that she comes back from the dead to marry a "live" young man. It is actually a charming animated movie that isn't as creepy as it sounds. Anyway, the bride is quite pretty for a corpse and you end up feeling sorry for her. I believe these two things are what inspired Olivia to be the corpse bride. So, while most view her costume as a creepy corpse, I believe she sees herself as a beautiful young bride that wants to find true love. It's all in the eye of the beholder, right?
The Halloween season wore us all out. The next day, Grant fell asleep by 6:00, Olivia by 7:30 and me by 9:00. Until next year...
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