Annika was going to be a gypsy and Caleb was going to be Optimus Prime for Halloween. Then I found a little cowgirl dress and cowboy hat at Savers in Nampa so Annika was actually a cowgirl, but since I wanted her to wear everything (!) we had a dress-up night at my parents where my dad took pictures of the kids. He has pictures of them when they went to the carnival at the Elementary school too but I still need to get those from him so you can see her cowgirl outfit.
My mom made this gypsy costume for me when I was little. I had a black shirt to go with it. I didn't go shopping so a white shirt had to do. Oh, and I couldn't resist putting every picture I had of her on here. At first my dad just told her to stand by the white wall and smile. She does this funny stance and super toothy smile. You can see in the following pictures I was trying to get her to do other faces. However, I am glad I got a few like this because these are good things to have pictures of as well. I really like the ones of her dancing. :)
My Grammy made this dress for me when I was Annika's age (actually a bit younger). I have a picture of me in it and in a future life I will scan it and put it next to one of these. Again, trying to get Annika to smile more naturally I tried singing the itsy-bitsy spider.
Then we went into once there was a snowman
Optimus Prime! Caleb has been telling everyone for months that this is what he's going to be for Halloween. We bought this costume on clearance last year after Halloween just to be in dress-up (because they were really cheap at Wal-mart). I was thrilled when that's what he wanted to be. :) This is Caleb doing his moves. If I scroll down quickly I can see him moving like in the flip books. Don't know if it works once it's posted on the blog. :)
At first we couldn't get her to smile. So I told silly kid jokes (that make no sense but Caleb and Annika think they are hysterical and start making up their own). Actually I'm no good at making up silly kid jokes so I say something I heard them say earlier that they thought was funny and they start laughing and then go off on their own. Kid humor...it's beyond me.
I stopped at Savers in Nampa, Idaho when I was out shopping the other week because there was a big sign that said, "Halloween Costume Sale". The kids already had their costumes picked out but I couldn't resist the sign. I found these wings for a few dollars and they looked so cute! They are already fraying, sad, but they are still fun for dress-up and the tutu I made a few months ago. I didn't have a top that went well with them, but this was fun.
We ended the evening with a short FHE (which also consisted of Caleb running from one end of the long room to the other and sliding across the wood floor in his slippery costume and Annika just running generally and happily being noisy) about Thanksgiving. My parents have a tradition of making a Thankful Box the first FHE of Nov (this was more convenient this year) and we write things on pieces of paper that we are thankful for (we are supposed to add to them throughout the month but sometimes that happens and sometimes it doesn't) and then we read them the FHE before Thanksgiving. Anyway, here are Annika and Caleb looking at the box and me in my patched pants that I wore (I should always look nice when we're specifically taking pictures! I'll try to remember for next time).
Okay, brief recap of Halloween festivities. Friday I had the day off and we were going to do something fun...well, Caleb played at Will's but beyond that, I don't remember doing anything really fun with them. I did run in a 5k Dash at Dusk where I won a jacket and Caleb and Annika ate soup and rolls at my moms. Saturday was the carnival at the elementary school so I got them dressed up and took them over. There are just little games set up in the gym. Annika was only interested in getting the candy. Caleb liked the little games and toys better. I was pretty pleased with how patient they were standing in line. I guess looking around at everyone's costumes makes it a little easier. I enjoyed looking at the costumes too. We stopped at a friend's house on the way home and played for a bit.
Sunday we did the dress-up thing at my mom's and made sugar cookies. I was getting snappy with the kids and wanting to just be done with the cookies (I need to remember it takes longer with kids and I had not gotten it done and it was getting late) when I remembered that my friend had told me she read an article about how people under the influence of alcohol can still control their behavior to more of a degree than we thought before. Anyway, as I was getting grumpy over making cookies (which for goodness sake is supposed to be fun!) I remembered that and thought, "I am the one that decides how I act and this is not a good example for the kids--how do I feel when Caleb is acting the way I'm acting? I really don't like it and get frustrated with him and here I am!" So I was able to pull it together and they got to bed late but we made sugar cookies and took them around to my visiting teachees who I did not visit this month (so that paragraph was to show that I'm a far cry from perfect :)).
Monday morning the pre-school had a trick-or-treating parade around the college. The kids get to show off their costumes and they get candy. Again Annika just ate hers up. The lady pushing the stroller with 4 kids in it said there really wasn't anything she could do other than take it away which would've upset her so she let her eat the candy. Annika loved it. Then later tonight when I took them out it was all I could do to stop Annika from eating candy the whole time. My friend Jill (Will's mom) just lets her kids eat all they want until they are sick...I wonder how high Annika's tolerance is? I'm not sure I'll find out this year. Maybe next year. Caleb said he was going to save his until he went to college. I told him he could eat it before that because it might go bad. It's funny how kids try to be different from each other so early on. I mean the come different but as soon as Caleb saw Annika was eating hers and I made some comment about him saving his he wanted to stand out. Also a lesson I guess in being careful how I 'label' the kids by comments I make. But still funny to watch the differences. I really enjoyed trick-or-treating and I think the kids had a good time too. Annika still wants to know when she can eat all her candy.
