An Evening with Spiderman, Iron Man, Mickey Mouse, and a Fairy



Iron Man was not feeling the whole picture taking thing!

 Halloween is 90% of the reason I had children (the other 10% is because some day I'll need someone to either take me in and take care of me or select a nursing home.  I'd rather leave that to my own children than some wayward great nephew who is pissed because my life savings amounts to $10,000 less than what my care and eventual burial will cost).  I love Halloween!  It was always my favorite day of the year when I worked an after school program.  (On the other hand, the day after Halloween was the absolute worst, suckiest day of the year.  My condolences to anyone who works with children today).

I try to make Halloween as fun as possible.  Here's a little peek into what Halloween was like at our house:

We started off with a breakfast of what was supposed to be ghost pancakes.  Please hold the jokes when you look at them.  Kthanks.

Parenting tip: Adding chocolate chips to anything negates the fact that it looks NOTHING LIKE what you wanted it to look like.

I thought it would be fun to do a few Halloween themed games.  So, after we watched the Halloween episode of Yo Gabba Gabba for the 80 MILLIONTH TIME we got to the game playing!  I figured this would make me Mom of the Year -- you know?  The kids would have so much fun that they'd be nominating me for makeovers and trips to NYC and all that stuff.

Yeah, no.

Jaidan had a blast.

Karis was too young to really do anything.

And Kyan was just being a turd.

We started things off my decorating our pumpkins we picked up a couple weeks ago.  Confession: we do not carve jack-o-lanterns.  I've never in my life carved a pumpkin.  Eddie has expressed little interest.  And plus it just seems messy and gross and a good way to end up with a mangled finger.  So, instead, I give the kids stickers (last year it was paint) and let them do the punkin' decoratin'.

Then we used (plastic) pumpkins to bowl for (plastic bottles turned) ghosts.

My floor did not look that dirty yesterday when I was standing there with the camera.  I swear it!

Bowling over.  Let's make some mummies!

There are two things my kids love:  scavenger hunts and "find the *whatever* Mommy hid in the living room."  So we did a spooky scavenger hunt and followed it up with a game of "Find the Black Cat."

Finally, finally - time for my personal favorite game.  Pin the Wart on the Witch!

You give the kids a piece of gum (a very, very rare treat for my kids.  I don't outlaw many things but gum is practically a never ever in this house).  They chew it up.  You blindfold, spin 'em around, and then they pin the wart on the witch.  We repurposed our Halloween countdown witch for this little activity.

Again with the dirty floor - Sheesh!

We had a supah scary spooky lunch:

That's spiders, witch's broom sticks, monster mouths, ghosts and ghost poop, and one eyed cookies
Most thanks to Pinterest

Since I'm a big fan of theme food, we also had a Halloween dinner -- the same thing we've had for dinner for Halloween for a few years now.  The infamous mummy dogs:

The adults had the same thing they've had for Halloween as far back as I can remember: chicken taco soup.

Then.  Then.  It was time to get ready to trick or treat!

We had Spiderman:



A fairy:

Iron Man:

 And Mickey Mouse:

She was originally supposed to be a (mostly homemade) pirate.  But when her Daddy saw this Mickey Mouse costume, he thought she HAD to have it.

The trick or treating brought in a decent enough haul.  Karis didn't want anyone else to touch her bucket and she kept transferring her candy to Kyan's bucket while they rode in the stroller together.  Kyan told people what kind of candy to give him "the lello one!  I want the lello one!," told everyone at each house what the house before had given him, instructed at least one person to give him more, and made sure to say thank you at every house we went into.  Apparently the Manners Discussions are going to have to be upped a little bit.  Jaidan and Zhariah are five and eleven -- therefore old enough to mind their manners and not do anything overly cute.

Neither Kyan or Karis napped yesterday so after about an hour of scouring the neighborhood they were both just done.  Kyan quit going up to houses and, when I wheeled him up to one, told the guy "no thanks" when candy was offered.

If that pic doesn't say "DONE" I don't know what does!



We made it home and they each had one piece of candy (Milky Way, Skittles, and Reeses).  I convinced Kyan that Sweet Tarts, Nerds, and Bottle Caps are all nasty so he gladly handed them over.  I inspected candy and threw away anything that was open or was, you know, bubble gum.  We made it this whole Halloween with only getting one or two of those nasty Mary Jane things.  This morning, the kids are going to go through their candy.  They each get to pick out five things they want for them.  Then everything goes into the treat bucket to be handed out whenever they deserve a treat.  Or whenever Mama wants to snack on a Twix!