Halloween 2009

Before the really scary stuff started happening, we had a pretty decent Halloween.

For whatever random reason, Spencer decided he wanted to be a housefly this year.  Which meant that Joshie, of course, had to follow suit.  And if you have two flies, you might as well have three. 

I had a whole post in mind dedicated to the making of these costumes.  But I got lazy.  So here's the condensed version: black sweat pants, black sweat shirt with felt 'feelers' sewn on the arms, fabric and plastic wrap wings, and bug hats.

I think the hats made the whole costume.

I made the hats out of an old fleece blanket we never used.  The hair is made of pipe cleaners, and the mandibles are more black felt.  The eyes (which I LOVE) are styrofoam balls cut in half with shiny green fabric pinned on.  I also used strait pins to attach the eyes to the hats.  

I love homemade Halloween costumes; and the goofier the better.  I just think they're more in the spirit of the holiday.  I'll keep making 'em as long as the kids let me.

Back to the actual night.  I wanted a picture of all three flies, which I thought was not too much to ask.  I mean, if I'm gonna put all the effort into making the costumes I should be able to get a few cute pictures with everyone looking at the camera and smiling, gosh dang it!  I was wrong.  This one was the best of the bunch:

And here are all the rest:

Note that our littlest fly didn't have his own black sweats.  At the rate that kid is growing he'll be wearing Joshie's sweats next year.  No point wasting money on something he'll wear once.  But it didn't matter because he's just so darn cute regardless of what he's wearing.

Spencer was lovin' his costume.  Josh?  He was being Josh.  He refused to wear wings.  And the only reason he had the hat on was because we told him that he wouldn't get any candy otherwise.

I love the look on his face in this picture.  It's along the lines of "Some day I'm gonna get you back for making me wear this, lady."

Here's the only shot I got of our pumpkins.  (I like to get one after dark when they're all glowy and cool, but I forgot and then got sicko.)  Spencer and I decided to go for classic looks; can you tell which one is Lance's pumpkin?

The evening was actually fairly chilly; once the sun set it was probably in the mid-40's with the wind.  Luckily, flies look great in jackets. (Plus, I snuck the wings onto the back of Joshie's coat, so he actually wore them for a while!)

Spencer and Josh are old pros at trick-or-treating now.  We invited our friends, the Souths, to come with us again.  Did we get a picture of all five boys together?  Don't be crazy.  Why would we want something cute like that?  But I did get several action shots.

Early on Josh decided he needed a valet to carry his bag.  I mean, seriously, he can't be expected to do all the work during Trick-or-Treating, right?  It's tough walking up to those doors, ringing the doorbell, and yelling "Trick-or-Treat!" while neighbors give you free candy.  So Daddy got to help out a bit.

Here's one of the rare moments Josh actually carried his own bag.  And had his hat on.  Because after a few houses he decided a hat wasn't needed, so he was just a random kid in black sweats begging for candy door-to-door.  (He had even torn the feelers off of his arms.) *Note to self: next year's costume cannot have hats, wings, or anything that can be easily removed, and has to have a built-in candy bag.*

Ah, here's a good view of what Josh looked like most of the evening.  Nobody seemed to question where his costume was; perhaps they all knew a terrifying three-year-old when they saw one.