Like Karen With An "M": Happy Halloween 2012!

I was smart this year and got individual costume pics of my kids before all of the festivities. This doesn't mean they were all great pictures, but I got some nonetheless. Okay, I got a lot. Because my kids are cute. But I never got a good picture of all four of them. Oh well.

First we start with Tess. She's a bee - can't you tell? Okay, first she wanted to model the new trick-or-treat bag I made for her.

There's the bee!

I bought this costume way back in 2004 for Spencer's first Halloween. We were very poor grad students and I think I paid something along the lines of $20 for it. This seemed exorbitant at the time, but now that all four of my kids have worn it I now feel justified in its purchase.

Here's Cole - I mean Pikachu. Pikachu was not so excited about getting his picture taken. He had to be bribed with mini Kit Kats.

I made this whole costume without any pattern, which was quite scary for me! But I think it turned out pretty well.

He's been wearing this costume off and on for a couple of weeks, but as soon as I want to take pictures he wants no part of it. Classic Cole.

Oh hey - the candy is open! Now I'll cooperate.

So, in case you're not as involved in the world of Pokemon, here's what Pikachu actually looks like.

And here's an almost cooperative Cole Pikachu.

Do you like the tail? I think it's super cute.

Back to bee Tess. Or "Bee-chu" as we like to call her. (Since her brothers were all Pokemon characters.)

Cole - stuck while trying to get his costume off.

Total cuteness.

Finally, here's Josh - I mean, Raichu. I couldn't get him to stop smiling and posing all weird.

Here are the ears that gave me such grief while I was making them. That boy better appreciate all the work I put into them!

I told him I wanted a picture of his tail, so he kept bending over. Good enough.

Here's the original Raichu (who is the evolved form of Pikachu, in case you didn't know) ((and if you didn't know I'm totally embarrassed for you) (((not really))):

And here's my little Joshie Raichu:

Finally, here's our own Ash Ketchum Spencer.

I told him to pose like Ash... um, okay. I was quite pleased with Spencer's costume because it was so easy. We already had the jeans and the white shirt. I made the vest out of the shirt he got at the family reunion this summer and found the hat on ebay for only $5 total. The Pokeball was a toy we already had and we already had the gloves. Awesomesauce.

When the hat came I was informed that this was not the hat Ash wore in the cartoons they want. I was also informed that he wears green gloves, definitely not black.

Too bad, I said, because this was the hat I saw all over the interwebs. And there's nowhere in Lafayette that sells cheap green knit gloves, so black will have to do.

Spencer wisely dropped these issues and made a great-looking Ash!

We were lucky enough to have the South and the Ream families join us for Halloween dinner. (Pretzel dogs, grapes, and a veggie tray. So fancy!)

Before we started trick-or-treating we tried to get a picture of all the kids. You can imagine the slight chaos that comes when trying to photograph nine very excited children.

I love Logan's (I mean, Superman's) poses!

As you can see from the coats, it was pretty chilly tonight.

Tessie and I only stopped at about 5 houses, then headed home with Misty and Addy to pass out candy. Tess was in heaven the whole evening - she didn't care a thing about the candy, but loved seeing all the kids in costume.

Towards the end of the evening Cole got home and watched the trick-or-treaters from his bedroom window. He's kinda creepy...

Gigi took Logan and Spencer to a bunch more houses. While they were doing that, Bergen and Tess helped pass out the candy. Bergen is so cute with Tess!