It's my favorite holiday. It was fun to celebrate in Seattle this year. As much as we miss the San Diego weather, the neighborhoods of Seattle are more befitting of pumpkin-laden porches with all the colorful fall leaves and crisp air.
This year, October was exciting for more reasons than Halloween. We're still pinching ourselves over the Giants winning another World Series. After the joy of 2010, Aaron would have followed the Giants the rest of his life with the satisfaction that they had once taken it all. Going through it again with Seth just as excited as him was priceless. (Seth is a genuine fan--he knows all the players' names, positions, numbers, batting direction, and number of home runs--our little stats nerd in the making). Aaron's jack-o-lantern marks the occasion:
I love costumes. I don't wear them anymore, but I love dressing up the kids. Here they are -- Arwen and Gandalf the Gray from Lord of the Rings. Seth fell in love with the character when Aaron read him The Hobbit last year.
Like anybody embarking on a project, I got online to look up pictures and get ideas. Let me tell you, there are plenty of people into fantasy roleplay to dole out advice on which elf ears to purchase because they wear them on a daily basis. Yikes.
My attempt at making these costumes on the cheap: Ada's dress is made from a thrift store curtain and some cheap lining material, Seth's from thrifted flannel sheets that I dyed.
It's hard to predict what color you'll end up with when you dye fabric. We had Gandalf the green, tan, light gray, purple, pink, blue, and finally the slate gray -ish you see below. With each dying disaster there was a very disappointed boy crying--I can't be Gandalf the purple!..blue!..etc.
It's hard to predict what color you'll end up with when you dye fabric. We had Gandalf the green, tan, light gray, purple, pink, blue, and finally the slate gray -ish you see below. With each dying disaster there was a very disappointed boy crying--I can't be Gandalf the purple!..blue!..etc.
The older the kids get, the tougher it is to steer them toward a Halloween costume that I think would be fun to make. The overwhelming marketing of Disney Princesses has worn me down. The only way we convinced Ada to join Seth in the LOTR theme was to tell her that Arwen is an elf princess.
I kept expressing my doubts to Ada as she saw me sew the dress "I don't know if you'll like this. It's way too fancy." She was able to convince me of her passion for all things fancy.
This was the first year I've ever entered the kids into a costume contest with a money prize. I felt silly doing it, especially since I think we've had much cooler ones in the past. (The Vikings were my personal favorite...hmmm, maybe Stay Puft too). However, we won!
This was the first year I've ever entered the kids into a costume contest with a money prize. I felt silly doing it, especially since I think we've had much cooler ones in the past. (The Vikings were my personal favorite...hmmm, maybe Stay Puft too). However, we won!
We had a great Halloween--a spooky dinner with friends and lots of trick-or-treating. After about 6 blocks these kids were spent. They wouldn't last long in Middle Earth.
