Halloween 2009—the big reveal…

TOY STORY:

Yes! You were all right about our Toy Story theme! Which either means that you read and pay attention to my blog, or else you are just really smart (both?). These photos were taken by Peter Thatcher at our church Halloween party. I’m so glad he does this! I can’t ever get the best shots at night! Woody looks a little Indiana Jones in this photo, but here you can get a better look at his costume…

I don’t remember this part of the movie, but we were prodded, and hey, Woody is pretty handsome! Buzz actually lost his purple helmet right before the party, so we had to borrow his knight’s helmet from last year (worked fine…we found the purple one for trick or treating the following night). I think I will forbid him from playing with his costumes before Halloween in the future. The same kind of thing happened last year! *sigh*

Big shout-out to my mom, for whipping up the chaps for Jessie, and the vest for Woody when she was in town last month. I made Jessie some stiff cuffs to wear (which she hated), and had more plans to fancy up her shirt but ran out of time/stamina. The hat was from the dollar store. I punched holes in it, and my daughter laced them with yarn herself. She did a good job and was excited to be involved. She just wished her red hair was a little longer for the braid. And you saw my ham before. She loved being a piggy! I guess if I were trying to be more movie authentic, I would have included the slots for the bank. I also had some big rings that never made it on the backs of Woody or Jessie, as their pull-strings. But hey, I’m pregnant! We do the best we can, right?

PAINTED PUMPKINS:

Last year, our carved pumpkins were moldy within just one or two days in the Phoenix heat, so I thought we would try painting them this year (even though the weather turned out to be much cooler this Halloween). Big thanks to Grandpa for growing the kids’ pumpkins and saving me the 5 or 6 bucks a pop at the grocery store! The only disappointment, was that I tried glow-in-the-dark paint, with minimal results. I’m not sure if I mixed it well enough, or what. But if any of you have experience with glow-in-the-dark paint, I’d love to know your secrets (I’m planning on trying some in the space room).

From L to R: My two-year old’s pumpkin, a pumpkin my oldest decorated at a church activity (her fake eyelashes are falling off), my 5-year-old’s Frankenstein, and my 8-year-old’s moon and stars (that were supposed to glow in the dark.)

I already knew my 8-year-old was a perfectionist, but I had no idea how badly my 5-year-old son suffers from this condition, until now. He must have wiped the paint off of his pumpkin a dozen times, before he came-up with his great green Frankenstein, after I threatened to set a timer. Heaven help me! I’m not sure I can handle a family full of perfectionists. At least Tessa, my 2-year-old, was content with a few random strokes on her pumpkin—for this year, any way!

BRAIN FOOD:

I had volunteered to bring a dessert to the big family party we attended on Saturday night. I decided to go with the Martha Stewart brain cupcakes, but couldn’t keep it too simple. And had to gore it up, just a little.

While my children were arguing about which flavor of cake mix to use (oh, yes, I used a mix!), I remembered the Jello poke cakes, my mom had made once upon a time. Basically, what you do is poke holes in the top of the cupcake after it has cooled a little, and drizzle a jello mixture (1 3oz. pkg. jello dissolved in 1 cup boiling water)into the holes. It makes red drips through out the cupcake (blood). I didn’t get a good picture of the inside, but you can see Woody enjoying one here:

After I piped on the brain design, I took the left over jello liquid and drizzled a little in the crevices, to make the brains look a little bloody. Eeeww!

I ran out of time to make the fun labels that Martha had, so I turned that job over to my 8-year-old. Most of the labels got lost on the way to the party, but she was excited to try and think up the funny names.

There you have it! And now it is mostly put away, to make room for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now just to decide what we will be next year….