Happy? Halloween!

When I asked the kids what they wanted to be for Halloween, Beau didn't even hesitate.

"Scorpion!"

My reply..."um, I don't know how to make that happen..."

Bekah was just a moment behind him.

"Artemis!"

I had to ask her who that was, and learned that Artemis is the goddess of hunt. Bekah liked this idea because then she was able to carry a bow and arrow.

Jacob just sat and pouted.

"I don't know..."

We talked about it for a while, and then inspired by a video I had watched with Beau, I said, "How about you're a man being eaten by an anaconda?"

"YES!" He loved the idea. "And I need clothes that look like I'm on safari!"

So we went to work.

Bekah was easy. I altered a dress for her and Rus helped her make a bow and arrow. I made a quiver out of some faux leather and that was it.

For Jacob, I found some awesomely cheap fabric at Walmart that was perfect - black and brown with a shiny smooth texture for 1.99 a yard. I cut out two long, looong strips and sewed them together to make a tube. Then Jacob and I took them outside and spray painted each side with some fabric spray paint we had - copper and silver on the top and yellow on the bottom. Then we figured out how to best sew the mouth to make it open and be able to go on his head. Carla was visiting and we were trying to figure out how to stuff this 10 foot snake. She suggested sheets and stuffed animals. We tried this, emptying our linen closet and Jacob's animal bag...the thing weighed a ton. Jacob couldn't even lift it on his own. We mused on how to fix the problem for several days before appealing to the employee at the UPS store for help. They had a packing peanut dispenser and we just positioned the snake's mouth under the opening and brought that flat snake to life. It was perfect, and with a little bit of genius and effort, it wound around Jacob's body in a light adequate anaconda squeeze.

After all of that work on Jacob's snake, I was ready to work on Beau's scorpion. I have made a dragon and a basilisk lizard costume in the past, and I followed the same format with the scorpion: the same fabric as Jacob, bumpy segmented body on a sweatshirt top, awesome bumpy tail with stinger, and cool gloves. The gloves turned out awesome as a result of several mistakes and then a little divine revelation and a pair of mittens to use as a template. I utilized some boning in the tail to help it curl up, and again felt like a genius when it turned out so well. I spied some extra sprinkler hose in the garage and knew it would be perfect and light for the legs, and Rus helped me figure out how to make the legs bend in the desired shapes (thank you, heat gun), and how to attach them to the body (thank you, pneumatic staple gun). The entire costume was epic-ly amazing. I know I'm bragging. When I die and am asked what great things I accomplished, this will be on the short list.

 

So you can imagine how on the morning of Halloween, when Beau was supposed to get in his costume so he could go to the school and show it off in the storybook parade, but instead he was lying on the floor in his jammies, kicking and screaming and refusing to wear it because the legs were "so jumbly," I went into a kind of resentful, mournful daze.

Well, I say daze, but I was also trying to get all of Bekah's fruit cut up and 24 individual sodas labeled and Marianne's costume on, and lunches packed and myself dressed (along with my normal duties of creating world peace and topping the invention of velcro...)

Beau and Bekah missed the bus. The anaconda, with Jacob inside of it, got on the bus. That is why he was my favorite that day, up until he refused to walk in the storybook parade and instead sat by me coiled in his snake and capturing the attention of all of the kids walking by...(The same attention he wanted to avoid by walking in the parade.)

Anyway, I digress. Eventually all the kids made it to school and Beau decided he liked his costume after all, and Bekah's food got to her classroom relatively unscathed. I watched the parade, Marianne at my side...

and then I went home, swearing off Halloween for the rest of the day.

That night we ate dinner, carved pumpkins, and trick-or-treated.

There are only about 10 homes on our street that participate. We love that about our street. Marianne caught on super fast and was very possessive of her bag of candy. The kids got their loot and then engaged in the same ritual that children for decades have enjoyed - organizing, sorting, and trading every piece of candy.

 Marianne doesn't really care much for candy...

I'm not sure if I'm going to be up for making costumes next year. In fact, I'm pretty sure I swore off costume making more than one time this year, promising Jacob and Beau that they would never have to wear a costume I made ever again. (Because they both at various times cried and refused to wear what they had once begged me to make).

But...

A year might be just long enough to make me forget...