Halloween 2011

a GHOST!

Bex as a Ghostbuster. I had the most fun making this costume! He looks so awesome!

check out the detail on the backpack.

Ghost & Ghostbuster

trick-or-treating with the super-hero family, the Brenchley's

2011 pumkins

Cool pumpkins, right? Very not cool, was the experience. Hard they were to carve. All the work, Matthias and Andrea did. Buying pumpkin patterns, we would not suggest. Carve them, the boys could not. Let the boys use their own ideas, we would suggest. 

Beckham's Yoda pumpkin, carved by Matthias.

Ty's Storm Trooper pumpkin, carved by Andrea

Too hard. But cool. But never again.

halloween adult costume party

My friend, Nicole, and I threw a spectacular Halloween party. Matthias least favorite holiday is Halloween and he hates dressing up... but I got my way this year, and he was a good sport. Starting at the top left and working down: Matthias and I as a hair stylist and a customer (inspired by our recent visitor), Luke & Emily as babies (she's 8 months pregnant and they even wore diapers!), Phil & Nicole as Frankenstien and his bride, Molly and Jay as Publisher's Clearing house winner and announcer, Sam and Kim as Ketchup and Mustard, Russ and Heather our King and Queen, Emily and her husband as a Star Trek girl and a party pooper, and Shelly and her hub as a M&M and we think Darth Mal. 

To kick off our night, Nicole and I created a Halloween picture scavenger hunt around town. It was super fun and surprisingly, people were very competitive. Then we ate some fab food and played Halloween pictionary. Fun Fun night, I felt like a kid again.

Halloween Rap

Decorations have come out, the kids have decided what they want to dress up as, we are excited for Halloween! (Well, all except Matthias. He is the Halloween Grinch.) I added a crashed witch to our decoration collection to put on the outside of the house. She's coming in the mail and I am so excited. Happy October!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

a witchy halloween

Beckham as
Superman

Ty as the
Green Power Ranger

A lack of creativity on my part, a trip to the thrift store, and only $10 later, we tricked out super-hero style. Beckham really wanted to be Superman. Ty, however, requested to be a hot dog, the Beast, and a vampire. With his ever changing mind, we found this and he seemed satisfied.

I hate feeling let down after a should-be fun holiday. I only let down myself, that is. I was quite grouchy and not in the Halloween spirit. Disregarding that I have the power to choose my own attitude, I'll put the blame on the fact that Ty came down with the flu and has been a little high maintenance the last 3 days, and Matthias was absent a big chunk of the day helping with 2 moves.

I hope I didn't scar my kids memory of Halloween by being witchy. Too bad I didn't dress the part, they would have thought I was a great actress! I'll try to forget the witch I was, and instead remember how cute and happy my little super-heroes were tonight!

graveyard

totally irreverent, but so, so much fun!

played hide and seek.

ate a delish apple cake

headstone rubbings.

look who we found burried in this graveyard!

ooh aah aah aah

all hallows eve

Part I: COSTUMES

Introducing the newest 2008 members of the Justice League. The Super Friends: Beckham as Batman (thrift store), and Matthias as Flash Gordon (campus costumes). Do my kids look . . . challenged, or is it just me?

Part II: PUMPKIN CARVING

Matthias - Real (An obsessed RSL soccer fan.)
Me - Undecided am I
Ty - Tells me it is a Ghost (I never knew a Ghost with ears?) I simply carved out what he drew.
Beckham - He wanted Batman of course, so Batman he got - using a mini pumpkin.


Part III: TRICK-OR-TREATING

We had a Chili dinner party at my house with some of Ty and Beck's friends and their parents an hour before going Trick-or-treating together. I invited 6 families, thinking that 1/2 would come, which is how it usually goes, right? Well, every single family came reaching a total of 34 bodies inside my place! It was a par-tay indeed! I am so glad everyone came! The kids had a blast sprinting from door to door, collecting their stash. Despite wearing a Flash costume (he really, sincerely believed it made him run faster) he sure fizzled out after an hour. It made my heart happy to see that Ty and Adam chose each other as their "buddy" and stuck together the entire night. My favorite moment of the night was the old foreigner who handed out single M&M's and peppermints. I cringed when Beckham put the M&M straight into his mouth. What to do? I hope we don't get the bird flu.

smelling sweetness

When I was little, we had hidden candy spot in our kitchen, in a lower cupboard where the cookie sheets were filed. I don't know if Mom hid candy so that we ravenous candy eating children wouldn't inhale it at sight, or if she stashed it so she would have a chance for some later. The thing about it was that I never knew we had candy until I smelled it on her breath. I remember being held, getting a whiff of candy and asking what she was eating. Often times she answered, "Nothing," with a very guilty look on her face. After leaning in closer, sniffing, and asking again, "Mommy, what are you eating?" she opened her mouth and indeed I found that nothing was in there. Well I knew it was candy because it smelled like candy, so off I went to the secret candy spot to expectantly find... CANDY. My Mom's favorite treat, that she would buy in bulk every week the whole month of October, were the orange, black-licorice flavored pumpkin taffies.

What triggered this memory is that lately Beckham, being more sophisticated than the younger me, skips the question entirely and demands, after sniffing me out, "I want some candy too." This is so comical to me, that now I am in the candy hiding role. And so, I must ask myself, why do I hide treats? Well, for starters, I don't want my kids eating candy every day (why I don't use the same guideline for myself, I don't know??) Sometimes it serves as a little mid day pick-me-up. Other times, it's just too good to share. I know, crazy.

Anyways, it's interesting and funny to realize that I am turning into my mother! Well, Mom, I must say, I am glad to be like you, even if we are guilty of secret candy places and consuming too much candy.

Me as Strawberry Shortcake. Halloween in first grade.

Costumes

A costume history of Ty and Beckham during their very short lives. Enjoy!

TY
2004 - Frog (home-made)

2005 - Dashel (home-made)

2006 - Scar (old navy)

2007 - Vampire (a combo of church attire, thrift store cape, homemade bow tie)

BECKHAM
2006 - Pirate (a doll's costume, Beckham was so teeny!)

2007 - Vampire (thrift store)

so mean, but so much fun

Beckham hates witches. HATES WITCHES. Matthias and I love scaring him with this silly mask because the mask is a happy witch yet he is so terrified. I must say, I think I just love comforting him after. He is so cute.

Halloween Party

Our Halloween party was delayed until today because of our colds... but we still had a great turn out! I love having parties! I planned some fun games that the kids (three yr. olds) would enjoy and be able to follow: pin the wart on the witch's nose, feeling gross Halloween things in a box (like eyeballs, brains, maggots, and bugs), and a ghost piñata. The piñata was amazing and the kids loved it! Lindee filled the ghost with great surprises, bubbles, bracelets, candy (obviously), free "Frosty" coupons from Wendy's, & glow sticks. The kids were so cute trying to hit it with a plastic golf club. All the mom's brought a Halloween treat and we had Halloween music. The kids were so cute in their costumes... we had 2 vampires, a pirate, 2 monkeys, a ballerina, an elephant, and one costumeless. Here are a few pictures of our Halloween bash!

I wanted Ty and Becks to be pirates this year, but Ty wanted to be a vampire. He has been watching Scooby Doo for about the past month, an episode where Scooby and the gang are harassed by a vampire, so pirates were out and vampires were in. Darn that Shaggy!

Here is the painted witch with all her warts

scary, spooky, & happy

Every year around Halloween time - the THOUGHT alone of carving pumpkins gets me so excited - listening to Halloween music, sipping hot cocoa, and eating candy for dinner. I even think days before of how I want to design my pumpkin... But as soon as I carve open the lid and look inside,

I remember that I don't really love carving pumkins, I just like HAVING a carved pumkin! But here they are... Matthias carved the faces - Ty requested a mean one and a happy one, and I carved the ghost. We took them into the bathroom, shut off the lights and lit them up and the boys thought it was pretty awesome. Both boys kept making the "oooh aaaah aaaah" noise.