Halloween Night

This is what Seth gives me when I ask for an action pose. He is so sweet. He was so tired because the boys and I went for a mile walk this morning, then we walked another mile and a half for trick or treating. We met up with Mom, Sarah, and Tammy with Jason, Rosie, and Mary. Honestly? I was exhausted. I haven't been sleeping the best and I have been walking a lot lately, so after trunk or treat being last night I just wanted to snuggle up on the couch and watch a movie. Trick or treating was fun though. Seth was concerned about his whip a lot of the time, so Tammy and I ended up holding it most of the time.

Jacob really would not keep his Yoda hat on, so I threw it on and got this picture before he ripped it off. He was so sweet. He walked almost the whole way. I kept offering to pick him up and the response I got was No, Thank You. I also offered multiple times to hold his bag for him and the response I got was I Got It. He was so worn out that around 10pm tonight he climbed up on my bed and put himself to sleep. I have been holding him until he falls asleep for the past few months now. I have been too tired myself to do the constant him getting up out of bed and me needing to put him back, so we settled with the method of cuddling, holding, or rocking to sleep.

Eli needs to train his brothers what to do in an ACTION pose. See Seth? Eli did really well and I didn't see much of him because he was in the front of the group and Jacob and I rounded up the back. It was fun.

At this house, Jacob was determined to kick the little branches that were in his way. I had to pick him up and walk away to make him stop. It really was too much fun. We stopped at a house from a member of my church ward who was making scones and had hot chocolate for everyone who came by. It was so great and a nice break at our half way point. We went to Gamestop to show off Eli's costume and the two guys working there were impressed. The boys felt great going there as Sora, Indiana Jones, and a Jedi. We picked up a couple cheap used games and went home to try them out. We headed down to Grandpa and Amanda Boyd's to pick up spoils from them which was so nice. They really enjoy visiting with Grandpa and Amanda. Then we went home, showered, and off to bed. As for me? I posted pictures, blogged, and now I will be laying down to a movie with some toast and hot chocolate.

More Trunk or Treat pictures!

Rosie as Tinkerbell

Chris Byers as a Judo Master and Peter Corier as the Phantom

Action shot of Teancum as Snake Eyes, Jason as the Grim Reaper, and Seth as Indiana Jones

Xavier as a Lion and Mary as Dorothy

Trunk or Treat

The night before Halloween was fun. We went to the church building for some trunk or treating in the parking lot, a chili cook off, and carnival games inside. The kids all had a blast together. Chris took around Jacob for me, thanks guys for the help, while I passed out candy from the trunk of my car. Eli was Sora, Seth was Indiana Jones, Jacob was Yoda, Jason was the Grim Reaper, Teancum was Snake Eyes, Xavier was a Lion, Rosie was Tinkerbell, and Mary was Dorothy. It was very fun!

Jacob loved getting candy, but didn't care much for wearing the Yoda hat.

Seth loved the games and did a great job waiting in line. Eli loved that there were a couple of fourteen year old boys that thought his costume was the coolest thing ever. There were three video game characters that were all hand made costumes: Eli as Sora, Chibi Robo, and a ODST Halo guy. Very cool.

Here is my rock'n'roll trunk. You can't see the guitar, drumsticks, mic with a stand, and of course music playing. It was so fun!

The Sora Costume!

It's all Noelle's fault. The story goes like this. I read Noelle's entry about finishing Brody's Where the Wild Things Are 'Max' costume, and I told Eli about it. The costume is amazing and I can't wait to see Drew's! Kudos Noelle! The boys and I got on topic of what to be for Halloween. I decided Jacob was going to be Yoda since about a year and a half ago, but last year I couldn't find him a costume. I got one for cheap this year. Seth wanted to be Indiana Jones which was perfect because he had purchased a whip already, his church bag is a Indiana Jones replica bag, and we already owned a hat from when Eli was 3. I looked around his closet and found pants, shirt, belt, and shoes that would work. I was getting so excited that I had two down and one to go with only spending $15. Eli's first and only idea is a video game character from Kingdom Hearts named Sora. We start looking for costumes and the cheapest Sora costume is 80 bucks! I was in shock, but the craziest part is I actually thought about budgeting for it. That idea ended after I thought it through clearly. The hard part is Sora is such a special interest character that the only costumes are hand made and usually for Cosplay. I know, I know, look it up, ultimate nerdy goodness. (Actually, a friend, Chris Byers, brought it up that my boys are all going trick or treating as cosplayers. Soo funny!)
So Eli says, " Mom, you could just make it. Brody and Drew are getting their costumes made for them by Auntie Noelle. Please."

Me being a stay at home mom with no current hobbies in process said, "I could try. Eli, mommy doesn't sew and doesn't have a pattern, so if it turns out bad we need a backup plan. How about Wolverine?"

"Okay. I like Wolverine. You already know how to do his makeup and hair. Right mommy?"

"Yup, and we have jeans, a t-shirt, and retractable wolverine claws."

"Ya."

So I started getting paranoid immediately. I started looking around the house and found a blue shirt, (hand me down) over sized black cargo pants, blue spiderman 3T pajama bottoms, his snow boots, and a 3T black hoodie. I was inspired for a moment and actually thought I could pull this off. I borrowed my mom's sewing machine, picked up a few accessories, bought some fabric, bought a hot glue gun, and got to work. I drew out a picture and colored it for a guide. I started with the easier things first. The gloves and the boots. I used hot glue for those two parts and they were finished in a couple hours. The shirt was next and that was very easy and it turned out well too. My last items were jacket, necklace, and pants. I did the jacket next. I cut it off and added white trim around all the edges, then started to add the lining to the hood. That was hard, but it worked out. I added shoulder pads on the exterior of the hoodie and hot glued the shimmery grey shoulder pieces. I finished it up fairly easily minus the work on the hood and shoulders. One motivator was every time I finished a new piece, Eli and Seth would give me so much praise and encouragement. They would say its perfect and it looked just right. I took a long time to get the necklace and pants done because I just stopped working on it for a while. I used my dad's dremel for the necklace crown. I drew it out, cut it out, sanded it, and panted it. The chain was a purse handle that I added more links to so it would be the right length. The necklace only took me 3 hours, but over an hour of it was figuring out how to use a dremel! It was fun to learn something new. I like doing that on my own because it feels like an accomplishment. I avoided the pants after attempting to add the white trim between the blue and black between the legs front and back. I called in help from a friend from church. Sis. Greene happily fit me in for 40 open minutes of her day about a week ago. She taught me how to add the trim, but ended up doing that part for me. That was a huge help! Thank you! All the touch up and elastic around the knees was done today. It took me about five hours total for the rest today. I have never been so relieved in all my life. Eli was excited. I decided I don't enjoy sewing, but I do enjoy creating. The necklace emblem was a blast for me. I like power tools! The final aspects of Eli's costume are hair and makeup. We tried the hair yesterday, but I think it'll look better tomorrow and Halloween night. All he needs for makeup is intense eyebrows. I will post a couple more pictures from Halloween weekend to show off the finished product with hair and makeup. I am just glad it's done!

Happy 2nd Birthday Jacob!

Jacob's birthday party was short and sweet. He has a short attention span at 2 years old and it was a school night, so it worked out well. First off, I want to thank Chris Byers for the idea for the picture. I love it, and its perfect! Jacob had so much fun with many of the people he loves being there to celebrate with him. We started off the night with snacks and then birthday cake. He tried to blow the candle out, but I had to block him from spitting all over the place. It was so cute. I am pretty sure the candle was blown out with the help of Seth and Rosie. Thanks for that helpers! We ate quickly and moved right along to present opening time. He really didn't interest in opening his presents, but again he had big helpers: Seth, Rosie, and Xavier. He loved all the toys and clothes, so thank you for those. I think his favorites so far are everything. He just kept switching from one to another. We also had big helpers to open all the boxes and get the toys out: Jason, Teancum, Eli, Seth, Rosie, Xavier, and Mary. Thanks kids for helping out so much at the party!

I had all the candy and snacks left over from decorating the cake so people could eat them and decorate their own cupcake if they wanted to. I also had large and small pretzels out to eat those yummy and fun pumpkin cheese balls I made. I used soft smoked cheddar rolled into a ball, the bottoms dipped in chopped peanuts, garnished with a fresh parsley leaf, and pretzel stems. It was really funny to me that half the people there were not sure what they even were. Frosting balls? Candy? I thought they would make a fun looking truffle, but cheese it is.

The cake I made was a monster. I baked the body in a oven safe Pyrex 2.5 quart bowl, and the feet were cupcakes. He had purple butter cream frosting with donut, gummy life saver, skittle eyes, a candle nose, candy corn teeth, blow pop arms, pretzel legs, and a fruit by the foot tongue. It was fun to decorate and to look at after. This was my first time baking a cake in a bowl and I was checking on it every 15 minutes. It looked funny throughout baking, but it turned out great and was soo easy to frost. The frosting is always fun to dye too. Just as a reminder to everyone who likes to color food. Always go get the thicker coloring from the craft store because you can get many colors and it creates super rich coloring. I swear by it! Jacob picked out the cake idea from a birthday cakes for kids book I have. Of course I showed him the page to begin with, he looked through it with his brothers, but kept coming back to the monster page and saying, "Raaar!"