Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Happy Halloween

Another Halloween has come and gone. Maddie and Greyson had such a great night! In our house, Halloween starts long before October arrives. Over the past months we have perused, pondered, and debated dozens of costume possibilities. This year Greyson considered a variety of superheros but ultimately settled on a spider. A simple black sweat suit, some black socks, and some batting made up most of the costume. But it was the web drawn with white fabric paint that made it special for Greyson. We even added some plastic insects!

Maddie really never wavered on her choice. Last year she had a difficult time deciding between a cat and a butterfly. She chose to be a cat and reserved the butterfly for this year. There were a few other considerations, a lion, a dog, animals mostly. But they were fleeting and in the end she stuck with the butterfly. The original costume was much different from what she actually wore. The wings were made out of foam and were covered with felt. They were pretty but looked heavy and not very butterfly-like. Then I discovered a pattern using wings made out of wire and showed it to Kjell. Earlier that evening Kjell's brother had come by and mentioned he had been welding. Within minutes of seeing the wings, Kjell had grabbed some wire and dashed off to Johnce's house. When he returned he had a frame of perfectly formed butterfly wings. With some old fabric and felt we transformed them into Monarch wings. A quick alteration to last year's cat suit and her costume was complete. Well, nearly. We added some butterfly eyes and jewels to complete the look.
Halloween night we hosted a spaghetti supper for a couple of our neighbors and their kids. After dinner the kids got dressed and head out for trick-or-treating. The moms walked with the little tricksters while the boys manned the bonfire and dished out the treats. The weather was cold but not nearly as cold as last year and we actually made it around the corner to a couple of other streets in the neighborhood. The kids literally ran from house to house trying to be the first to reach the doorbell. It was quite a night and the kids are already talking about what they want to be next year.

Riley, Cooper, Sam, Cody, Greyson, & Maddie