Halloween 2011

The kids opted for a Halloween part of their own this year.  They each made their list and sent out the invitations, created a menu, requested songs and movies.  And it was a success!
While I can't post everyone's picture because I don't have permission from their parents, I can post some of the more disguised kids:

Hazel dressed as a dead vampire.

Trey, a turkey

Hazel's friend was a zombie

August's friend won the best costume contest as an accountant who sold his soul to the devil

A room full of pre-teen gals...super fun! 

This was before the dance party...

August invited several friends from elementary school as well as some newer friends

August's friend as radio head (I think)

Another friend, not sure what his costume was...not sure he knew either

Francis as Hanna?

The beginning of the dance party

There was lots of noise and bouncing around.  Trey made a pretty fun dance mix that the kids loved yelling to.

After the costume competition we started Monster Squad.  Trey and I were upstairs for most of the party but loved hearing the squeals of fright at all the right parts.

All in all, it was a success.

Halloween Night

It's Halloween night and the kids are out with Trey trick or treating. I think they were planning on hitting a few neighborhood houses before they drove over to a friend's house to hit their area. I'm holding down the fort for all the trick or treating that will come to our door.

August was a mime again tonight...he's taking his role pretty seriously and has worked out an act for saying "trick or treat"...we'll see how long that lasts.



Hazel was a day of the dead skeleton last night but has decided to just be a plain old skeleton tonight.

I'm the bearded lady...or Trey's beard...you decide.
And Trey, who has been establishing a rather nice assortment of costumes through the years, is a Sumo Wrestler this year.

This Is Halloween

August and Hazel had another successful Halloween party.
They both did so much more for the this year's party. They made party favors for the kids who came, August labeled all the fool, Hazel decorated the table. It gets better and better as they get older.
Here are their guests:
The Witch, the Magician and the Rockers.


The Soccer Dad, the Grim Reaper and a Witch.


Two dudes, a lady, a Pirate and of course, Snow White.


I Dream of Genie and a dead pilot.


Stephanie, I can't remember who you were...but you looked good! A Texan, Karate Kid and a Fairy-Princess-Ballerina.
An old man, the fortune teller, a kitty and a Ranger's Apprentice.

Death, a Witch, a Beatnik and Tink.

The Mad Hatter, a Hardy Boy and Nancy Drew.

The pictures are horrible...I was just in a hurry to snap each family before they all split up.
August and Hazel had the kids all downstairs watching Monster House, playing Rock Band and in the end they tried to watch House of Frankenstein with Francis.

Feeling Better

Hazel is feeling much better, thank you very much. She hasn't had a fever since Sunday night. Technically she could've gone back to school today but she's been coughing and sneezing all over the place so I kept her home one extra day. It was actually kind of nice having her home with energy. We went out to Ballard to pick up some paints from the craft store so the kids could finish their skulls:

She's been on this Day of the Dead kick since studying it last year. She wants to be a Day of the Dead skeleton for Halloween (can you believe Halloween is in a few days?). It really shouldn't have surprised me that she asked for bright colors while we were at the craft store.


August is going for a more realistic look to his skulls...white with black. Although he did mention that maybe we could do half and half. The skulls will be given to the kids who come to the Halloween party we're having on Friday night.

August had guitar practice at School of Rock today after school. I'm always a bit frazzled on Tuesdays as I have to pick him up and run him right up to practice. He came out of the school right on time but then had to run back in because he forgot the pumpkin he picked out from the patch today. So, I sighed and told him to please hurry. He was probably gone for ten minutes, and we really were doing fine on time, but again...it's Tuesday and I'm frazzled.
I say to Hazel, "Come on! What's taking that boy so long? I thought he just had to grab his pumpkin!!"
To which Hazel replied, "See? Don't you wish August had a cell phone? If he had a cell phone you could call him right now and tell him to hurry up. Instead we have to do the old fashioned thing. And the old fashioned thing is called....waiting!"
She's definitely feeling better. You gotta love that girl.

Cooking Skulls

Well, Hazel is sick, sick, sick.
August has a few things to do today so he'll get out of the house-
thank God Trey is home this weekend! He's been running around town
gathering things for Hazel and taking the dogs out and bringing August
to the movies.
I spent many hours last night listening to Hazel breathe while I
scoured the Internet for things to do for Halloween. Found this gem
sometime between 3:44 and 7:00am on a blog called alphamom:

We made them out of salt dough (1/2 cup salt, 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup water) and cooked them for 2 hours at 200. We'll paint them later tonight, hopefully Hazel will be feeling a bit more energetic by then.

Hauntings

The witch came back...and she brought along a few of her little friends!





Trey's birthday is tomorrow! We're going to take him to see Where the Wild Things Are after dinner...I've already bought our tickets as I'm sure it's going to be a sold out show.
We were talking about how birthdays become less and less an event during the ages of 31-49. You know, you have a big party to make yourself feel better when you turn 30, but then each year just comes and goes until you turn another big milestone, like 50. It's not depressing, it's just another day with the hopes of something special like dinner at your favorite place.
But we'll make Trey feel special. The kids picked out the gift they wanted to give him about a month ago...it's been sitting in my closet since then. August wants to take him out to get a skateboard so they can go to the skate parks together...so sweet. I think they're going to do that at some point on Sunday.
Saturday we have plans for August's soccer game and then a trip with Ann, El and Nils to the pumpkin patch. We might even go to the school's fall carnival if we're not too water logged from the earlier events.
It's a big weekend here at the Many House.

Went to Pasadena

And all we came back with are these camera phone pictures!! Can not believe I forgot my real camera at home...Dang.
We loaded up on Virgin America and flew to see my big brother turn 40:Hazel loved the purple lights.

We surprised Scott at breakfast on Halloween (his birthday). Then around 4 we all got dressed up for a very memorable Trick or Treat journey:


I was trying to be a gal from Mad Men but sadly fell short of my goal.

Hazel was Dorothy and Trey was a cow...that dark figure is Death. I called for Hazel to look like Dorothy for this picture, this is the face she gave. She said that Dorothy always looks surprised.


There is this great tree we always look at when we make a trip to Pasadena. The kids have taken pictures around it almost every time. It's right outside the library which is a block away from the house where Halloween was filmed...which is why it was a memorable event. The houses went all out for this holiday. Hazel was sure she was going to have bad dreams...but she didn't.
It was a great trip.

Happy Halloween from My Girl

Hazel can be found, almost daily, working on some form of art. Don't you just love the cute animals with the blood and the stitches? These are some of my favorite works of art by my girl.
She has just started sounding out words without asking for help. I just can't get enough of these examples of her work.
August is quick to tell her when the words aren't spelled just right and I have to pull him aside and gently remind him that he still spells words wrong and that I still spell words wrong and that it isn't his job to correct her right now. I want her to feel confident in her ability to read and write and with August zipping through books like A Wrinkle in Time and the Harry Potter series it can be daunting to her as she struggles through her easy readers.

This is Halloween

The kids were very excited to get the house ready for all their friends to ring our bell.
Trey tried this outfit out but decided to go as sponge bob instead. He's a big hit with the kids!
Trey bought me this A-MAZING vest from k-mart. I'm dressed up as an elementary students mom (see earlier blog about the field trip with H). The sick thing is that I saw 2 moms sporting this rad vest for real! They liked it! They bought it to wear!
A is an injured skateboarder while H when as a cowgirl. I really liked these costumes because...well...they didn't cost me a dime!
And Tank...well...Tank went as a cute little pumpkin dog...well, I guess that's not true. He made it around the block with the kids and Trey but really couldn't handle the dark, the cold, or the idea of his humans walking up to houses without him...then Trey ran him back to me to greet all the neighborhood kids at our door.