Halloween

I doesn't seem like I should be that far behind, but we have too many things happen in a row around here this time of year, so if I'm ever going to keep up, you're all just going to have to put up with a few posts too close together.

Halloween is one of the big markers of the year because Ellie knows that this directly precedes her birthday. So it is super exciting. I had so many projects with the house going on that I decided I wasn't going to really do a lot for making the kids' costumes. I outsourced Charlie's (thanks again, Mom) and Ellie's was supposed to be a super easy, no-sewing project that would have taken less than half an hour. Supposed to be.

She was going to be a pink ninjago (think lego ninja). She was all excited to be this since that's what a bunch of her cousins were going to be. They are all really into this show, and when we visited last summer they all wanted to have Ninjago ("ninja-cago") parties at Grandma's house. Ellie loved it and was totally all about learning spinjitsu and everything. So about five days before Halloween I decided I ought to get her costume together. When I tried to do the hood part (using a long-sleeved t-shirt--I practiced with one she already had before I went and bought a pink one for the ensemble), she sort of panicked. It looked right, but she was a little claustrophobic having everything but her eyes covered. So she started to melt down and didn't want to be ninjago anymore. Soooo, plan B. Then she wanted to be "Super Martian Robot Girl," which is a real character. I'm not making her up. I asked her months ago if she wanted to do this for her costume, mostly because I loved hearing her say "Super Martian Robot Girl." It was all she wanted to be suddenly. So, off to the store to find fabric and figure out how to fashion a costume. To look like this:

No big deal. She's a great character. Other characters in the comic will be in distress because, say, they will be having a dance party and no one is dancing (yikes!). They will whine, "I need Super Martian Robot Girl!" and she comes, declaring, "Here I am to help!" Then she solves everyone's problem by pointing out that no one is dancing because there is no music, gets some awesome music going, and everyone is super excited again. She has a great theme song too.

Yeah, it's okay. No one else knew who Ellie was either.

Charlie was Pocoyo. Charlie looooves Pocoyo. Another obscure cartoon character. This one is very accessible on YouTube, do yourself a favor and find it on there. So charming. Little British baby who lives in this simple world with a duck (Pato) a dog (Lula) an elephant (Elly) and bird (Sleepy Bird) and narrated by Stephen Frye. Charlie adores these little videos. He jumps up and down, talks to them, laughs and is just overjoyed to see these little guys. Ellie likes them too.

No one knew who Charlie was either. But they all appreciated his efforts to say "Trick-or-treat" and "Thank you."

Charlie hates hats, but when he saw that he was Pocoyo, he went with it.

Super Martian Robot Girl also has a mask, but I guess a painted paper plate with large holes cut in it is not as scary as lots of fabric around your mouth. Either way, she kept it on all the time she was in costume.

Pretty excited about the green hair. The gloves and boots are shiny duct tape and velcro.

 Unfortunately, probably the best shot I got of Charlie's full costume.

 Not sure what she's doing here. Possibly a '4' since it's almost her birthday. The green is not as bright in the pictures for some reason.

Just ready to go already. Nice warm fleece costumes for a cold, drizzly Halloween night.

Speaking of bad weather, we found out at the last minute that we were supposed to have costumes for one of the events we went to. Not eager to spend a ton of time or any money on more costumes, this is what we came up with: struck by lightning. Mostly inspired by the old, broken umbrella I found in one of the boxes I recently opened up. To really get the fried look I just washed my hair and did nothing to tame it. Also, no covering the dark circles under my eyes to add to the dark, sooty look. Apparently all my grooming efforts are to try to make me look NOT electrocuted.