I try to keep the kids' Halloween costumes each year a secret and mail a picture card to close friends and family in October to reveal them. This year was no exception. I'm usually a year (or two) ahead on these so I knew over a year ago that they'd be Pebbles and Bam Bam this year, I just couldn't resist due to Izzie's natural red hair. I recruited the help of my mom who made all of our Halloween costumes growing up to make theirs. And yes, next year's costumes have already been either purchased or acquired (Brady will be wearing one of my brother's homemade costumes from our childhood). They will still be a cohesive theme ;)
The night before Halloween, we finally got around to carving the pumpkins we had picked out at the pumpkin patch. Izzie was fascinated by the seeds and quite a few of them ended up in her mouth, but none of them were eaten raw.
This was Brady's fifth Halloween, so by now, he's an old pro at carving pumpkins.
She decided to pose for me when I had the camera out.
To prove it wasn't a fluke, she did it for me twice!
Andy carved Izzie's and since she's obsessed with Sophia the First (So-So as she says it), we printed a template. It was certainly the most intricate pumpkin we've ever carved and Andy did a great job!
I was in charge of Brady's and after poking in all the holes for the Mario pumpkin, I took the template away and couldn't even tell which pins were for which part. It also didn't help that we only had one pumpkin carving knife and I settled for a steak knife, which is a lot bigger and harder to move around to make curves. I did the hat, then the rest kind of became a standard face. We'll know better next year, but he was happy anyway.
As for actual Halloween, we've had a mixed bag in our three fall's in this house in Michigan. The first year was chilly, but not too bad, and Brady came home covered in sweat. Last year, it was 70 degrees but rainy. This year, the weather forecast was not kind to us. It was calling for wind chills of 29 degrees and 25-30 mph winds, with rain on top of it all. Izzie had a cold and it was decided that she'd have to sit this year out, which bummed me out because it was supposed to be her first year going door-to-door. Andy got sick and was so bad that he even stayed home from work that day. We spent all day debating who was going to take Brady out as I had recently had LASIK surgery and couldn't be out in the wind and rain. Ultimately, Andy went with Brady (wearing a full set of clothes under his nude unitard, with fleece costume overtop, and a winter coat), and Brady was sweet enough to share his candy with his sister. He offered some to us as well, but we still had enough left over from what we had bought to hand out. Despite the poor weather, we had a really good turnout and I'd say we easily went through 5-6 bags of candy. Hopefully next year will be a tad warmer and less rainy.
