Little Red Crew ::: Halloween 2013

I love doing family themes for Halloween. And so far, so do my kids. I am wondering if this will be the last year, though. We'll see how long they continue to let me manipulate persuade them. I just love watching them in character all night--it makes dressing up extra fun and all the effort worth it. 

This girl was made to play the part of Little Red Riding Hood. The theme for the group this year was birthed when I found her cape at a thrift store. I sewed a simple pinafore apron to go under it.

Asher spotted a vest in the girls's section at Target that inspired the Big Bad Wold ensemble. Paired with Great Wolf Lodge ears, grey sweats, homemade embellishments and the perfect face-paint job by Char, he was ready to sneak up on Little Red.

Once Little Granny nailed the gummy grin, and heard everyone's reaction, it was history. I could hardly get her to make another face the rest of the evening. This accessory-loving granny was thrilled with her glasses and sleep cap.

The woodsman adored being 'a man' with his manly beard. He was trying to intimidate the Big Bad Wolf with his tough-guy face and loved that for once big brother was weaponless in a standoff against him.

Oh, and holding their Halloween candy hostage is a great motivator for getting day-after Halloween pics. I must remember this for years to come. For some reason, I never quite have it together for pics the day of. I know how bad my memory is and I'd better have documentation after all the work put into their costumes.

Pumpkins are for...

play-dough-ing...

(and, of course, baking those play-dough "cookies" in their kitchen)

snacking on their seeds...

(We tried several recipes and my favorite is actually our own variation: 2 cups pumpkin seeds+1/4 cup coconut oil melted and tossed in seasalt. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes on 250 degrees.)

pre-k packing it...

muffins...

(I used a 1/3 cup of honey and didn't notice a difference. Baked them in these from JoAnn's and for extra treat top them with: 1 banana, 3/4 to 1 stick butter + 1/2 tsp cinnamon all whipped together for a nice "buttercream" frosting.)

drawing faces on...

(This was great for practicing drawing shapes and drawing different emotions.  For example: "Give your jack-o-lantern two triangle eyes and a square nose." or "Draw an angry jack-o-lantern!")

dinner...

(These meatloaf muffins may not look pretty with "sweet potatoes smash" and an asparagus stem, but they sure were tasty!)

mosaics...

(I think these would make great place mats for next year once I laminate them.)

and...last, but not least, pumpkins, the baby-sister-girl-kind, are for snuggling in favorite blankies and rocking in cradles and singing to, of course:

(Of course this was all the sweeter before I interrupted with the video camera.)

Our version of the Warhol Dress

Last year after Halloween I bought 4 women's t-shirts that we're clearanced 80% off at Target.  I knew that my sister and I could make some cute Halloween dresses for our girls out of them.  (Poor boys, just aren't as fun to sew for!)  When I was in Boerne last week, my sis came down and brought her serger with her so we could get busy.  We used Dana's FREE Warhol Pattern to make the girl's dresses.  

These were the simplest dresses I've ever made.  Of course the first one took us about 1 1/2-2 hours to make, but the next morning we completed 3 more in that same amount of time, once we actually knew what we were doing.  (Ave, who has dubbed herself the non-crafty sewer, even helped in the dress making process!  It is our mission to teach her one day, folks!)


You don't HAVE to have a serger...you can just use a regular ol' sewing machine.  The serger just makes it sturdier.

McKlayne (our once horrid picture taker) has become quite the little camera ham in the last couple weeks.  Let's hope this sticks...

After I'd taken her picture, she said, "Take one with me, Momma...."  How could I resist that bossy little thing?

I will add pics of my niece's dresses once my sisters send theirs to me.  We didn't get a cousin pic of them all together!

(Let me know if you make one for little girl in your life!!)

Want to see what we've been up to?

Sorry...no time for belly shots/pregnancy updates.  We've been busy little bees around here.

A couple nights ago, I saw this on a blog.  Have you ever heard of 'Booing"?  I hadn't.  We decided it would be a fun tradition to implement.  If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know how much we just LOVE Halloween!

And, I'm always up for something creative or crafty to do with my kids.  Especially something that serves to bless others.  I want my kids to know how much it is always more of a blessing to give than to receive.  My hope is that one day this will translate to Gospel-ministry in their lives.

So, I fell in love with this idea...and totally replicated it!  (You can replicate it, too, that's why I'm passing it along!)  It was really simple and cheap to do since I already had most of the supplies.  To make 4 different buckets to give to friends, it cost me $12.  You don't have to make multiple, just start with one if you'd like! I just thought it would be fun to get this tradition hopping between our friends/neighbors.  Cindy also has just used a cone, before, too.

I grabbed my girl and we went to get a few supplies (the buckets, M&M's, and taco coupons) while I put the boys to work tracing and cutting the mask template.  (I got the jack-o-lantern buckets from Target for $1 each.)

Cindy was so generous to share all of her ideas and hard work. The black cat mask template is here.  I also found the idea for these cookies on her site, under the Halloween archives, as well.

Then we got to work decorating the masks for our little goodies.

Fortunately, Asher and McKlayne also adore all things artsy-craftsy.

Even Big Daddy was in on it.  While the glitter glue was drying the kids took a bath.

Then we filled the jars.

  

McKlayne pretty much just struck the glass with a spoon and sang jingle bells the whole time.  She is quite the little singer these days.

Asher was happy (and very quick) to help rescue any stray M&M's.

All the printables and instructions to create these M&M cookies are here.  (Thanks, Amy, for sharing! You are so talented.)

I love that the recipients of these jars are supposed to mix up them up with their hands.  How fun for kids!

You need a quart size (32 oz) jar for these.  I would recommend the wide-mouth lids if you have the option...especially if kids are helping fill them.  It gets messy.  (I had two of each.)  The lid toppers are McKlayne's favorite part.  Any time she sees these she says, "Oh, I love that little birdie!  He's so cute!"

And this is my favorite part.  Maybe because I'm a mom and this means FREE lunch (or dinner) for the recipients.  Did you know that Taco Cabana has been offering these Tac-o-Treat coupon books the last several years for Halloween?  For $1, you receive 5 free coupons for bean and cheese tacos!  So, it's a great alternative to candy...or, if you're like me, you go buy $10 worth and have a ton of lunches/snacks when we're out and about/dinners "made" for the month of November.  You can redeem these the whole month of November.

Cindy posted the poem she wrote on her blog.  I changed just the last couple lines:

Am I jack or a cat that has come to say “BOO”?

All dressed up with treats for you!

Please fill me up with treats galore

And take me to your friends front door!

Sit me down, then push the bell!

Run real quick so no one can tell.

I need to move from friend to friend,

Before Halloween comes to an end!

So, let’s get busy and let the “booing” begin!

If you want to download this, since I had to make it on the computer, it's already in a 4/page pdf file here. (Hit refresh if you don't see it the first time.)

So...don't you want to make some?  It can be simple.  It can just be candy.  There is still plenty of time!  We just started ours last night.  And we're delivering them this evening.  (I am pretty sure that the families that we're taking them to don't read our blog..or at least regularly, anyway.)

If you decide to start the "booing" in your neighborhood/amongst your friends, then let me know! Or, if you get "boo-ed" let me know that, too!

Happy Halloween!

We love Halloween. See how much fun we had?

One little...

Two little...

Cute little indian...

Boy.

The Eagle that he was so proud of.

Precious.

First stop: Jin & Jisook's

How.

The Ash's

Aunt Ash.

Second stop: MammyOu's & Dane's

She caught on to trick-or-treating quite quickly...and L.O.V.E.D. it! She would walk all the way up to the door toting her bucket and either lift it up to the treater or set the bucket down at their feet and then just look up at them as if to say, "Now, it's your turn."

She had SO MUCH candy that she could barely carry her bucket. But, she did. And would not let it go.

Asher loved running from house to house.

And would say, "I'm a pirate indian!" or "I'm a ninja indian!" whenever he would see another child dressed up as a pirate or ninja and so on...

American Gothic throws a mad party.

Cute Black-Eyed-Peas.

Has-Been Hulk & The REAL Dr.'s Wife

The Flintstones.