Halloween Pictures, including the Parade in which WE WON! WE WON!

Can I tell you a little about Halloween in our new neighborhood? First, there are only about 10 houses, and we are one of only two families with trick or treating aged children. This didn't mean that there was no Halloween here. Oh, no. More like, it was the best Halloween ever! It started at about 10:00 this morning when the next door neighbor stopped by with Halloween goodies for the boys. They weren't going to be home during trick or treat so they brought Halloween to us. Several hours later, another neighbor stopped by with the cutest little box of goodies. Same reason; they weren't going to be home during trick or treating hours.

One neighbor offered toys and candy.

Several neighbors offered "handfuls" and Devin took that quite literally, taking handfuls of candy until we stopped chatting and stopped him. 10 houses and 2 very full pumpkins, I tell you. It was a good Halloween.

We took them to see their Grandma and Grandpa after trick or treating in our neighborhood. When Grandpa asked "who is this?" Trevor ripped his hood off so Grandpa could see who it was. Devin followed suit, but it wasn't nearly as dramatic as Trevor had been.

Then, Grandma and Grandpa asked what the boys were. "DINOSAURS!"

"What kind?"

Trevor said, "I'm a spinosaurus!"

Devin said, "I don't know!"

Trevor said, "He's a carnataurus, but he doesn't have the horns."

Devin said, "My brother says I'm a carnataurus!"

(the above was actually a paraphrase of 3 conversations.)

Can I also tell you about Devin's tail? It's an impressive tail, and I pinned some reinforcing fabric to it so that it wasn't destroyed as he dragged it behind him. He can wear his costume again at Christmas. Fun. Anyway, the impressive tail was a bit of an accident. I made both of the costumes from a size 5-6 pattern. I made Devin's jumpsuit small enough to fit him (probably size 2-3), but I didn't change the tail at all. So, the tail was way too big for the costume and dragged along behind him, but it really worked out well. It was my favorite part of the costume, but it was way too big.

Happy Halloween! Do you need some candy? We have plenty. Oh, so plenty.

We Won! We won!

I will post pictures later, but I wanted to get the word out. We won, we won! We won fifth place in group of maybe 10, but we won, and that's exciting, yes, yes, yes.

I made the boys' Halloween costumes this year. I'm not sure what got into me. It cost more than buying something at the store, and it's not like I really had a bunch of extra time laying around, but still, I did it. I made their costumes. Mom, you'll be proud to know that I didn't even shy away from installing the zippers. My first zippers. I'm so proud!

Trevor was a Green Spino-saurus with flames on his Spino spine. Devin was really a red dragon with black spikes, but we're calling him a Carnotaurus.

We walked in a big huge parade of Costumed Children and their proud parents in the downtown area. We paraded for at least 5 blocks, and when we got to the end, the boys paraded past a group of judges. Devin was waving at this point. I think he was waving all on his own, but we pointed out the judges so that Devin could wave in their direction. This seemed all right for Trevor, so he waved in their direction, too.

I don't know if it was the waving that led them to win fifth place, or if it was the waving that prevented them from winning first place. It's hard to tell. But, we won, we won!

I'm in a bit of a pickle now, though.

Tonight was a Halloween parade, but tomorrow is Halloween. And, Devin got his fragile costume with its 2 pound, 3 foot long tail stinky dirty because even though he tells me that he will be potty trained "in a few minutes," he isn't potty trained, yet.

I guess I need to figure out what to do with that...