halloween

What a fun time Halloween was! How could it not be fun with Mickey Mouse, Captain Hook, and lots of candy?

Drew had a really hard time picking out his costume this year. He wanted to be Sonic the Hedgehog but after seeing the costume choices he changed his mind. He's got a really, really big thing about not wanting a mask or paint on his face. He eventually spotted a cool Captain Hook costume and immediately started working on his pirate speech. He got pretty good at it too! I tried to convince Mike to dress up as Peter Pan but he wasn't too excited about the thought of green tights. Or just tights in general.

We actually ran into a little boy dressed up as Peter Pan while we were trick or treating. Mike and I, along with the other boy's parents played up the enemies thing. Both boys looked at us like we were insane. Like we didn't get that they weren't really Captain Hook and Peter Pan and they weren't really going to fight.

Drew added a lot of his own personality to the costume. Many times after getting the candy he would say thank you and then take his hat off and do a little swirl thing and then put it back on. It became his official nod of thanks by the time the night was over. That's Drew for you. Always entertaining and creative!

Before he could even open the wrapper on a Snickers from last year's Halloween loot, Jackson knew he wanted to be Mickey Mouse for this Halloween. We've been reminded of it too for the last year. I started the search for a Mickey costume early but wasn't having a lot of luck. I finally decided to just put together his costume myself. It was really easy and inexpensive too!

• The ears came from a costume store.
• The shirt is a simple long sleeve black t-shirt.
• The shorts were cut from a pair of red sweat pants and I sewed two white ovals on the front.
• The bottoms are (shhhhhhh, don't tell him) girls leggings.
• The shoes are white shoes that I got on clearance and spray painted bright yellow.
• The gloves are white gloves with black lines drawn on them with a Sharpie.

I don't think Jackson could have been anymore happy with the results.

I could barely get him to stand still long enough to snap a couple of pictures. He was so giddy with excitement! (At the end of the night he asked me if he could wear his Mickey costume everyday.)

We started the evening off at Aunt Stacey's house were they got enough candy and treats between Stacey, Grandma Debbie, Grandma Mary Lou, and Aunt Karin to fill at least three bags. At least. From the excitement of the costumes, seeing their family, and the consumption of too much sugar, they were literally bouncing off the walls. Really. Jackson has a bruise on his knee to prove it. Actually, it was more like bouncing onto the corner of the coffee table than off the walls. Surprisingly it didn't slow him down at all. He trick or treated his little Mickey Mouse butt off.

At the end of the night Jackson did eventually slow down and had to be carried. Drew, on the other hand, was on a mission. He said he was going to hit the mother load and wasn't stopping until he did. Mike carried Jackson while Drew went door to door. At one point Jackson figured out that if he wasn't going to the door he wasn't getting candy. It was then that he started yelling, "Drew! Get candy for me too!" Drew was a good big brother and shared with him and anyone within earshot got a good laugh out of it.

Of course we ended the night by dumping out the candy on the dinning room table. Mike and I shared our wisdom on bartering the goods and whatnot and helped them sort their candy. I think Jackson was on a mission to at least eat half his candy that night. We finally cut him off in hopes of his sugar high wearing off sometime before midnight. He actually fell asleep pretty quick. We all snuggled up on the couch to watch a movie and I looked down to see both the boys fast asleep. They had such a wonderful time! We all did!
••••••••••••••••••