Halloween 2010

Charlotte does not think we're as clever as we do. Hehe.


This year, a bunch of my fun neighbors decided to host a carnival on "Play Street" the night before Halloween. Play street is a street (with a grass island in the middle) that runs behind the back of the houses across the street from us. It has Do Not Enter signs to keep cars out, a communal trampoline, and a variety of discarded play equipment which seems to belong to no one in particular. It's also a great place for parties.


Naturally, since there was going to be free food, we invited the Elders...



And handsome Elders, they were. Troy put forth a token effort with his costume (which was more than I could say for myself) and Coree came up with the oh-so-clever, "Smartie Pants". Only, she was traumatized by the little children in the costume parade pulling the candy off of her clothing.



Lots of cute details in the food and activities. (And don't you just love the rednecks up in the left corner? This is what leadership in our church has come to...heaven help us all.)



Our adorable neighbors decorating cookies.



Elder Stuart approves of the offerings.



Aloha Cliff lends a hand with the food.



The fun went on into the night.



Jake, I mean...Elder Stuart, tried his luck at musical chairs.



Even the teens had a good time. Although, right after this, Troy told me to stop trying to act like a cool mom, because I was failing. Nice, huh? When is he leaving for his mission, again?

Flashback Friday...More costumed fun!

Remember when I told you about a pic that I lost?



Well, I found it...



along with some others I couldn't resist sharing...circa 1999.

I don't remember what these fake 'staches and binoculars were about...but this is just typical of the kind of stuff these guys would do together.



Watching these two do karate was a hoot.



Don't you just love the face on Patrick?

One day around this same time period, I came outside to find some older kids picking on him. I called out to them, "Wow, does that make you feel pretty big and tough to pick on a Kindergartener?" which was all it took for them to scatter. Patrick came huffing back to me in his chicken-hawk style (wearing a face just like in this picture) muttering, "It's a good thing they took off...I was gonna have to show them some of my moves!"



And just for good measure...I give you "Book Character Day". This was back before the movies...I think book 4 had just come out or was going to...I don't remember. Anyway, these guys were a little obsessed. I looked all over town for red and white rugby shirts...before resorting to making my own with red sweatshirts and athletic tape. The robes were easy enough with shiny, red $1 a yard fabric from Wal*Mart...and the Quidditch brooms were made of thick dowel rod, spray-painted gold, and cut-up whisk-brooms glued onto the stick and covered in glitter.

It's no wonder they loved their Shakespeare classes!

A Drunk, A Barbarian, A Thug and a Doll walk into a Bar...

I thought it sounded like the makings of a good joke! We now present...Imperialstuarts Halloween 2008...

Bacchus...The God of Wine and Merriment. Look it up.

No...not Conan the Barbarian...just a random barbarian. He wanted this sword in particular, and thus designed a costume around it.



No...not Al Capone...not Bugsy Malone...just a random, old-school mobster. Again, wanted the weapon. Designed costume around it.

Okay, am I the only one a little disgusted by the trend of turning even the most innocent of costume concepts into something a street walker would wear? (No, not the Trick or Treat kind of street walker, if you know what I mean!) I think the whole section of girl costumes at Party City had TWO that weren't totally trampy.

Anyway, luckily Coree wanted to be her American Girl doll, Nellie. I guess I should be grateful I got to stay up until 2:30 AM sewing this dress...we could have been fighting the Slutty Red Riding Hood battle instead.

A Motley Crew...but on the other hand, a potentially VERY interesting history lesson!

Good Times!

Flashback Friday...Stranded!

This flashback is a little bit different. It was triggered by an experience we had today. We had to travel to San Diego to get our military passports. We have to get 2 different kinds...(By the way, there are SO many appointments, expenses and shots that come along with going overseas. We had our second round of shots this morning...the first appt., last week I got SIX shots...the family record! Today was only one for each of us, luckily.)

Anyhoo...we finally get all the paperwork in order and turned in (after THE stereo-typical civil service employee tries every thing he can NOT to help us) and we leave 32nd St. and head for Party City for some last minute costume needs before Trunk or Treat tonight.

We come out of Party City very satisfied, only to find that our van will not start. We think the battery is fried from the summer heat, because it's been struggling to start lately. Same thing happened after last summer. Anyway, we are up against a curb in a CROWDED parking lot. Cliff sends us into Wendy's for some beverages while he tries to flag someone down with cables AND wait for one of the parking places next to us to free up (luckily, he's in uniform, that should help win someone over!

As the kids and I are inside, waiting for our drinks, something occurs to me that cracks me up...you have to keep in mind, it is RARE that I sew...VERY rare!


This is us...over 3 years ago. Cliff had just been asked to "prayerfully consider" switching his orders to NAF El Centro (he was supposed to go to Balboa Naval Hospital). Sidebar: Do pilot detailers ask you to prayerfully consider orders? Maybe Clint or Jeff can answer that one for me? In the Chaplain Corps..."prayerfully consider" is the nice way to say, "We're sending you here, in reality you have no choice, but we'd like you to believe you play a part in the decision. It just helps us all to feel good about it."

Since it was only 2 hours away, we all jumped in the car to get the lay of the land. It was a Friday afternoon in July. Our ward's Pioneer Day celebration was the next day, so I was finishing Coree's costume on the drive (pictured below...I also made her wear it that year for Halloween..I'm getting as much mileage as possible from my effort!)


And this is our van being towed to Pep Boys when it wouldn't start...the fuel pump went out. Ironically, they had to order the part from San Diego (where we had just come from). So we had to stay a night at the base and rent a car to drive back to San Diego. We missed Pioneer Day.


So that was the flashback part...now fast forward to today...


Cliff getting prepped for someone to give us a jump.


Me sewing the finishing touches to Coree's Halloween costume on the drive.

So this is what made me chuckle...

3 years ago, we drove from San Diego to El Centro while I sewed a costume for Coree. We got stranded in El Centro.

Today, we drove from El Centro to San Diego...while I sewed a costume for Coree. We got stranded in San Diego (but at least we made it back JUST IN TIME for Trunk or Treat).

Patrick said I'm not allowed to sew on the drive anymore...

Flashback Friday...Halloween 03

And here are the creative costumes I was telling you about. The basic ideas came from Family Fun magazine (I love that magazine...I need to resubscribe!) but we modified a couple of them.

Disclaimer: Don't do this if you are wanting to save money...it would have been cheaper to go to Party City...but it was a whole lot of fun to make these:


The Black Widow
(black sweats, red hourglass cut out of felt and sewn to shirt. Legs made out of black thigh-highs stuffed with foam balls...black yarn strings them together and makes them all lift with the arms)

Gum Under a Chair
(Pink long johns, slippers, ski cap, gloves and face paint...a pink sheath bloused with a belt, stuffed with tissue for volume...which we ditched. Kid's chair from .99 store.)

The Tornado
(Sheath sewn from gray fabric, wider at the top, wired hem at the top, small toys on wires attached all around (cars, fences, trees, animals) worn over gray sweats.)

Road Kill
(Black sweats and ski cap, yellow duct tape lines, a gutted, stuffed squirrel sewn on front with Sharpie tire tracks.)

I'm liking the Halloween Flashbacks. I think I'll do a couple more!