Boo for You Halloween

Happy Halloween!  My least favorite holiday of the year has come and gone.  We didn't manage to attend half of the festivities we did last year, and it was still exhausting (#tiredandpregnantproblems)

 This year the girls made it quite easy on me when it came to their costumes of choice.  Last year, about a week before Halloween, Stella saw this Snow White shirt/dress at Target.  She begged to change her costume so that she could be Snow White and wear such a beautiful outfit.  Unfortunately for her we had already purchased her mermaid costume a few weeks prior with the agreement that she wouldn't be changing her mind.  She reluctantly agreed that she would still be the beautiful mermaid, but was certain she was going to be Snow White the following year and wear that beautiful "costume."  As luck would have it, back in January I found the coveted dress (I still don't know what to call it.  Is it a shirt?  Is it a dress?  Is it an actual costume???) on the clearance rack for $2 in a size 4T.  It was meant to be.  She received the outfit for her birthday and since that day she has not wavered in her plan to be Snow White this year for Halloween.  I even tried to convince her to buy one of the fancier versions we saw around town, but she was as happy as could be with her $2 T-shirt, a pair of red leggings and a red bow. She looked adorable and I'm not really sure why I was fighting her on the idea.

As for Eliza, I thought I might have one more year of her simply wearing Stella's Halloween hand-me-down from a previous holiday.  She was on schedule to use the butterfly fairy costume that Stella wore a couple of years ago, but was suddenly begging to be Princess Anna- what a surprise!  Then, about a month or two ago, she started wearing the butterfly fairy dress and witch hat around the house nearly every single day.  She loved pretending she was a witch and decided that is what she would be for Halloween.  Ryan's mom and dad went on a trip to Boston earlier this month and just happened to give Liza a little witch hat straight from Salem, Massachusetts.  So, one "witch" dress and official hat later we had ourselves the cutest little witch I ever did see.

We decided to get creative and skip Ryan's usual costume of tough biker dude with a handlebar mustache, and instead utilized the full beard he had been so lovingly growing for the last month.  The Lumberjack costume was too easy, and as for me- the kitty ears were easy enough and Kyrsten practically forced me to add the whiskers.  Dressing up isn't my favorite, but seeing the look of happiness it brings to the girls' faces makes it worth it.

We kicked off the week of sugar with Halloween dance classes.  The girls got to wear their costumes and pass out treats to their friends.  Watching toddlers dance around in costume only adds to the cuteness overload.

We were lucky to convince our Aunt Kyrsten, Uncle Sam and cousin Gibson to join us for the Halloween celebrations.  Trick-or-treating with cousins is way more fun, and we had a blast hanging out with them all weekend.  They should probably just move here.

Who said witches had to ride brooms?

We spent the day trying to get a few good pictures of the cute kids, visiting dad at work, painting pumpkins, eating pumpkin shaped pizza for dinner and consuming way too much sugar over the course of 24 hours.  As much as I know that one day of sugar isn't going to hurt anyone, I still have to remind myself at least once to just breathe and relax when I watch my kids pound donuts, suckers and juice boxes all the live long day.

The baby sisters enjoyed the sugar rush!

Nana Joni and Papa Paul also made the trip to watch the kiddos trick-or-treat, and we are so glad they decided to come.  Anytime grandma is in town everyone is happier.  

Last year our neighborhood was quite dead on Halloween, so we weren't sure we would be sticking around this time.  After seeing a few friends out and about we decided to stay put and it was perfect.  We met up with friends along the way, carried our treat bucket to hand out a few pieces ourselves, and ended up with just the right amount of loot to take home.  Thankfully my kids were pretty much over the candy after about a day and haven't really even asked for it since.  They know how to make their mama proud.