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Until recently, I was a major chocoholic (chocaholic?!). My mom loved chocolate, so, naturally, I loved it, too. This, of course, became an issue around first grade when we learned I was allergic to caffeine (although now-a-days, doctors would say I have an "intolerance," not an allergy). Over the years I learned how much I could eat without becoming sick.
I used to need chocolate on hand at all times. I would buy bags of the miniature chocolate bars so if I had a craving I could cure it. One little mini and I was good. Two made my stomach hurt. I can't remember the last time I wanted chocolate, so it has been quite some time since we've had bags of mini chocs in the house.
Last night was a chocoholics dream... Halloween. Almost every house gave out chocolate. My girls surprised me. Early in the day they said "If we're really good can we have one piece of candy after we trick or treat?" One?! Yes. When we came home I let them go through their buckets and pick out one piece of candy. Tortilla picked a mini box of Milk Duds (mmmmm), Sue Sue picked an mini Almond Joy (ick, coconut?), Roo picked a mini Twix (my fav, especially when frozen) and Cakes picked a Twizzler. What?! Heck no. I told her to pick something better. There's nothing wrong with Twizzlers. When I was pregnant and not really keeping down anything I could keep down Twizzlers. But honestly, if you're shown 50+ pieces of candy and told to pick one, why would you pick a Twizzler?! Cakes picked again and decided on a Twix. Good girl. Unfortunately, as I went through the candy bags I realized they had received two, count 'em TWO Twix and those were just eaten by Roo and Cakes. Sigh. Well, at least Hubby has a plethora of his favorite... Almond Joy.
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A few years ago, my moms of multiples group had its annual Halloween party at a local pumpkin farm. This place is awesome. You can go out to various fields, pick your pumpkin and cut it yourself. We've been going to that farm ever since the party.
The first time we went, Hubby and I were having so much fun that we let the girls each pick whatever pumpkin they wanted. Watching Hubby struggle to carry each of the pumpkins to the car made us realize we had to set some limits. There was no way I could help him with any of the pumpkins that year because they were so big. Carving them was a real challenge, too. So much pulp to pull out... but plenty of pumpkin seeds to roast.
This year we steered our girls toward smaller pumpkins. If they couldn't lift them, we weren't taking them. (By the way, this particular pumpkin farm charges you by the pumpkin, not by the pound, which makes for a relatively cheap outing, especially since there's no admission fee). They found reasonable pumpkins, thank goodness. On Sunday we got out markers and let them draw the faces they wanted, then Hubby and I carved them.
I think they turned out pretty nice. You can't tell in this picture, but the pumpkin on the far left has eyelashes. Roo added those with a marker because she wanted to make sure everyone knew it's a girl pumpkin.
This is the first year my girls have enjoyed roasted pumpkin seeds. In the past they would try one and that was it. This time Hubby and I were fighting them for the last few seeds! (I coated the seeds with olive oil, sprinkled on some seasoned salt and roasted them for 30 minutes at 300. Perfect!) I would say we're ready for Halloween!
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Every year as we approach Halloween I wait to find out what my daughters want to be before I decide if I'll make the costumes or buy them. Two years ago they were all flowers. Easy. I made them. Last year I ended up buying their costumes because three of them received dress up costumes for their birthday and wanted to wear the outfits for Halloween (meaning I only had to buy one costume). This year I decided to tackle the costumes myself because they seemed easy enough: unicorn, ladybug, bumblebee and Smurfette.
First I headed to a local big box store and found legging with coordinating tops: two black outfits for the ladybug and bumblebee, a pink outfit for the unicorn and (duh) blue for Smurfette. While looking for ladybug antennae I found a really inexpensive antennae and wing set. Ladybug done! At the same store I found a bumblebee antennae and stinger. I bought it thinking the wings would be easy. I'll get to that in a minute.
I had the unicorn costume all planned out: yarn would be easy to make into the mane and tail and then I could use black construction paper for the hooves. Then at my moms of multiples sale I spied a unicorn costume... it's a head and hooves. For what the seller was asking, I scooped it up, but will still have to make a tail.
We ventured to the fabric store on Sunday (don't ever go to the fabric store on a weekend leading up to Halloween. We waited a good 15 minutes before our number was called at the cutting table). We bought felt for Smurfette's dress and hat, so now we (me?!) need to get cracking on actually making it.
Which brings me back to the bumblebee wings. Did you know you can buy wings in nearly every color EXCEPT for a color that would seem reasonable for a bumblebee? I looked for white, black and yellow. Everything I found was pink, green or purple. I looked through various websites for ideas, but everything seemed too complicated or too ridiculous. We finally found some adult sized yellow wings, but I wasn't convinced they would work. Next to the fabric store was a Halloween store. We ran in and could only find suitable wings that came with a costume. We don't need the whole costume, just the wings. While wandering around, we found white angel wings. They're going to have to suffice. They definitely work better than the adult wings.
Now we just need to use the yellow duct tape we bought to put stripes on the black shirt (although I was informed the other day by the bumblebee that bees are yellow with black stripes, not black with yellow stripes. Yeah? Too bad) and make Smurfette's dress. You know... in all that free time I have!
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We finally had some time to carve pumpkins. I've realized that for kids, pumpkin carving is a lot of fun. For adults... maybe not so much. It's exhausting! It took us two hours to get all four of our pumpkins gutted and carved!
Actually, it was pretty fun. Hubby and I stipulated at the beginning that we wouldn't be doing anything too elaborate. No Dora (yes, one of them requested that), no cats, nothing but easy shapes. Each of the girls picked a pumpkin (we couldn't remember who picked which one at the pumpkin patch the week before) and gave us directions on the "shapes" they wanted. Sue Sue and I had fun making a "surprised" face. She also requested "star eyes." The other three girls stuck to circles, triangles and squares. The bonus? While Hubby and I did the knife work, the girls wore themselves out riding bikes and playing in our driveway.
Eventually I'll give them more opportunities to help with the carving, but for now they're happy just giving directions. Unfortunately, I forgot to buy votive candles, so our Jack-o-Lanterns have yet to light up. Here's our finished work:
Spooky, huh?
Time is going by too fast these days. I feel like just the other day I still had time to plan our mid-September 5th birthday. The celebration is long over and now I'm concentrating on Halloween.
Despite my best intentions to make our Halloween costumes, I broke down and bought them. I only had to buy two, so I felt justified in the purchase. Tortilla received a Sleeping Beauty dress for her birthday and wants to wear that for Halloween. Done. Cakes wants to be a ballerina, which I can easily put together from our gymnastics leotards and poufy skirts from a different costume. So, armed with my 30% off at Kohl's and my employee discount, I agreed to buy Roo a Minnie Mouse costume and Sue Sue a Tinkerbell costume. (Clearly there have been some changes since I last posted about Halloween, considering one of them originally wanted to be a pirate). I felt OK with the purchases, since they can be used for dress-up clothes when Halloween is over.
This weekend we'll be headed to the pumpkin patch for my mom's of multiples group's annual Halloween party. I told Hubby to get some rest this week, since last year the girls' each picked pumpkins that weighed a good 20 pounds. I tried to carry one back to the car and made it about 10 steps before giving up. At least we had lots of pumpkin seeds to roast after the pumpkin carving.
I'm hoping Hubby gets our Halloween decorations up soon. It's hard to get into a "festive fall mood" when I'm already seeing Christmas trees everywhere I turn!
I can't believe it's already time to start thinking about Halloween. With four costumes to prepare, perhaps I should have started sooner!
I've never made my daughters do a "theme" for Halloween. One year they all dressed as witches, but they each asked to be witches. Last year they all dressed like flowers because they all asked be flowers. This year, they all want to be different things.
Yesterday, I made the mistake of letting them look through a costume catalog that arrived in the mail. Tortilla is convinced I am going to shell out nearly $50 ($49.99 to be exact) for a Sleeping Beauty costume. Sleeping Beauty is her favoritest princess ever. EVER. She just recently stopped naming every new stuffed animal and doll Sleeping Beauty. But now she thinks the world might end if she isn't allowed to wear the costume she saw in this catalog. Oh, and even though she has a pair of play dress up shoes with Sleeping Beauty on them, she doesn't want to get them dirty so she wants me to buy the coordinating shoes, too. Is she getting any of it? Nope. However, I did find a "make-it-yourself" princess costume online that doesn't require any sewing. She seems to be happy with that. I can sew, but I don't own a sewing machine.
I started thumbing through the catalog. $25-$55 for infant costumes. Really?! Toddler and kid costumes start at $30. Adult costumes can reach $100. I get that not everyone has the time, luxury or talent to make costumes... but these prices blow my mind. I realize there are some stores that sell cheaper costumes... but still, how much is too much?
I've only bought costumes for the girls once. They were one-year-old. I hadn't planned on dressing them up for Halloween. Then Hubby and I were shopping and happened to walk by the costumes for infants. I couldn't help it. Suddenly I had to dress my babies for Halloween. I spent $10 per outfit... and then the next fall I sold them at my mom's of multiples sale for $5 each.
So far the girls want to be a princess (guess who!), a ballerina, Minnie Mouse and a pirate. All of those seem fairly doable, although a Minnie Mouse skirt may be hard to do on a budget. (Polka dots? Petticoats? This could be complicated).
For those of you who think it's too early to start thinking about Halloween costumes, just remember: any day now, stores are going to start putting up their Christmas displays!
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I think this Halloween could be the year my daughters have a full-on freak out. It happens to all kids at some point, right? I remember when my sister was little and a babysitter took us trick or treating. At one point my sister turned around, saw a "monster" behind her and could not be consoled for quite some time.
Last year I was extremely concerned about how my daughters would handle Halloween. My solution? My four little witches went trick or treating in broad daylight. It was barely dusk by the time we returned home. For the remainder of the evening they handed out candy to the other ghouls and goblins, and seemed fine viewing the monsters from the safety of a house.
This year, however, they're more aware of "scary" and what it means to be frightened. They're more vocal about their feelings and they're not afraid to be afraid. We have one neighbor who goes all out on Halloween. He has scary music playing in his garage. He chases trick or treaters with a fake chain saw. I'm not sure my girls are ready for that. We will likely have to skip his house.
My daughters are excited to dress up for Halloween. They're going to be flowers this year. They can't wait to go door to door and say "Happy Halloween!" (Wait until the remember candy is part of the deal!) I want them to retain their enthusiasm for Halloween and will do my best to make sure this year isn't too spooky for them.
I could care less if Miley Cyrus does a pole dance on TV. At some point all teen stars decide to show their "adult" side. Britney did it. Christina did it. Jessica did it. Miley's day was bound to come. Having said that, I'm not sure the Teen Choice Awards was the appropriate venue for Miley's "edgy" side. But did that many parents really question the performance? It seems like girls are being taught to be "sexy" at a younger and younger age.
By now Miley is old news, so I'm sure many of you are wondering why I'm bringing this up. Yesterday Hubby came in with the mail and had a catalog of Halloween costumes. He loves Halloween and immediately sat on the floor to look at all the pictures with our daughters. I looked through it later and was stunned by many of the costumes. Sure, there were your requisite princesses, fairies, witches, etc., but what I saw in the "'teen" section shocked me. Keep in mind this section specifically said teens and not adults. It contained page after page of pouty girls in short skirts. Most of these girls look like they're about 12 years old. The catalog came from a legitimate, national chain.
In most retail stores when you shop the young girls' department (think ages 6-10) you'll think you're in the junior's department. The shorts and skirts are getting shorter, the tops are getting tighter. What is a parent to do?
I'm not a prude. I don't think there's anything wrong with dressing "cute" or even "sexy"... when it's age appropriate. With four daughters you can be sure I'm going to be keeping a close eye on their outfits... and which celebrities they choose to admire. Thank goodness my daughters have decided to dress up as flowers this Halloween.
