Halloween 08'

Last year my friend Shalynn and I spend many many hours sewing Jedi costumes. My mom even pitched in and made Hayley a Leia dress. I was really hopeful that they would love them so much they would want to be Star Wars characters for the next three years. As Halloween got closer it became more and more clear that Bella was the only child who was excited to be a Jedi this year Gabe really has no choice and was Yoda again. Hayley was set on being a Vampiress, Jaden had no idea, and Mariah wanted to be a Jawa. After many bribery attempts and tears (mine and Mairah's) I decided I could make her a Jawa costume following these instructions.

So three days before Halloween I went with Shalynn to the fabric store to find the fabric I would need to make a Jawa. As we were walking out the door I mentioned to Shalynn how much I did not like the Vampiress costume we had borrowed for Hayley. So we decided to "take a look". 30 minutes later we were once again leaving the store, this time with enough fabric for two costumes. The plan was simple. The next day, the 29th, I would cut out patterns. Then on the 30th we would sew from dawn until dusk. It was a crazy plan but very doable. What we did not plan on was me coming down with the stomach flu the night of the 29th. Luckily for me I have an angel for a friend and her name is Shalynn. I really should just start calling her "wonder woman". She came and took the fabric for Hayley's dress and sewed for half of the day at her house. Around 2:00 p.m. she came over and we both continued in a sewing frenzy. Mariah's costume came together rather quickly and then I helped finish the trim on Hayley's dress. We kept saying to each other, "I am so glad we decided not to sew this year for Halloween." Scott did a great job on Mariah's mask. She was so excited she said she's going to be a Jawa next year. I think I'll get that in writing.

Jaden was going to be a storm-trooper that we borrowed from Drake. But after wearing it to our ward halloween party and ripping out the crotch we concluded it may be too small. Lucky for Jaden I had a Jedi costume all ready to go. Gabe was Yoda from last year. And so with the exception of Hayey's vampiress costume the Star Wars theme continued on for a second year.

This year we attended the annual school parade which always makes me dizzy. Isabella's school did a small program in which they wowed us all with their vast repertoire of halloween songs.



After the kids came home from school we decided to carve the pumpkins we had grown in our garden this year. There was one for every kid except Gabe. This didn't matter as he was asleep and will never know he missed out. Please don't tell him. After I cleaned out all the guts we got started on the design. Each kid came up with their own face. Hayley did hers all by herself with no help what so ever from me. I think we ended up with four pretty amazing pumpkins.



It was one of the warmest Halloweens I ever remember. This and the fact that it was a weekend night made it perfect for trick-or-treating. I manned the house with my candy cauldron and Scott ventured out with three kids on scooters and two in the wagon.



Even though it was a crazy week I think it was a successful Halloween. Next year I am defiantly not sewing. Right Shalynn?