The Three Amigos

The boys decided they wanted to be the Three Amigos for Halloween.  They do not sell Three Amigos costumes.  I wanted to convince them to be something else, but Hans just wouldn't hear of it.  Then my mom backed Hans up by saying, "it won't be too hard to make the costumes".  I said "fine," and then I went and bought stuff to make the costumes and had it all ready to go for my mom to do when she came to visit in October.  Do you think that happened?  No.  It did not.  In my mom's defense, she had every intention of helping me start this project, but we were just too busy with other things.

 I made up a different pattern for each boy.  I started with the pants and completed the pattern on one side and after it dried for a day or so, did the same thing on the other side.  This took several days and A LOT of glitter glue.

I then did the same pattern for the jackets.

"Where did you find bolero jackets," you ask?

I didn't find them anywhere.

I purchased three black sweatshirts, cut them, and put interfacing on the inside to make them stiffer.

It was a project.  But I kind of enjoyed it.  Needless to say my family ate microwavable corn dogs for a week.

 Then I bought red fabric and sewed ties and cummerbunds.  I don't sew so I promise you this was super easy.

All the work was worth it in the end.  The boys looked super cute and still dress up in these costumes often.

Halloween Fun

The boys were pretty excited for Halloween.  I'm not really sure why it seemed like such a big deal.  Every day is Halloween in this house, we have costumes EVERY WHERE!  The boys talked for weeks about what they were going to be and just couldn't decide on one thing.

 John was a fireman for his school party.  Gus was Spiderman for his school party...but I forgot to take pictures of that.

The morning of Halloween, John got ready for school in his fireman costume and the other two boys decided to dress up just because it was Thursday.

 After school the boys got in costume to trick or treat.

 It was raining and really yucky.  But that didn't stop Hans.  Yes.  I meant to write Hans.  He was excited to take the boys trick or treating.

One house down and Gus' mask broke and the kid had a melt down.

 The boys were soaked, so they decided to come home for a costume change and head out again.

 Anders decided to stay in his costume.  

 Hans loves all of the activities of Halloween.  He really got into carving the pumpkins.

Hans and John had a lot of fun with their pumpkins. 

My house is full of gross boys.

More Halloween

The boys got several chances to wear their costumes this year.  When I was putting my Halloween post together, Gus told me that I didn't have enough pictures of him.  For those of you who feel the same way, here you go.  John, however, said I had enough.

 Gus's school has a costume parade. 

 He really enjoyed showing everyone his costume.  I can't get a good picture of it, but his wings even light up.

 Super Why with Super Why.

He is cute.  But he is also dangerous.

Halloween

Every year John gets a little more excited about Halloween.  The neighbors around here really get into decorating their houses for the spooky season.  John is very upset that we don't do this.  It honestly isn't even a "we don't celebrate Halloween" thing as much as it is an "I don't want to buy decorations, put them up, take them down and store them" thing.  John decided to make his own decorations.

This was the extent of our Halloween decor.  Oh, and there is nothing like a picture to show you that you really need to clean your front door.

 We also had Jack-O-lanterns.

 John-Woody, Anders-Super Why, Gus-Buzz Lightyear

 John decided that Anders should show off his Why-Writer.

 Anders is thinking about what just happened and deciding how he will react.

The Why-Writer becomes an excellent weapon.  The boys have learned to steer clear of Anders and his Super Why gear.

Trunk and Treat

Our church held its annual Trunk and Treat event the Sunday before Halloween.  Last year it was rainy and very cold so we had it indoors.  This year it was just cold so we actually had the event outside.  Trunk and Treat was a new concept for me when we moved here.  Basically people have games that can be played out of the trunk or near the car.  Kids come and play the games and then get candy.  A lot of the members even dress up.  So I told Hans he had to dress up and even found a costume for him.

 How did I get him to wear this costume, you ask?  Well, I brought it home and, in front of the boys, who dressed as Woody and Buzz, I told him that their daddy could be Bullseye.  The boys insisted he wear this ridiculous costume.  And because Hans is such a good dad, he obliged.

 So here is how Trunk and Treat works.  The kids just go from car to car playing games and collecting candy.

 Someone seems to be a little grumpy.

Anders even enjoyed having a horsy ride.

We had a great turnout.  Along with the games and candy we offered crafts, bingo and food.  I think we went through 90 hotdogs, tons of chips and cookies and 3 bottles of ketchup.  I learned that people REALLY like ketchup.

Halloween Costumes

This year John decided he wanted to be Mr. Bean.  I'm not sure there was a single kid who knew who he was even after he told them, but all the adults thought it was great.  Gus wanted to be Spiderman complete with Spiderman boots.  Don't even try to tell him they aren't Spiderman boots.  Anders didn't care about the festivities at all and was happy to be Captain America which was John's Halloween costume when he was 1.

 Anders actually rode in the wagon for trick or treating and made it a good ways before declaring he had enough.

 After Gus fell asleep, our neighbor drove him home.  I'm not sure when he woke up but he wasn't happy to be coming home.  Our poor neighbor is probably traumatized by all the screaming.  I had the baby gates up to keep Fritz from running out the door and Gus climbed over it to get out the door so he could find his dad and finish trick or treating.

I'm sure John would have stayed out the whole night.  John would say "trick or treat" in his Mr. Bean voice and after they had been to a majority of the houses, John asked Hans if he could just say "trick or treat" in his regular voice because it was hurting his throat.  Poor kid.  He loves to stay in character.

Trunk N' Treat

I'm not sure if Trunk N' Treat is a relatively new thing or if it's mostly a northerner thing or if my parents just kept me in the dark about this fun event to keep me from getting more candy.  If you don't know what Trunk N' Treat is, I'll tell you.  Because it is a great idea.  Members of our church park their cars in our parking lot, open their trunks and have games the kids can play for candy.  Hence the name Trunk N' Treat.  There are a few churches around here that do this and John's school also had this for their Halloween party.  The school didn't hand out candy though.  They handed out pencils, stickers, fake spiders and vampire teeth.  I have lots of vampire teeth sitting around if you ever find the need to wear them.

So, Hans was announcing the details of the festivities to the congregation and John decided to interrupt (he does that A LOT) and told everyone he wanted to see 100 cars in our parking lot.  Not sure why.  Maybe because he thought he could get more candy.  We did not have John's goal of 100 cars, but we had quite a few.  However, it was rainy and cold so we decided to take Trunk or Treat indoors for the evening.  We had two members decide to stay outside and I heard their games were so fun that people didn't mind getting a little wet just to play them.

The night was a big success.  We had lots of people walk through our doors.  AND I believe I was the only member that didn't wear a costume.  I don't wear costumes.

I didn't get a picture of everyone in their costumes, but here are a few...

Love, love, love this.  This is a husband and wife and they looked too cute together.  When Diane asked me where my costume was and I informed her I didn't have one, she said "Don't tell him.  Do you know how long it took me to convince him to wear that?"

Another husband and wife.  Their costumes brought back many fond memories of reenacting the Spartan cheers with my high school friends.

 Not only was Batgirl's costume a hit, her game was also popular.  Who knew kids would go crazy over marbles?

 These two are usually up to no good.

 I told Hans that, if all of the members were going to be in costume, it would be wrong if the pastor wasn't in costume.  So here is, as he labeled it, "30 Year Old Scott Howard."  Scott Howard was Michael J. Fox's character in Teen Wolf, for those of you who don't remember that name and aren't huge nerds like Hans.

Of course, the night just couldn't end without Captain America eating an orange cupcake.  I'm shocked Pam wasn't covered in orange frosting.

A great time was had by all.  John is already talking about what game he wants to be in charge of next year.

Anders' Baptism

Anders was baptized into Christ on Reformation Sunday, October 31st.  We were so very happy that both sets of godparents could be here for the happy occasion.  We took lots of pictures to mark the special day and by the time we were done I think everyone felt like we just finished taking wedding photos.  Sorry to everyone that had to smile through countless amounts of pictures.

 The whole group

Jake and Ashley are godparents

Mark and Kathy are also godparents. 

Grandma and Grandpa Huebel

Our little family.  It's Gus' naptime, can you tell?

See what I mean when I say we felt like we just took wedding photos?  This was just the tip of the iceberg.

Hans and I were so excited to get the boys suits for this special occasion.

Don't they look cute? And a bit mischievous?

After the service we had everyone over for lunch and entertainment...that entertainment being the boys.  John was so excited to be getting so much attention that he just crashed.  This was before any trick or treating.

It was such a busy day that even Superman had a hard time keeping his eyes open.