Halloween 2012 with a Few Unusual Twists

This Halloween had its highs and lows for our family!

Low: Jared got home so late on the night of our church's trunk or treat activity that we totally missed everything but the 20 minutes of trunk or treating!  We headed into the church afterward to at least get pictures.  That night I first transformed into the Matchmaker (in costume), then I transformed into the Grinch (in attitude)!!!  Let's just say I was not even close to my best self, because I was disappointed and felt like all the time I had spent on the costumes and getting everyone ready was a waste.  

High:  The pictures that we got turned out SO MUCH CUTER than my attitude that night;o)  As you can see, I got away with another year doing a family theme for the costumes.  The Halloween theme for 2012 was Mulan!  We had Chien-Po, the Matchmaker, Ping (warrior Mulan), Fa Mulan, Shan-Yu, and Mushu.

High:  My kids only thought we were doing the 'trunk or treating,' so they were super happy and not disappointed at all.  Pictures of kids who are in really good moods because they just got lots candy turn out AWESOME;o)

High:  Jared got his way.  We used the sumo costume again (which I originally made for Lexi's 1st Halloween)!   Since Emmy has the same type of crazy 'mop top, mohawk,' it fit her well!

Low:  Hurricane Sandy hit.  We were fortunate and only were without power for 25 hours, but it felt like a long, cold 25 hours!!!  Our hearts definitely go out to the many who were and still are affected in much more drastic ways, especially those in the shore communities!

Low:  Because of Hurricane Sandy, Trick or Treating and Addie's parade and school parties were cancelled on Halloween, October 31st.

High:  I had signed up, for the night of Halloween, to take a meal into a family who just had a baby.  Because of that I made a Halloweenish feast, and just made double of most everything so that our family could have a SpOoKy meal, too.  It was really fun, because it made Halloween feel special and like we were celebrating it!  Thanks to some awesome ideas on the internet/pinterest, we had...

 Mummy Dogs

 Witches Fingers

 Jack-O-Lantern Veggies

 and Eyeballs.

High:  Everyone in the family, minus the babe of course, got to put together their very own graveyard brownie.  Mine is the one with J+B and 2 skeletons (get it? Jared + Barbara).  What do you think?  SWEET or CREEPY?  Ha ha!

High:  For our Halloween dinner, I had the girls draw place mats (Lexi's is above and Addie's is below).  These were my favorites.  I love their artwork!!!

High:  Lexi got to have a Halloween Party at dance and and got to wear her costume.  They performed for us and were so...o super cute!  

Low:  I only got the above picture of Lex from another dancer's mom, but I wish I had brought my camera so that I could have gotten more shots.  Unfortunately, my camera is lost somewhere in the house.  Jed was getting into it; and, in my attempt to hide it from him, I also ended up hiding it from myself!  Classic!!!

High:  Luckily, the Halloween celebrations were rescheduled; otherwise, a million parents would have never heard the end of it from their kids!!!  There was a bit of confusion, though, since the were postponed until Friday (by the Mayor), then until Monday (by the Governor).  Luckily, the Mayor changed it to align with the governor, so Monday, November 4th, became New Jersey's unofficial-official Halloween.  Have you ever went trick or treating in November?  It works; the kids got too much candy like always!!!

High:  When I went to the Goodwill, to buy all of the clothing that I would need to cut and piece together for our Halloween outfits, the cashier was looking inquisitively at the paper with all the characters that I had in my hand.  I told her what I was up to, and she suggested that I enter it into their Pin it to Win it contest for this area.  So, I got up my courage and decided to enter no matter the outcome.  Luckily for me, there were not a ton of entrants, so we ended up winning 2nd place and we will get a $25 Visa Gift Card because of it, which covers almost exactly what I spent on the items at Goodwill.  This made me SUPER HAPPY and made me feel like the hours I spent on the costumes were worth it in the long run.  I essentially got to costume my family for free this year because of it!!!  Thanks Goodwill; I am a Major Fan;o)

Highs = 9  and   Lows = 4

"The Highs have it!"  So, I guess overall, we did have a very HAPPY HALLOWEEN!