Halloween 2012

Okay, I'll admit it: I was a little cranky about Halloween this year. The weather has not been great and both of the girls have colds, so I wasn't thrilled at the idea of taking them out in the cold while wearing costumes that didn't protect them.

Thankfully, the weather held up pretty well with not much wind, and we had a great time at the Sapps' house! All of the families met on one of their streets to let the kids have a fun parade and then we went trick-or-treating in their neighborhood. Bella did great and obeyed Steve really well! We tried to get her to say, "Trick or treat, please!", but instead she would walk up to the people and state, "I need candy."

Evelyn was originally going to keep the tradition going of Bella's first Halloween and be a little punk rocker, but we started to get a little nervous that her fake tattoos wouldn't wash off before she gets dedicated this Sunday. (Not the look we're going for when she's in front of the church being prayed over.) I looked online for some ideas and remembered my friend, Ashley, dressed her daughter as a 1980's workout instructor a few years ago, so I decided to go with that. She spent most of the night completely bundled up in her stroller, but it was still a cute, DIY costume!

 

Bella was supposed to go as Cinderella, but decided at the last minute that she didn't want to wear her princess dress. Steve and I have been working on being more laid back as parents (Who are we kidding? I'VE been working on being more laid back), and one of the things we've been working on is not pushing issues with Bella that aren't a big deal. We just smile and say, "Okay! It's up to you! Just let me know if you change your mind." P.S. She never changed her mind about dressing up. We just told people that Bella was dressing up as Bella this year!

Which brings us to Steve and I. We didn't originally plan on doing anything, but I have to confess that sometimes it's just fun to dress-up! Mel created a simple "tooth fairy" costume to wear to a party with some of her friends, so I was just going to steal her things and do that. She carried around a big, plastic tooth (she works at a dentist's office), and I knew I wouldn't be able to do that while watching the girls, so I figured I'd just go as a normal fairy and wear some fun eye shadow. 

When I started looking online for makeup ideas, I saw a lot of images for Day of the Dead costumes. [Dia de los Muertos is a Mexican holiday that celebrates loved ones who have died. Obviously, we don't celebrate this holiday or belief; I just thought the faces looked fun!] The pictures were really beautiful, and I found a tutorial that helped with step-by-step makeup instructions. (Are you sensing a "last-minute" theme to our costumes this year?) Once I got started, it was so much fun! I found big flowers to put in my hair, did my makeup while the girls were napping, and convinced Steve to let me do his face when he got home from work. I loved the finished product! Okay, so we scared a little girl while we were all out trick-or-treating, but otherwise, I loved it!

It made me a little sad that this was so last-minute because I think we could've done really fun things with our outfits! Hopefully, no one thought we were too evil-looking; I don't know if this is weird, but I felt really pretty! (My mom thought we were zombies, but oh well.) I'm seriously considering repeating this next year, and adding outfits to go with it. Maybe Bella would let us paint her face. And then promise not to smudge it...