Halloween Events

When I first asked Cody and Jaden what they wanted to be for Halloween, they each responded with some random animal. Then, the next day, they had a different idea. So, instead of trying to follow their costume whims, I brainstormed a few options (coordinating costumes, of course!). Both boys were quite excited about dressing up as the Super Mario Brothers, which we had to call Super Mario AND Super Luigi so they'd both get in on the "super" adjective. :) I found it amusing that they wanted to be Mario and Luigi even though they've never played a video game in their lives! I think they've read a couple books about the Super Mario brothers, and we have a Mario placemat that they often use for meal times. I guess that sealed the deal for them! 

I was particularly excited about this costume idea since it was the easiest to assemble from the options I gave them. We bought cheap colored shirts at Wal-Mart, borrowed one pair of suspenders and bought another pair online. I found a VERY simple tutorial online for the hats and sewed them both out of felt. Cody and Jaden were quite thrilled with how their costumes turned out.

The boys' first opportunity to dress as the Mario Brothers came the week before Halloween. We did some trick-or-treating at a Kroger-based strip mall near Grammy and Papa's house. Most of the store owners had small tables set up outside their business and would hand out candy or other various treats, like popcorn or snow cones. Some of the stores even had small carnival-type games for the kids to play.

It still feels a little funny to have Halloween be so warm here in Texas. This particular day felt HOT! The boys weren't too happy to be wearing jeans. Thankfully, the snow cones helped to cool them down.

This event was a good practice activity for the boys to remember their manners while trick-or-treating. :)

We loved seeing Ryan, Ian, and Nathan's cute costumes that day too! 

Our second Halloween activity was our church's Trunk or Treat event that Jason headed up. He did a fantastic job with this event! There were over 30 decorated cars in our church parking lot where we could pick up candy. Here are the Mario Brothers, eager to pick up more candy!

Halfway through our trick-or-treating, we paused for a hayride.

Papa, Uncle Jon, Aunt Chelsea, and Isaiah joined us as well.

Some of the families had really creative decorations for their vehicle. This family encouraged each visitor to climb the stepladder at the front of their car and peek out the sunroof to see the birds (a homemade nest filled with stuffed animals that they had placed atop their car).

This family was so cute with all of their princess costumes! Many of the girls in this extended family are Sunday School helpers, so Jaden and Cody know them fairly well. 

Here are a few other cars that the boys enjoyed.

At the end of our time there, we saw two of Jaden and Cody's friends, these sweet twin girls from our Life Group.

Our final trick-or-treating event was on Halloween. We went to an assisted living place with Matt and Kim and a few other families from their small group.

We walked down each wing where we met groups of residents (some even in costume and face paint-- so cute!). The residents seemed to enjoy seeing our kids' costumes and handing out candy to them.

This cute lady firmly told all the kiddos to "just take one piece," even though she had a huge bucket of candy and our group consisted of less than 10 kids. The facility director had us visit each wing twice, though, so on our second visit to this lady, she had a change of attitude: "Take as much candy as you want!" :)

After our visit to the assisted living center, we trick-or-treated at Grammy and Papa's house and then went home. Jaden filled his bucket to the brim by visiting some of our neighbors' homes. Cody, on the other hand, was perfectly content to just stay home and hand out candy to other kids. All in all, we had a great Halloween!