Costume Parties At Local Churches (Picture Dump)

Starting off at our first church fall party...

A close-up of this lovely face...

SO many little girls were smitten by my two big ones.  Lots of them wanted to "meet Anna & Elsa" and got very sheepish once they did.

pony rides...my pics of Elsa and Captain American on horseback didn't turn out so swell.

Elsa feeding the goats.

Cuddles with Daddy.

Elsa golfing.

Dorothy tossing for a soda.

Ninja made EVERY football toss he attempted.  Notice his proud father on the right.

Turns out, Cap is pretty good at shooting baskets.

Little girls make a happy landing x100.

Cap takes putting very seriously.

Elsa explains the basics of mini-golf to a Lalaloopsy doll.

Lalaloopsy gets plenty more advice.  This happens many times.

More Daddy cuddles.

Ninja and Parents.  Some of my favorite peeps.

Lalaloopsy a wee dab happy.

Beginning Baby bump.  Come on #7!  We're excited!

Happy Girls.

Star throwing Ninja.

Papa and Elsa.

Morgan LaFaye, Elsa, Victorian girl and Sockhop girl await balloons.

Kids with Nena and Papa.

Sockhop Girl attempts bucket toss.

Victorian Lady with her prize.

Elsa and Morgan test whose powers are stronger.

Besties!! Dorothy and Anna.

Mr Matt with just a portion of his offsprings' loot.

Costume Party At Home

Little girls playing with rocks, sticks and flowers.

Erin, the cowgirl!

and her Mama...the artist? or are you a French art teacher?  I can't remember :) pretty no matter what!

Some of the other moms with Iris's freshly grown flowers.

Group shot of the kiddos!

Boy table.

Little girl table.

Big girl table.

Clyde and Iris drew on the mandarin oranges for me while I was doing Lucy's make-up.

The kids played TONS outside, but my pics all turned out blurry in the dark!
We had so much fun!!

Costumes! Finished Products!!

I don't know what my problem is.  I can never go low key with costumes... last year was the closest I ever got.  And it's not like my kids throw fits or beg.  *sigh*  I guess my imagination just runs wild and I get too excited, and go overboard.  Stephen sighs a lot, but is, overall, understanding and patient.

Clyde was easy-peasy.  He wanted to be Captain America.  I was really afraid it wouldn't fit...he's so tall and most costumes run short.  But it was perfect!  So glad he hasn't grown out of wanting to dress like a superhero!  He was a rockin Cap!!

Iris was a wee bit more difficult.  She spotted Anna's coronation day dress and let me know right away that this was the ONE.  I did the whole sizing chart and everything, but it came to us super big.  I had to do alterations...bring in the sides of the dress and add ribbons over her shoulder just to keep it on.  It was still too long, but she made due.  And she was GORGEOUS!!

Lucy was the tricky one this year.  She decided to be Elsa in her ice dress.  We looked online, but it's hard to find disney princess dresses for someone her age.  Also, she wasn't sure she cared for how they looked, so I was all "oh, I'll just make you one, pick out whatever fabric you like" as though it was going to be SO easy.  It was NOT.  You saw my first version of it where we trick-or-treated at Dad's, but I had to do a number of alterations on it before I could let her play in it or be in public in it.  And it made her look SO grown up.  I mean, that dress is one thing on an animated person, but quite another on a real live girl.  BUT she loved it, so it was worth it!! I wish I had taken more pics of her, I feel that these two don't do her justice.  She was LOVELY.

Here's our hair designer.  She came over specifically to help with hair because she's the BEST AUNT EVER!

 All ready for the costume party!!

Boo at the Zoo

Well not really.  We didn't go at night, and we didn't dress in costumes, but we did enjoy some of the halloween decor, the animals and, as always, our time with Nena!

Another Fall Festival

We dropped in on another local fall festival and got to experience a little bit of yesteryear.

Making of sorghum

Clyde intensely wanted to look at this abandoned hammered dulcimer and got way too close to it in the opinion of his musician Mommy.  But as I shooed him away from it, its owner came over and invited us all closer and gave us a beautiful demonstration.

They all liked the looms, especially Lu.

I really want some of these for whenever I finally paint my kitchen!!

This lady and her friends gave Lucy a thorough demonstration on the many ways to spin alpaca wool into yarn.

We gave each of the kids a bit of money.  Lucy bought raw alpaca wool (then Nena got her a drop spindle in her stocking) , Clyde bought a slingshot and boomerang, and Iris bought a bow and arrow.

Had a great time!!  Adore local festivals!!