Halloween 2009 was a success! The day before, it snowed. Not just snow, but it snowed snow balls. Snow chunks. It was crazy. It was cold and wet.
Not today though. Nope. It was perfect. I don't think we reached 60, but we had sunshine and that's almost as good.
I've been waiting for Halloween for weeks. We decided that Claire would be Strawberry Shortcake and my mind went crazy. I decided that I wanted to color her hair pink. Anyone can put on a wig or spray that crap on their hair. Pink hair it would be!
Here she is getting ready for her transformation.
One of my co-workers, Natae, helped me apply the pink. I needed it put on quickly and Natae was willing to help, so I took her up on it.
After the color was done I put her hair in rollers. Such a happy camper.
As if life could get any better.....
She got to sit under the dryer which made her SUPER happy. She loved it!
Then it was time to get her costume on. She was so excited! We got the dress on, the tights. I put on her hat and she wasn't all too excited anymore. I took it off to air-brush some cheeks on her. She wasn't overly fond of that either. I think she'd had her fill of mommy/daughter time. She even mentioned missing her brothers.
Finally, it was time to put on her fake lashes and her look would be complete. She asked me not to, but being the Halloween Mommy Dearest that I am, I just....kinda....did it. And got this fab pic.
And then down came the tears. Not only did she not want the hat, or make-up, she REALLY didn't want the lashes. At all. She cried and cried. Did I mention that I air-brushed her make-up? Yeah. Well she finally quit crying and decided that the hat would work out just fine. (I kinda told her that she'd have to wear her stocking hat if she didn't choose this one and then NOBODY would know what she was supposed to be. See? Halloween Mommy Dearest. I'm not proud of it. Well, not super proud of it, at least.)
Here are all the kids. Nathan was a baseball player. I tried to explain to him that Halloween wasn't career day, but he didn't care. He wanted to be a baseball player anyway. And really, he took one for the team last year. He was the Tin Man. His friends would walk by with super cool costumes as Nathan tried to hide behind the nearest tree - because he was the Tin Man. So baseball player it was.If you asked Jack what he was he'd tell you a bat. After all, he had wings. :) A devil wasn't a stretch for him, that's for sure. He had a b*l*a*s*t trick-or-treating. He loved every second of it. He asked almost everyone if we could come in their house. It was pretty funny. One guy said, "Maybe you can come in, I don't know, maybe next week". I'm almost positive Jack penciled him in.
Here is the gang: Dawson, Caymen, Claire, Nathan and Jack.
Here are the kids with their loot. For reals - nobody needs that much candy. But! We'll take it. ;)
Jack couldn't get enough of them.
Before they get ready to hatch, it would appear that they turn black. However, the chrysalis isn't black at all, it's just the black of the Monarch's wings that you see.
She the wings?
The chrysalis is actually clear.
Here are a couple of them after they hatched.
You have to make sure their wings are fully dried before you try to set them free. Here is one that we took out too soon.
I ended up bringing it back in so the wings could dry more.
I'm telling you, Jack is a total gamer. He's playing Chuzzle on my phone.
Here is the Madison High School Marching Band. They sounded great! I really love the bands.
The Rost girls made appearances at different times in the parade. Amber stood with us until Shayla went by. I love me some Amber.
Check out this cool truck. I don't know who owns it, but it's awesome!
The Dueul High School band was there too, and not that I have interest in them, but I loved their outfits the most. :)
The families of the 211th walked in the parade. I think we got a half a bag of candy from them. The kids L*O*V*E*D it! Here are Tracy and Caymen.
And Katie and Braelyn.
