Halloween Costumes!

Peter really wanted to be Gandalf this year. But not Gandalf the Gray. He specifically asked to be Gandalf the White. This provided to be a bit of a challenge for me. I got the white robe and cape and started on a beard when I realized this could end up looking somewhat sacrilegious. So even though Gandalf the White doesn't wear a hat (at least in the movie), I made him a white witch hat too. He was so excited about it, and wanted to wear it around for a few days straight, which is when I noticed it sort of looked a little KKK-ish. Yikes. Anyways, I didn't need to worry so much. The white knotty staff helped a lot, and some good crumpling of that hat made it not so clannish-- or sacrilegious. He actually looked pretty awesome.

 Peter and his best friend Mason have birthdays almost exactly three weeks apart. We wanted to plan something low-key for them around their birthdays, and decided a Halloween-themed pre-Trunk-or-Treat party would be just the thing. Mason's mom Natalie is crafty too- she made all her kids' costumes. She and her sister-in-law pretty much planned the whole party too. We just provided our house. The kids had a lot of fun!

 The group- Mason, Peter, Eliza, Nora, Benjamin, Alex, another friend Brooklyn, and Mason's cousins Ellie and Charlie.

Benjamin as Frodo and Alex as a skeleton.

 Our three littles.

The two Tolkiens. Notice the ugly Hobbit feet. Toes and hand stitched hairs coming out and everything. I found the coat at Goodwill and (very amateurishly) sized it down to fit him. I was pretty proud of myself for figuring it out.

 I found the pin and the ring on Amazon, which arguably made the costume. There was no question on anyone's mind who he was supposed to be.

Nora desperately wanted to be Hello Kitty for Halloween. The ones at the store were ugly and overpriced. And when I thought about making one, I remembered I actually am not that talented of a seamstress, and she would probably end up looking nothing like Hello Kitty. So when I found this adorable butterfly costume at TJ Maxx, I knew it was the one. After some convincing (and getting her some Hello Kitty pj's instead of a costume) we were a go.

Paul and I didn't really plan anything, but I came up with this sticky-felt baby skeleton sort of last minute. I'm eighteen weeks now, which means I'll find out what we're having in two! For a while, I wondered if I could wait this time and be surprised about the gender since I'm already set either way, but I finally decided I'm just not that type of person. I need to know. Somehow, knowing makes it so much more real for me.