Halloween

I finished up all of our costumes without a minute to spare.  We first went to the dental office for the traditional pictures by the fish fountain and trick-or-treating along main street.

Abram wanted to be Abraham Lincoln.   Before he was born, we were worried about naming him Abraham because I was worried he would get teased and called "Abe Lincoln."  Abram was a shorter and easier name, and we liked it, so we went with Abram instead of Abraham.  And then one day in kindergarten Abram told me that he wished we had named him Abraham like Abraham Lincoln.

And then as a senior in high school he decided to grow an Abe Lincoln beard and dress up like him for Halloween.  I had purchased this pattern years ago hoping that somebody would want to be Abe Lincoln one day.

 Noah wanted to be Pikachu.  Our boys have had a Pokemon renewal lately.  When Jacob was 5 I made him an Ash costume.  And now that he is 15 he wanted to be Ash again.  There was no pattern for a big Ash, so I just used a shirt pattern and made the sleeves and collar white and ran bias tape around the edges.

 Joel was Buddy the Elf.  Everyone loved this costume, and the collar is so fluffy.

 Gingerbread Zachary.

 And Mary Poppins Savanna.  Practically Perfect in every way.

 Pikachu Noah.  Some people thought he was a banana....or a bumble bee.  Guess they weren't up on their Pokemon classics.

In our family, we have a weird tradition.  The kids get back from trick-or-treating and they all dump their candy in an enormous bowl.  And everyone shares the candy.  It's crazy, I know.  It's a far cry from the way I was as a kid where we hid or candy bag in the closet where nobody could find it.

I have no idea how or why we started doing it this way, but somehow when the kids were little I did it one time, and it stuck.  They are all sitting right now at the kitchen bar sorting through the big bowl of everyone's candy.  After they go to bed I go through and throw away all of the sick candy that nobody is going to eat--and the jawbreakers that their daddy doesn't want anyone one earth to eat.

The other rule we have is that they have to eat a lot of candy all at once--and then brush their teeth.  It's the candy-all-day-long that causes cavities, not the amount of candy.  And then after 2 weeks we throw away whatever is left. 

I don't know that I have ever made 6 costumes in one year.  It's a new record.