Halloween 2012

 Riana decided that she wanted to be Katniss from the Hunger Games, for Halloween.  Her rain jacket looks just like Katniss's coat and it was perfect.  Then she wore her black boots, pants, and shirt.  Grant got her a bow with suction cup arrows.  Next, I hired my friend, Cindy, to do her flame nails just like Katniss... they turned out awesome!!  Then I did a "Katniss braid," which was so hard for me because it is inside out and it just felt wrong.  It was also sideways and started in a wierd place, however I am glad I was able to figure it out.  (After doing it for Autumn's party, Olivia from her soccer team's party, the Trunk or Treat and Trick or Treating, and the Ward Halloween Party, I was so glad Halloween was over!)  Her final touch was the District 12 bag that she made herself with duct tape and a sleeping bag cover (so that she wouldn't have to pay $10-$20 dollars for a real one... I don't blame her.)  She looked awesome and I was so proud of her creativity!!  It was a great costume!  She even won coolest costume award (including a $5 gift card to Starbucks) at Olivia's party!!  At the Trunk or Treat, several people complimented her costume and would even go up to her weeks later at church, and say "Hi, Katniss!"  So I guess she was memorable!  :)  Riana got way too much candy!!

Sariah dreamed up in her head a princess, in a royal blue dress, and that is what she really wanted to be.  Well, one day, we were at Goodwill, looking for something else, and we stumbled upon this dress.  It was a bit big for her and sleeveless, but she really wanted it.  I bought it for her and we pinned it, plus she wore a shirt underneath.  She then took a crown we had around here and added a blue gem, found a fancy blue gem ring at the Halloween store and bought it herself, and then bought some blue gem earrings.  I fixed her hair in different ways each time, and she used a blue pillowcase to collect the masses of candy.  She enjoyed attending Autumn's party, her soccer team party at Anna Grace's house, the Trunk or Treat, trick or treating with her friends, and the Ward Halloween Party.

Tierra really wanted to be an angel for Halloween, however the angel costume we own for doing the Christmas Nativity was too small for her.  So she just wore her costume from last year, the glow in the dark fairy, to Sariah's soccer party.  A couple of days before Halloween, we were over at her piano teacher's house, who happens to have two little girls.  Well, Tierra was playing dress-up and found angel wings and a halo.  She ran to me all excited and asked if maybe we could borrow them.  We asked and they were nice enough to let us borrow them.  Tia was so excited!!  Yeah!!  We sure lucked out in the costume department this year.  :)  She looked super cute too!  At her dance class, they had "bring-a-friend" night, where they had a dance party with strobe lights, scooters, a big parachute, candy, and of course, dancing!  Tia brought her friends, Brooke and Brynne.  They all had a lot of fun!  She was so glad they could come!

This year was Karina's turn to choose a brand new costume for us to buy for her.  She really wanted to be Lemon Meringue from Strawberry Shortcake.  We looked at several stores and it wasn't available in the store, so we ordered it online.  She loved getting her package in the mail.  Karina looked so cute as Lemon Meringue!  She also brought a friend to dance.  She brought Hailey!  Hailey was so happy that Karina chose her... it was really cute!  (Actually, Sariah brought Hailey's older sister Aimee too but I forgot to take a picture of them.)  Karina dressed up as Dorothy for Sariah's soccer team party. 

Since I had an extra space here, I threw in a super cute picture of my sister's boys, Stratton and Harrison, that we ran into at the Trunk or Treat.  This pose was so adorable of Mario and Luigi!!

I was excited because this year, Aurora was finally old enough to fit into the Princess Aurora dress that we have.  However, she had other plans.  (I think 4 years old is a difficult age for independent/strong willed children because they really want to be able to decide things/do things for themselves.)  So after not being able to convince her to dress up for the first party we went to (even after offering her every costume we own, plus coming up with random ones, including bribery), I was thrilled when she decided at the very last second (as soon as I had completely given up that she would dress as anything for Halloween) that she would go as Tigger.  And I have to say that she looked pretty darn cute!  It all turned out fine in the end.  (I shouldn't have cared so much.)

Calyssa wore about 10 different costumes around the house, during the month of October.  We have tons her size and the girls loved dressing her up.  However, she wasn't so keen on getting her picture taken and I had to just take them whenever I got the chance.  She looked so cute in every costume, but we especially liked the lion.  The girls thought it was funny that even without the hat/mane, she still looked like she had a mane with that curly red hair.

1) The girls enjoyed dressing up their dolls too.  This is Sariah's doll dressed up as a Mummy.
2) And speaking of Mummies, here is a bunch of mummies at the soccer party- the kids wrapped in crepe paper.
3) Our little neighbor boy, Jordan, who I babysit sometimes, came trick or treating.  He looked so cute as a little police officer.
4-5) The Trunk or Treat at our church

1-2)  This was the first year that we allowed Riana and Sariah to go trick-or-treating with their friends, without us.  They loved the freedom!  Here is the whole group-- Riana, Sariah, Melanie, Anna Grace, Autumn, Aimee, and Chloe (Aimee's friend)
3-4) I took Aurora's friend, Clara, home with me, and while the girls played, I passed out candy to the trick-or-treaters.
5) Tia and Nina went trick-or-treating with their friends, Caleb and Gavin (Melanie and Clara's brothers) and their friends and parents.

We ended our Halloween with our tradition of visiting Grandma and Grandpa and Joe (except Grandma was out of town taking care of her Mom... we missed her.)  Grandpa and Joe were very excited to see the girls in their costumes.

It was another great Halloween!!  :)