Costumes, carnivals, and more Halloween

We are finally to the end of the Halloween season.  It is a holiday that seems to last for weeks, between the costume planning and construction, then the school carnival and the ward trunk-or-treat days before the actual day.  It get to be a bit much for me, but the kids have a good time.

 

Buddy Boy has known for months what he wanted for a costume.  He wanted to be an Enderman.  In case you don't know what that is, you probably haven't spent much time with the 8 year old male set.  You can read about it here.  In short it's a Mob that lives in the End, from Minecraft, of course.

 

 

 

My Girl in her typically indecisive style didn't decide until we were at the store getting supplies for the Enderman.  It was the sparkly antennae that sealed the deal.  I bought the antennae and lady bug leg warmers and made the shell from an extra large t-shirts, cardboard, and Styrofoam.  She loved it.

 

My Girl and I went to the school carnival.  Buddy Boy decided to attend the Cub Scout campfire instead.  I can't blame him.  He had the lead role in the Cub Scout skit.  He had been practicing his lines for days.  I wish I could have seen it.  I hear he did a great job. The skit was the one about the scientist who invents an enlarging machine.  It went something like this one.

At the school carnival the ladybug practiced her flying...

played with her friends...

My Girl and her kindergarten friends have been adopted by a group of the fifth grade girls.  It is so nice to see.  They are reading buddies and often have lunch together and play together at recess.  My Girl is already sad that these older girls won't be at the school next year. 

went pumpkin bowling...

and ate cotton candy.

It was a great evening. 

Days of anticipation later we finally got to THE DAY.  It started off with the costume parade at school.  Buddy boy got to show off his best Enderman.  I love this photo because you can see his cute happy face showing through.  He is wearing a bike helmet that is zip tied to the upper box, which is zip tied to the lower box.  The arms have yard sticks in the lower portion that he can manage through slits in the sides.  He was quite happy with it.  We even made a Minecraft chest for trick-or-treating purposes later that day.  It was fun to see the positive reaction from the other kids at school and while out in the neighborhood.  Most adults didn't recognize his character, but the kids did.  Even the 20-something guys who live across the street knew exactly who he was.

 

After school we traipsed around town trying to find a place that still had a couple of pumpkins to sell.  Third time was the charm.  We ended up painting the faces, much to My Girl's disappointment.  I had procrastinated and there just wasn't time for the full scale carving.

 

That night we went trick-or-treating with friends.  On our street there are very few kids and not much activity, but one street over is where the party is.  So we made our way up to the park and back and called it a night.

 

As we were leaving we couldn't help noticing the light coming from across the street...

Now that's the way to light a Jack O' lantern.

(It's a kerosene soaked roll of toilet paper, just in case you want to recreate this stunning effect on your own.  Just keep a fire extinguisher handy.)

So there you have it.  The End(erman).