School Halloween Fun

Tom took Leo to school this morning so I could get Serafina to school in her complete costume.  The parade started right after drop off and I had a good spot, until this kid showed up.  

At one point, there was a gaggle (flock? herd?) of inflatable dinos.

I managed to get some shots of Serafina as she paraded by.

Here's her class picture.  All the third grade teachers had Disney related costumes.  Her teacher was Tinkerbell.

Here's Orian, Sunny and Serafina before heading back to class.

Once she was changed, she joined the class party in her Jack Skellington shirt.

Both Serafina and Sunny were sporting Jack Skellington shirts today.

The parade at Laurelwood takes a while because they have close to 700 kids.  Fortunately, Leo's school's parade was scheduled for 1pm so I didn't have a conflict and was forced to choose one over the other.  

Leo got to school early today and helped the other student council members decorate the hallway.  

These are the pumpkins the teachers brought back from the pumpkin patch field trip.

Leo's classmate Ben was also Harry Potter.

They paraded in and out of the high school and junior high classes.

Class picture.

His principal was a pretty serious Mad Hatter.

Leo's parade took about 15 minutes.  Afterwards, the kids were going to be treated to a magic show and then class party.  Though I was invited to stay for the magic show, I opted to head out and just go back for the pick up time.  This was the shortest school event I've ever witnessed!

Costume photo shoot

On Sunday, I had the kids put on their costumes so I could take a few pictures without the stress of having to get to school or get to a party.  

Ever since Leo got glasses at six years old, people have remarked on his resemblance to Harry Potter. This year I promised to buy him a creepy mask from the Halloween store if he agreed to be Harry Potter during the day at school.  

He makes a great Harry Potter.   

Serafina declared on Halloween last year she wanted to be a zombie ballerina.  She didn't change her mind, so here she is posing with Harry Potter.

And some solo shots.

Here's Leo in his creepy mask.

The label said "Sack Monster".

I didn't want him creeping out the little kids at school with this thing so I'm glad he was willing to be Harry Potter.

Serafina found the ballet costume at the Goodwill for seven dollars.  A couple of cans of fabric paint later, it was completely zombified.  She did almost all the work herself.  

Pumpkin Carving

It's messy and slightly annoying, but it's a tradition so we carved pumpkins today.  Fortunately, the kids are at the point they do it almost all on their own.  

 Serafina still had on some make-up left over from a trial run of her Halloween look.

 End results.

 Serafina's pumpkin.

 Leo's pumpkins.

Halloween Creepy Crawl 2018

Last night my house was the last stop on a progressive party we called the Halloween Creepy Crawl. For the past two years, we've done a St. Patty's themed pub crawl as a PTA fundraiser.  I told my co-hosts after the last one that I couldn't do it in March anymore because it's during ski season.  We decided to move it to October and this Saturday was a date that worked for all the hosts, so we made it Halloween themed and it was a total blast.  

 Here I am with two of the other hosts, Mary and Lizzy.   I am Marvin the Martian.  He's always been my favorite Looney Tunes character (I fondly remember watching the cartoons with my dad) and when I found the costume for six dollars at the Goodwill, I had to get it.  Mary is Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  Lizzy is a Pink Lady from the movie Grease.  Lizzy's house was the second stop.

 Mary's house was the third stop.  She had a make-your-own nachos bar with chips, queso, veggie chili and tons of toppings.  It was genius and delicious.  Her husband set up a photo studio in the garage. Tom is a granny in a borrowed wig from Nana.

Here are some of my favorite people: Mary, Lizzy, Kristi (also dressed as RBG!) and Aida who recycled a costume Lizzy made for her son Navid in 2015.

We had to leave Mary's early to set up for the final stop of the night.  I still managed to eat two plates of nachos.  As the last leg, we got to be dessert which is definitely in my wheel house.  I made two kinds of cookies - pecan cookies with a brown sugar icing and chocolate cookies with Halloween M&Ms.  I also made two cakes - an apple cake with a nut topping and a pumpkin cake with a cream cheese frosting.  I was really happy with how everything turned out.  I also had lots of salty snacks out for munching.  

 Once we were home, Tom's granny costume took a naughty turn and our guests were shocked and  thrilled and deeply amused.  It's not exactly appropriate to post on the blog because my kids still think he was just a regular granny and sometimes they look at the pictures, but I'll show you some reaction shots.

Here's Ricky seeing what's under the granny robe for the first time.  And Ricky's reaction cracked up Lizzy.

 Everyone had to snap a picture.  Sitting at this table is Serafina's teacher (who is also Kristi's sister).  I did have a moment of hesitation when Tom picked this costume and I knew Kourtney would see it, but fortunately I know Kourtney well enough to know she would just laugh along with us.

 I was proud of my cat-eye make-up and my DIY brush top for a more accurate Marvin the Martian.

Leo gets a bite plate

Leo has been seeing an orthodontist for two years.  We go every six months and the orthodontist checks everything out and says "not quite yet".  He is in no rush to put Leo in braces even though it is clear he will need them at some point.  I mean, check out this overbite.  

 

Poor kid inherited my bad vision and funky teeth.  Serafina has been going for a year now too to keep an eye on things.  She still has plenty of baby teeth to lose so it will be a while before she's in braces.  

 Last week we had our usual appointment for both kids.  Serafina is still in a holding pattern, but the ortho decided it was time for Leo to get a bite plate.  His bottom teeth are making too much contact with his top gums.  The good news is he only has to wear it at home - after school and overnight.  

He was a very good sport about getting the impressions made.  It's a lot of goop in the mouth, especially for a kid that is sensory sensitive.  

 Today we picked up the finished bite plate.  The assistant first showed him how to put it in properly.

 Then he got to do it himself.

 He was not a fan of how it felt.  It will take some getting used to but it will also help his bite and delay braces a bit longer.