Halloween Brings Out the Weird

I have decidedly mixed feelings about Halloween. On the one hand, I love seeing the creative ways people put together costumes and the choices they make. Kids are especially adorable.

On the other hand, I'm not very creative and I get nervous having to think up some sort of costume idea. 

On yet another hand--CHOCOLATE! 

Like I said, not crazy about the holiday. (Pay no attention to the wastebasket overflowing with candy wrappers)

In keeping with the tradition we started last year, I will now show you our costumes and give you a chance to vote on your favorite. The winner gets the all important bragging rights. 

Last year's winner was Troy who was Avatar: The Last Airbender

I was accused of unfairly persuading the votes by posting my picture last--I got a fair percentage of the votes. Therefore, this year I will post in alphabetical order.

And now, without further ado, this year's contestants:

 Amy--A Barmaid

I had a corset already on hand and so just had to figure out how to use it in a costume.

Jasmine--Luna Lovegood (from Harry Potter)

The cat insisted on being in almost every photo. This time it worked.

Thomas--A Wild Man from Borneo

Originally Tom called this costume Tom in 10 Years. I told him it had better  be an alternate universe because there is no way that is my future!

Timothy--Phantom of the Opera

A point for you if you know where he's posing to take this picture.

Troy--A JabbaWockeeZ Dancer

This is from a dance group featured in one of the Step Up movies and winners of America's Best Dance Crew

So, join in the fun and leave your vote in the comments. We'll love ya for it!

You can also send me an email or write on the Facebook page. All votes will be compiled and the winner announced on Friday.

Exactly One Year Ago: Costume Fun

Exactly Two Years Ago: Beautiful Ham--one of our lovely girls.

Costume Fun...

...and a job for you

We had a very nice Halloween Day. Taking advantage of every holiday we can is one way we stay connected to our friends and family back home. Helps make things a bit less lonely.

Timmy as Mr. Fantastic

My kids are very creative (they take after their dad that way), and they spend weeks if not months thinking, planning, considering and deciding what costume to make for that one special day. 

Jasmine as Persephone (wife of Hades)

The funny thing is that because it all takes so long to create and since there really aren't any events that we have to go to, the actual time spent in costume is very short.

Mostly it comes down to a photo shoot and perhaps a couple games and of course the CANDY!

Troy as Avatar--The Last Airbender

Jasmine and Summer made cupcakes and let the oldest kids decorate them but I forgot to take pictures. I was a little busy with something I'll tell you about tomorrow. Maybe next year we'll have a full costume party for all the kids where they can dig into a big box of dress up clothes and have a bunch of fun. This year they're all still a bit young.

Summer (our volunteer) as Aphrodite

 The rest of us finally got costumes on around 9 PM last night. We were all really pleased with how well everyone's costumes turned out. We took photos (Tom was good about finding appropriate backdrops) and then Tom took the photos to his computer and dressed them up a bit.

Tom as American Chopper (the dad)

Now for your assignment. Please look over these photos and choose your favorite costume. Leave your choice in comments. If you are reading this in an email, click on the title to go to the blog page or just reply to the email. You can also leave a comment on my Facebook page. I'll compile all the votes and announce the winner on Wednesday.

Last but certainly not least (LOL): 

Yours Truly as Queen Hippolyta (Wonder Woman's Mom)

Thank you for voting! Your vote will make a missionary in Africa very happy!

This is my final post in a quest to win a fabulous camera from SITS--the community where I get helpful blogging tips.

Don't Try This At Home

Two years ago my kids decided to make a Jack O Lantern pinata for our Halloween party. They worked really hard scrounging up enough newspapers (the national newspaper is really thin) and mixing up a flour/water mix to make a papier mache sphere. They used a balloon as the base. 

Once the pinata was dry they filled it up with candy and sealed it shut with more papier mache. Our only problem was we couldn't find any spray paint. Out here in the bush we don't have WalMarts, Michaels or Hobby Lobbys to dash to when we find we need a craft material.

Finally, a friend in the capital city bought some spray paint and put it in a box on a bus and we got the paint in the nick of time.

The kids gleefully sprayed the pinata and added the Jack O Lantern's face. 

Halloween night came around and they had a blast bashing the heck out of the shiny, grinning pumpkin. Finally, it broke open and all the candy came pouring out onto the ground. They dashed around gathering up handfuls of candy and then we all sat in the living room to devour the loot and that is when we realized our dreadful mistake. 

When we filled the pinata with candy before spray painting it, we had no idea that the paint fumes would go through and infuse every last piece of candy with a horrible chemical taste. 

Major FAIL!

It sure was pretty though! 

Happy Halloween, Everyone!
or Happy Fall Festival (if that's your thing)
or Happy Sitting at Home with Your Curtains Drawn (I'm not judging....)

Exactly one year ago: What is Missing?    

This post has been created as an entry for a camera contest on SITS. A wonderful community of blogging support and tips.

A Favorite Halloween Memory

When we made the decision in 1998 to become missionaries to Africa we felt sure the process would go quickly. For this reason, in October 1999 we were sure that this would be our last Halloween ever! (Insert ominous music here)

Tom has always been very creative and given the fact that we had six children at our disposal he decided to do a Wizard of Oz theme. All the costumes were adapted or created by Tom from thrift store acquisitions. He did a fantastic job as you can see.

Tom made T.J's Tinman costume from scratch. The only problem with it was he forgot to create joints. Every time T.J lost his balance while out trick or treating, he fell headfirst and couldn't get back up again. I think this ranks as one of his worst memories.

I was particularly happy with the Scarecrow costume. It turned out so well just from scraps of old clothes.

Not everyone was thrilled with the costuming process. Troy (2 and a half at this time) was very unhappy and absolutely refused to wear the headdress for his Cowardly Lion costume. 

We paid a lot of attention to the little details such as hair braiding. I was determined to create the exact same hairstyle as the original Dorothy.

We didn't want to have a bad character so Jessica was Glenda the Good Witch.

Dorothy (Jennifer) with her TinMan (T.J) and Scarecrow (Timothy) and a Munchkin Ballerina (Jasmine).

While we went on to have two more Halloweens in the U.S before moving to Africa and we haven't let living in the African bush stop us from having a costume party every October, I'm so glad we have the memories of Halloween, 1999.

This post is written as an entry for a Camera contest on SITS (Secret is in the Sauce) a fantastic community with great blogging tips.

What is Missing?

My girls are so excited to be back in the States and able to take part in Halloween activities. Their church holds a trunk or treating festival where kids can walk around the church parking lot to various cars with decorated trunks. This year the girls are going as a pirate and her parrot.

We always tried to have a costume party here on Halloween and the kids worked long hours on constructing homemade creations. Not having access to storebought costumes or even hobby stores forced them to be much more creative and I think it really stretched their abilities as artists.

One thing that we couldn't really do here was carve pumpkins for jack o' lanterns. The pumpkins here are grey and not very pretty. Last year we put together a papier mache jack o' lantern to use as a pinata. We learned a valuable lesson: Always fill the pinata with candy after spray painting. Take it from us--paint flavored candy is not so yummy.

Anyway, all that to say, Jennifer and Jessica were so thrilled to have the opportunity this year to carve their own creations. Jessica posted hers on Facebook yesterday. As I looked at it I struggled to see what the design was. Even with a clue about a missing curly tail I still didn't see it. My daughter told me what it was but still, I looked and looked and nothing! Finally my son sat down with me and pointed it out.

Voila! A cat!

I had been focusing on the missing pieces and not the remaining pieces. What a great metaphor for life. When we walk around looking at all the missing things in our life we miss out on the big picture.

Have a great day everyone and stay safe tonight.