Halloween...FINALLY!

OK, so I know that I am the last person on earth to post pictures of Halloween. Most of us are already moving on to the more favorite holidays, but I MUST show off our 5th child...in costume speak, that is. Not that I had any intentions of showing up my children in their costumes...I just wanted to add to their costumes in some miraculous way of keeping two young children happy and contained for 2 nights of lots of walking (Trunk or Treat, and trick or treating).

I got the idea of the train in the middle of the night one night. I was planning on Deegan being an engineer...playing on his obsession for trains, and HATE of Halloween dress-up. (The kid hates putting costumes on...every year!) I thought if I did something he liked, then he would cooperate. The problem was that I had no costume for him. I got so lucky! I stopped at the 1st children's consignment store on my list and found Deegan's Osh Kosh overalls, NEW...WITH TAGS, but for only $7! I had already bought his bandanna the night before and was bummed that I could only find a two-pack...Blessing in disguise...So, as I was doing the happy dance all the way to the register I saw a little dress peeking at me from a rack. Lo and behold, ASHLYN'S SIZE!!! "Match made in heaven!", I thought to myself-OK, really I said, "NO WAY!", out loud! "Seriously, Tommy Hilfiger for only $5.50?", the conversation in my head went on..."Totally my new favorite store!" How could this place not totally make the top of my list when it totally saved the day?

So, this all took place the day before the trunk or treat. I had my mind set on the wagon-turned-train idea before, but now...game on! I ended up using foam board, like you find next to the poster board. Those weren't big enough, so I headed to Michael's thinking that they would just give me a box. Nothing in life is free people...but I could buy their wonderfully over sized foam board that they use to back their framings with! Sold! I started at 9pm and next thing I knew, it was 2am! I wasn't even tired, but I knew I would pay for it the next couple days if I didn't head to bed. The next day I MADLY taped, painted...even spray painted Ryan's wonderful PVC frame that held the thing up (better for the outcome of pictures, I was certain! Certifiably insane, I know! I totally got carried away with this project...I even made a smoke stack that smokes with dry ice. Those are the things that it takes to wrangle Deegan and Ashlyn all night!) Needless to say, it all payed off. Neither Deegan or Ashlyn complained once either night. Deegan rode proudly blowing his whistle, of course! Now, I may need my children to offer rides for a quarter around the neighborhood to recoup some cost!

Some more cute pictures...*Deegan had a Halloween party at school. The first two are from that. *3*Carson, on Halloween night (Kaeleigh trick or treated with a friend, so we have no pictures of her (sad!) *4* We didn't carve pumpkins this year...very overlooked with the whole train thing, so luckily I found these tattoo things at the last minute. *5*Ashlyn doing traditional Vehar stunt work, and last *6* and my highlight of Halloween...(deserves it's own paragraph...)

I admit I was ready to BLOW and at the end of my rope trying to get kiddos ready, when the door bell rang! My first reaction was more anger as I was beside myself that the neighbors thought it would be ok to start trick or treating already! I went to the door and found a delivery guy with these cute flowers from a best friend, Angie Ashton...all the way from Utah! She always catches me somehow when I am about to fall. Thankfully to my kiddos benefit, it was perfect timing as Mommy was able to find a smile for the rest of the night! Thanks Angie! Told you they were cute!!!