Halloween 2016

Halloween 2015

Happy Halloween from a Pokemon trainer, Batman, and a soldier. 

In case you needed a little help...

Pumpkin day

Happy Halloween from a bat with purple wings, Principal Ryerson, and Harry Potter. 

Halloween part two

This is a picture from when Tom took the boys over to our friends' house. I wanted to capture Nile actually wearing his mask. :)

Halloween "fun"

Yes, the "fun" is supposed to be in quotes. 

We had a fairly good Halloween. The two older boys were feeling fine and enjoyed trick-or-treating. Nile wouldn't wear his mask, so unfortunately his "shadow" costume became a kid in a black sweatsuit. But luckily people are pretty forgiving. Nate avoided looking like a priest (or a member of a certain racist group) when he finally was able to overcome the itchy beard and wig. Welcome Gandalf!

Novak wasn't very into Halloween this year. After wearing his Green Lantern mask all morning last Friday, he hadn't wanted to wear it since. Plus, he wasn't feeling well this week. So after three or four houses he was done and ready to go home. 

We had been invited to.a party at our friends' house, but we decided Novak wasn't up for it, and so I stayed home with him while Tom took the older two to the party. 

Later on I realized that trick or treating was still going on, and that Tom had left the candy outside. So I didn't even get to see any of the neighborhood kids. They just came by, picked up some candy, and left. Oops. 

So Halloween was fun this year for the older two boys.  For me it was kind of a drag. But there are plenty more years of Halloween to come, so I am not too worried about missing this one. 

Green Lantern in pjs

Today Novak gets to wear his costume to Gumdrops. I had been holding these back because I wanted to make sure they were still around for Halloween. So this morning I finally opened his mask and light up ring. I don't know if he will ever take them off...

Jack-o-lanterns aglow

The boys wanted me to share what their pumpkins looked like when lit up on Halloween night.

Batman, cubed!

This year, Halloween brought three Batmans to our house.

We had the "Dark Knight Batman," the "blue Batman," and "black Batman."

Novak was a bit cranky from a long day with a short early nap, so only the older two headed out for trick-or-treating.

Pumpkin Carving

The boys carved pumpkins last night with Tom while I stayed inside with Novak. (He wasn't up to the task.)

"Boo-tiful" Saturday

The Saturday before Halloween was the annual trick-or-treating in downtown Geneseo. The Chamber of Commerce was taking photos that day and got a great one of me and the boys.

Tricks or Treats

This year for Halloween, the boys got to enjoy multiple celebrations. And multiple celebrations means the candy multiplied too. Exponentially.

First, Nile got to wear his costume to preschool on Thursday. Nate didn't have a party at school, but I don't think he missed out any. Nile came home with a small bag of goodies - not too bad.

Then we had a neighborhood party on Saturday evening. It was a lot of fun for all the kids to get together and play games. There was cupcake and cookie decorating (involving lots of frosting and candy), a "duck pond" game with lots of candy and small toy prizes, and a craft table. After the games, the boys ran around in circles while the girls played a toilet paper mummy game. (The boys eventually came back and played too.) Afterwards there was a hot dog cookout - neither of my boys ate much of their hot dogs or fruit. Want to guess why? I'm betting it was the cupcakes and cookies...

At the end of the party the kids went on a "spooky trail" - I wasn't able to go because I had Novak in the stroller. I'll admit I was a bit nervous about them going - I thought Nile might get scared and freak out. But he really wanted to go, so I let them, and I headed home to wait. About 10 minutes later, the doorbell rings. It's Nate.

"Mom, that was the awesomest spooky trail walk EVER! I was a little nervous but it was okay, it wasn't scary really!"

Nile, following closely behind, didn't say a word. So I asked him how the hike went.

"It was great."

Okay, then! Both boys had a great time at the party.

Of course, the next day was Halloween! I think the two boys were literally bouncing off the walls all day with anticipation. Finally, at 3:30 we let them get their costumes on. Nate was a superhero skeleton, and Nile was a baseball player. Below are a few pictures from our neighborhood. After we made the rounds here, we headed to Colona to Papa and Grandma's house, then to Hampton to trick or treat at Gramma's house.

Now, I have a dining room table covered in candy. I think we will be purging some of the candy soon. I've got a theory how I can make the boys do it...we'll see if it works!

Isn't this cape awesome! It looked so cool in the sunshine.

Nate, showing off his loot.

It wouldn't be a true family Halloween post without at least one picture of Novak.

Trial Fit

We just had our first "trial fitting." Nate loves his costume. Nile promptly threw a screaming fit - because he now wants a skeleton costume.

I was all set to make him a baseball player. Now I've talked him out of the skeleton (trust me, it's probably best if he is different from Nate) and he may now want to be a lollipop. Seriously. Ugh.

Halloween preparations

This week I got to finally spend a little time working on Nate's Halloween costume.

I now have a skeleton sweatsuit. All I need now is a bright blue shiny cape. Yes, you read right. Nate wants to be a superhero skeleton.

Counting the Loot

This is mine, and this is mine, and this is mine...


Hmmm...Are you sure this is everything?

Tricks or Treats?

It was a truly awesome Halloween. First, the boys got to spend the morning with Grandma and Papa while Tom and I watched the strangest Iowa Hawkeye football game I have ever seen. But...in the end, the Hawks are 9-0, Nate and Nile got to spend some quality time with my parents trick-or-treating in downtown Geneseo.

We got home from the game about 4:30 and immediately started getting ready for the "real" trick-or-treating that had started at 4 pm. By 4:45 kids were out on the street and ringing our doorbell, and the boys were almost ready to go.


We met the first of the neighborhood kids at our house, and then we set off! The beautiful thing about a small neighborhood is we only had about 10 houses to visit, and it was just enough! (according to me and Tom...I think Nate had other ideas!)





After we returned to the house the boys counted their loot while we all watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!"