Halloween Memories

A few days ago we were talking about all of the Halloween costumes that Brian and Billy had worn in the past. I thought that it might be fun to dig out the pictures and share them here. So....settle in, this will be a long one. Mostly pictures though. Brian was born in November of 1992, so his first Halloween was in 1993. He was all about tractors and farming and cows at the time....so a cow costume seemed appropriate. I made his costume with polar fleece and felt. He could moo like a champ. Mooooo.

We sent this picture in to Kare11 TV, they still show pictures of one year old's on their morning show. This one brought some smiles to the anchor woman. It makes me smile too. Where did that time go? Mooo.

The next year I made a fancy skunk costume for Brian. He wore it for about 1/2 hour at preschool. We brought it with up north to show the grandparents....he wasn't happy. Trying it on at my mom's place brought a total melt down. I even have a picture of it (the melt down) but it makes me cringe so I'm not showing it. Those darned terrible twos!! So, the skunk was out. Now what? He was a little farmer of course. He borrowed a hat from grandpa Pete and we didn't have to buy a thing!

Billy's first Halloween was in 1995. Do you know what happens when a mom spends a lot of time sewing a costume? The little brother gets stuck with it two years later! You'll be seeing some repeats on here!! Billy was the cow, and Brian was a spider. Billy doesn't look too sure about this whole Halloween thing! Maybe my tall hair scared him.

Brian was loving it though. Here is the spider boy. He really wanted to be a spider, I looked for a pattern but couldn't find a thing. Humm...ok....I had to make it up as I went along. Found a pattern for a costume body, and then added the legs and the web. Brian loved it.

Don't tell him, but he was much more cute than scary!

1996 brought a return of the spider costume. Make 'em too big and they'll fit for a couple of years! It also brought a return of the unworn skunk costume.

Hummm....Billy doesn't seem too sure of the skunk costume either. Maybe a little candy will help...here you go Billy....please don't cry....have some more candy!!

Carving pumpkins in 1997. The boys would draw the pattern and we'd carve them. I don't know which is cuter, the missing shirts, the concentration....or those curls. Sigh.

Brian thought it would be cool to be a bat. Billy was excited to finally be the spider! It's all how you phrase it you know.

Brian had done some studying up on bats. He found out that they slept hanging upside down. Bob volunteered to bring his gravity boots over so he could give it a try.

Brian decided that it wouldn't be a good idea to hang upside down all night after all, since he was just a pretend bat. Whew. Good idea.

In 1998 we had a pumpkin and Godzilla. Of course. This was the year that that Billy was starting his Godzilla stage. He loved watching Godzwilla movies. Silly kid. Brian was into pumpkins, everything that he drew had a pumpkin on it. The funny thing was, when we found some of my dad's school papers from when he was in grade school, guess what was on them....yep....pumpkins. Weird.

1999 brought a return of the spider. It was updated with a spider mask and a big bug stuck in the web. Brian wanted to be Dracula. The poor little guy had gotten sick the day before, he still wasn't feeling 100% for Trick or Treating so they weren't out for very long. But the good news is that we didn't have to use much powder on his face to make him pale! Just kidding. Is there anything worse than getting sick before Halloween?

Here's another view of Mister Spider from 1999...I think he wanted to show off that big bug. :-)

Brian's love of frogs and toads came shining through in 2000. Ribbit. Godzilla made a come back for Billy after a year off. The biggest difference was that the tail wasn't dragging this time around!

2001...here I was helping Billy with his lipstick. Probably the only time I will ever say that. Hopefully the only time I will ever say that!

It was Billy's turn to be Count Dracula....updated with a big black wig. Brian was a mad scientist. They talked mom into being a cowgirl to walk around the neighborhood with them. I got some strange looks, but no candy. Rats.

There was something different in 2002....no used costumes! Brian was a Knight and Billy was a King. It worked out well since Brian's class was studying the medieval period and he had to have a Knight costume for school the week before.

Things were a little more chaotic in 2003 apparently.....this is the only picture that I could find. The boys were Trick and Treating with friends, this is a picture in front of our old neighbor Martha's house. Billy has the skeleton mask on, I think he was a zombie or something. Brian has the top hat...we'll just call his outfit a modified clown. His friend Thomas is in the front, I'm not sure who the girls are!

2004...Brian as a spider again. A new costume using sweat pants and a sweat shirt with the extra arms / legs sewn on. Not sure what their friend Thomas was, but Billy is a pirate.

Someone was too grown up in 2005 to wear a costume...but Billy was Luke Skywalker.... costume purchased at Target or Party Center or somewhere...not home made! I had some lame excuse about just having moved and being in school full time.

2006 Billy was a pirate...Jack Sparrow I think. Loved the eyeliner. Brian carried a sign that said, "I'm dressed up as a lazy teenager." Yep.

In 2007 Billy dressed up like Forrest Gump. He looked cute in his Goodwill suit, but he couldn't get the accent and no one his age had heard of Forrest Gump. Bummer! Brian wore his "lazy teenager" sign again.

Billy adopted the "I'm dressed as a lazy teenager" sign for 2008. Brian and his friend David both dressed up for school and for a party. Brian went as a Russian, the best part of his costume was his Russian accent and David was a Renaissance man.

There's nothing like watching your boys grow up right before your eyes to make you realize how fast the years speed by.

Eric and I went to a Halloween party in 2007 too. Eric was Walker Texas Ranger, I was a Scare Crow with crows on my hat and shoulder. I won the "coolest costume" prize! WooHoo!! I didn't know Halloween could be so much fun!

You'll have to wait for another time to see this year's costumes!! Hope you enjoyed the step back in time.

Have a happy and safe Halloween!!

The night before the night before Halloween

It's almost Halloween...almost time to carve the pumpkins. We have a few more to buy. When I was a little girl, my grandma and grandpa grew piles of pumpkins. This picture was probably around 1967...my brother and I are surrounded by the pumpkins with grandma and "Towser" the dog looking on. We got to pick out a few to bring home and carve. It was pretty exciting.

When the boys were little they helped me plant some pumpkins. We got about a half dozen really nice pumpkins. I felt so good about teaching them about planting and growing and weeding and gardening. The following year we gave up on the gardening....there just wasn't time. That fall we went to the pumpkin patch to get our pumpkins. The boys were so excited....then one of them said they didn't remember the pumpkin patch...."where did we get our pumpkins last year?" So much for that wonderful time of learning about growing pumpkins!

Here's a little blurb from one of my favorite movies. It came on once a year when I was little....and you better be home to see it or it would be a whole year before you could see it again. No TiVo, no DVR, no VHS tapes to record it....no remote control to change channels. It was in black and white at our house. How did we survive??



I haven't done much decorating for Halloween yet...I guess Friday will be the day for that. I did find our little plastic pumpkin...it still lights up! I think it's pretty cute for being fake. The boys are both dressing up for school...Brian is going as Forrest Gump and Billy is going as...hmmm...he wasn't sure. I guess he had better decide soon.

Eric and I are going to a costume party on Saturday...lots to do before then! Have to work on my costume, clean the house, decorate the house, buy some pumpkins, put the candy in the big bowl for the trick or treat's....and, um, buy some more candy for the big candy bowl because somebody who shall remain nameless has been snitching it.....the work is never done around here. :-)

Gray Sky

Yesterday this beautiful blue sky is what I saw outside of my front door....

....today it was back to this. No rain, just gray.....gray.....gray.

I like the blue SO much better. My crazy delphinium is still growing and blooming. It doesn't seem to mind the gray days. All the gray is leaving me feeling uncreative. Can't find things to take pictures of. Can't think of things to blog about. I need some sunshine.

Or some Halloween candy. That ought to help get some ideas going. How early can you buy your candy without eating it all and having to buy more?? Gotta go, there's a mini Butterfinger or two calling my name.

Blue Sky Day

There is a little something different in my photos today. See the bright and beautiful mums? There have light and shadows!

And see the yellow leaves? What in the world is behind them? That bright blue stuff? Oh...it's the sky! We haven't seen much in the way of blue sky this past month....it's a welcome sight.

There's something about bright blue skies that make the world seem like a better place. But I also think that sometimes we need some gray days to appreciate the sunny ones a little bit more....

....and I have to say, I'm appreciating this one! Hello sun, how about you come on over and stay a while?

This and That

Just a quick little post with a little bit of this and a little bit of that. The sun finally came out today for a little while...gotta love that! I have a delphinium blooming in my garden. Most things are frozen and gone, but not this silly plant. Why is it blooming in the fall? The strange weather is getting to everyone and everything I think!

I spent my day in a web design class that was offered by the city today. I signed up a while ago, had forgotten about it...actually had thought that it was weeks away...but it popped up on my Outlook calendar on Saturday that it was scheduled for today. Ack! I wasn't ready for that. I didn't want to go, didn't want to be there at 8:30 a.m., got really nervous about all of it...what if I couldn't do it, what if I couldn't keep up, what if?? I'm happy to say that I went, I was just fine, it was way easier than I thought, I learned a lot, and had a lot of fun. I left with so many ideas swimming around in my brain....I could do this, and that, and this....and...and...oh boy! Sometimes it's just taking that first step that is the hardest. I'm looking forward to part 2 of the class in a couple of weeks. I'm even looking forward to the html class that I signed up for. Learning and stretching really is a good thing.

This pansy is hanging on in my garden too. I like seeing a little purple in amongst all this orange and yellow.

I have a little calendar that gives advice each day...I've been a little behind in turning the pages and reading the verses. I caught up today. The verse for October 19 caught my eye. It says, "The talent God gives you should be your gift to Him". Something to think about.

Hope you are having a happy day.

Typical Weekend

We had a pretty typical October weekend...except for the fact that the sun was out for a little while on Saturday morning! Eric and I drove up to the farm on Saturday for the day to help my mom with a few things and to have Skylar's hooves trimmed. We watched the Vikings game at home after church on Sunday. Oye. Let's just talk about Saturday.

The fall colors have been unusual this year with the odd weather, but this weekend the oak trees were putting on a show.

There were a couple of Brown-eyed Susan's hanging on in my mom's garden.

I generally gravitate towards flowers that are pink, but these sure caught my eye with the warm fall colors all around.

Murphy seemed to be happy to be able to soak up some of the hard to find sunshine. It didn't last very long. About an hour later the skies turned gray again....

....the oaks were pretty, but the gray is getting old. With the gray came a cold breeze. It feels like late November.

Eric bundled up to hang some new lights on the posts of my mom's porch.

I bundled up and waited for the farrier. And waited some more. While I was waiting I spotted these pretty little apples....

....and some more pretty oak leaves.

Czar was sort of feeling left out that he didn't get to leave the pasture to graze on the lawn while we were waiting for the farrier. Czar has been blessed with easy to maintain hooves. Skylar on the other hand needs a trim every few weeks...too bad for him that he doesn't get one that often.

After the horses were taken care of we met Eric's folks for supper...and then returned to my mom's to see the pretty new lights. Ahhhhh.

They have a light sensor that tells them to come on at night. I love the warm glow.

There is something about a warm porch light shining that says welcome home. Hope you like them Mom!