Taryn's Birthday Halloween Party

 It is party time here at our house.  Today was Taryn's birthday party.  Last night I was in a panic, once again, because her cake wasn't turning out as I had envisioned it.  I wanted to make a giant black spider on it, but when I went to mix the black food coloring it turned the frosting dark green!  Gross!  So...I scrapped that idea and opted for a big spider web and a rubber spider, courtesy of Tyson's Halloween bag. Finally at about 10 p.m. I had the cake finished.  While I was working on it, the kids were helping me with game preparations and other party prep.  What a night!

 Party morning.  Taryn wanted a dress up Halloween party, and so again we put on the witch's costume.  I am glad after all my work it has been used.

 The cute little witch and her spider cake.

 Then the kids started to come and so we took pictures of them to show how adorable they all were.

 

 Once all the kiddos came, we went into the kitchen, since it is the biggest room in my condo, and gathered around the kitchen table to make our masks.  I figured the kids would make them so fast and then we would be on to a game.  I was wrong!  They were all so meticulous about how their mask should look.  Loved it!  Tyson was my little helper today.  He helped planned and prep most of the party.  He also got scout credit for helping me.  I like it when you can do several things at once.

 Look at how cute these little tykes are.  Love these masks and the kids did too.

 Once we made our masks, we played pin-the-face-on-the-pumpkin. The kids liked it so much they wanted another turn, and so we played it again.  By this time I was running out of time, so as Tyson was starting another game, we lit the cake, sang Happy Birthday to Taryn and I prepared cake and drinks for the kids.  After they took their turn ghost bowling, they got to come and eat cake.  They all downed the cake and Capri Suns.  They were hungry.  Then it was presents time.

 Taryn's friends gave some of the best presents.

 She got everything from pillow pets that were pink, to princesses, to La La Loopsey dolls, and Hello Kitty.

Thanks to everyone who came and made her day so special.  I even enjoyed having all those kids in my house.  Their energy is so much fun to be around.  Happy Birthday Taryn!  We love you sweetheart!

Trunk-or-Treat Church Style

 Tonight's Trunk-or-Treat wasn't as stressful as last nights', due to the fact that I had the kids' costumes finished.  I did have to decorate a trunk and that was done in a hurry.  Tyson asked me, as we were driving to the church, what I was decorating the trunk to look like.  I replied, "I have no idea.  We will see what I brought with me and then go from there." Yes, that is how I roll these days, by the seat of my pants!   

 Just love these two.  Their makeup was actually fun to put on tonight because I wasn't in a rush and had plenty of time to add some details.

 I tried to get Taryn to wear the purple eyelashes we bought for her, but after them being on for about a minute, she wanted them off.  I need to teach her the beauty of eye lashes.

 Tyson got an extra scar tonight across his head.  I meant to do that one last night, but ran out of time.

 This was part of the scene at the ward's Trunk-or-Treat.  Even the Elders dressed up, well...not really but we told them they had good costumes.  Ha HA

I had just enough candy to give to everyone and then I was out.  The kids had fun and there were a lot of cute trunks around.  I did add some Halloween music to mine courtesy of Vaughn's little I-pod stereo.  It made the job of handing out candy all the more sweet.

Trunk Or Treat Time

Since noon today, I have been in a panic trying to get Halloween costumes ready for Cedar Bluff's annual Trunk-or-Treat!  I had Taryn's costume mostly finished and somewhat of Tyson's completed.  Needless to say, it was down to the wire.  I made both of their costumes this year and I can honestly say it was worth it, but I may not do it next year!  Whew!  It was a lot of work.

In the end, I had 45 minutes to paint faces and garnish kids in their outfits, before we needed to leave the house.  Yeah, time was not on my side.  Here I am trying to put make up on Taryn.  Notice how half the mascara is on her eye lids and not the eye lashes.  ARG!  Very hard to put it on a 4 year old, but we did it and she was finished.

Next came the task of turning my boy into a scary Frankenstein   Not an easy task, mind you.  Here are the beginning efforts.

The end result was actually better that I expected it to be.  I cut the bottom off of a milk carton and covered it in black duct tape.  (I love duct tape!)  Then I added felt for the hair in the front.  We then took a hanger and pinned it upside down, inside his shirt to make it look like he had broad shoulders.  I made fleece patches which we safety pinned to his pans and his shoes were made out of Kleenex boxes wrapped in the black duct tape.  This was truly a home made costume.

 Taryn's skirt is completely made up of tulle.  I saw something similar to it on Pinterest and figured I could duplicate it.  I found the hat in Target for a dollar and covered it in tulle as well.  She has this darling little Halloween shirt that went with it perfectly.  The hardest part was the criss crossing of the orange, green and purple tulle.  I had to have Taryn wear the skirt and hold still while I first pinned it all and then secured it by hand sewing it.  It took me about 3 hours to complete this part.  It had to be done in intervals, because after 45 minutes of holding as still as she could, the little princess had had enough.  Can't say I blame her.  But when I went to put the skirt on her, it was so heavy it kept falling off of her waist.  So I quickly took the remainder of the tulle and made a little suspender.

 Doesn't he look great?  I loved how it turned out.  Better than I could have wished for it to look.

 My beautiful little witch.  Oh she is cute if I do say so myself.  And because of all the work of this outfit, we will be wearing it again next year!

 Beautiful witch

 Scary Frank

 A close up of his shoes that we made.

 A close up of her skirt.

 I love this little outdoor picture of her.   

 He is ready to Trunk-or-Treat

 The little witch and the costume maker.

 This is what Trunk-or-Treat looks like at CBES.  It is massive and can take a long time to get through, but luckily this smart momma got there early and we only had to wait 15 minutes to start the candy hording.

 Trunk-or-Treating.  Everyone said the kids were so cute and original.  Tyson's own teacher, Mrs. Craft, didn't recognize him.  Love it!

 This was his class's trunk that the kids help decorate.

 Those are the nastiest teeth I have ever seen.  They came with the make up kit and totally added to his look.

We went through the line of cars and the kids' bags were chuck full of candy.  Tomorrow night is our ward Trunk-or-Treat, so more candy on the way.  Now that their costumes are finished, I have to figure out what I am going to do for the trunk of my car to decorate it.....