As I was eating a Milky Way & Smarties out of someone's candy basket tonight, I was reminded that I should document our little brood in their Halloween best. Last year was a "grab whatever you want out of the dress up bin" year which was a blast & so simple. This year I had a request from an adorable five year old that could not imagine dressing up as anything but a spider which got my wheels turning & my sewing machine sewing. We ended up with not only a spider but an Olympic gymnast & three dinosaurs....
Our trio of dinosaurs were hilarious & enjoyed every second of wearing those spiked tails! I had seen a tutorial for a dinosaur/dragon tail quite some time ago & thought they would be wonderful to have for just playing at home with the boys. Once I started looking around on blogs I found another tutorial for the hoodie + spikes to pair with the tail. I was soooo excited to get started! First stop was Walmart to find the jackets, next two stops Hobby Lobby & Joann's to get felt for spikes, thread & poly-fill. I stitched two pieces of felt together in a triangular shape then trimmed off the excess. To make the hoodies I cut the jacket straight up the middle on the back & hood. I then pinned all the spikes in place & stitched it back together. It was incredibly easy compared to some previous costumes we have designed & completed.
The tails were a little more involved & kept me up late a couple nights in a row but as usual the hard work paid off when our three guys donned their tails & were ready to explore the neighborhood, pumpkin bucket in hand. The tail tutorials I looked at were for a long straight tail that mostly dragged along the ground. I decided to cut them to be shaped more appropriately for running around & not tripping over each other. I followed the same steps in making the spikes & sewing them into the top seam of the tail. They are stuffed with poly-fill & hook onto the boys by an attached fleece belt secured by Velcro. It is easy for them to put on/take off on their own...WIN WIN WIN!
The final result....
Arlo was born just a month before Disney's The Good Dinosaur was in theaters. The main character is non other than ARLO the dinosaur! So here he is....our very own Arlo the Dinosaur....
I must be part T-Rex because I just wanted to gobble him right up! While we are on the subject of that certain type of dinosaur, I must mention that Owen has spent the majority of his life pretending to be a T-Rex. It all started with the nickname "Mighty-O" from one of his NICU nurses. That name prompted the purchase of a shirt that had a T-Rex on it & said "Be Mighty." I then found a larger size of the same shirt that needs to be moved along to the "save for Arlo (the dinosaur) bin" because his belly hangs out. That phrase is something I never thought I'd say about Owen! Anyway, we often say "Be Mighty, Mighty O" & he is! He gets those little T-Rex arms up to his chest, roars fiercely & runs like mad through the house. Love me some Mighty O!
Anson also joins in on the ferociousness at a moments notice with similar arm positioning & a scary roaring face. He was proud to be a dino!
Dinosaurs aren't always scary....
Now onto the Valentine ladies who we can thank for getting the ball rolling on costume design. Since the Summer Olympics Charlotte has been extremely interested in gymnastics. In fact, all four kids deemed our ottoman as a vault right smack in the middle of the living room. We were shocked we never had to take a trip to the ER due to injuries sustained on our homemade piece of equipment. As we watched Team USA compete the girls would argue about who got to be Simone Biles or Lauri Hernandez. I was laughing to myself thinking about how my cousins & I did the exact same thing with Saved by the Bell characters.
My parents bought Char a leotard for her birthday & she, in true Charlotte style wore it all day long, all night long for multiple days (weeks) in a row. If I forced her to take it off & sleep in regular jammies she would be at my bedside by 6am asking if it had been washed so she could put it back on! She was SO very excited when we gave her the thumbs up on wearing it to Trick or Treat. It was by far the easiest costume of the bunch since all I had to do was make a gold medal! I used the top off a jar of applesauce, covered it with gold glitter paper & attached a USA ribbon. She felt like a million bucks!
Eloise, oh Eloise. Never a dull idea! I'm not sure why we were surprised with her answer when I suggested that she be a fellow Olympian. She of course said "no" just like she did the year she was Captain Hook after suggested that she be Tinkerbell ; ) Being a spider was the only thing she was interested in! We worked together to make all her dreams come true by way of a combination of a few patterns. I ended up cutting the side seams of a black shirt & attached four men's dress socks that she stuffed with poly-fill. When I first explained how the "legs" would be attached she got really upset with me saying she wanted to crawl on the ground like a real spider & those silly dress socks weren't strong enough to hold her up. She was dead serious. I talked her down & let her know she could still crawl if she wanted to. She insisted on the lovely fluffy turquoise boa to be used somewhere on her costume so on Halloween eve Robby helped me attach it with black electrical tape after I broke the needle on my sewing machine trying to sew it on. I was SO glad he was there with his fantastic idea to insure Lolo's genuine smile....
Oh, that hat with the eight eyes! She insisted so I made it happen! That sticky web did it's job & caught all these cuties...
One last important picture of the seamstress with her crew. Elo was looking for her next meal, Owen & Anson may be doing the same while Charlotte, Arlo & I were grinning away.
Trick or Treating was great in our new neighborhood & the kids quickly remembered the routine. Arlo took a ride in the wagon with his cute little tail sticking over the back. Once we made it home we passed out a bit of candy then looked at some candy then ate some candy then the kids passed out....then I ate some of the newly acquired candy. I love candy.
Just a couple days earlier we carved our own pumpkin. We skipped that tradition last year so this was really the first gooey pumpkin experience for Owen & Anson. Everybody got to help though...
We always name our pumpkin & this year the name was "Toothless" in honor of our very own Toothless girl. Robby carved the pumpkin's grin to match Charlotte's haha!
That little Arlo, he often steals the show! It's hard to believe that he was just two weeks old this time last year, dressed in a little bat onesie, snuggled up & hardly able to keep his eyes open. This year he was squealing, walking around & touching all those sticky pumpkin seeds!
