Halloween Happened.... and it was FUN!

Cohen HAD to be Hercules for Halloween this year. 

He also had to decide the costumes for the rest of the family. 

I was Megara (Meg), Josh was Zeus, and Parker was "baby Hercules."

So what does a mom do when they don't sell these costumes in the stores?  She makes them. 

What does a mom do when there is no pattern sold for these Disney characters?  She creates them.

I've been trying to be a bit more adventurous, and willing to try things that I would normally think I can't do.  I tell you, it was a lot of work, and hours, and time on the phone with my wonderful mother, but I think I managed to make a pretty good replica of the real thing.  Plus, I remembered that I think sewing is fun.



Cohen's Hercules costume in progress.  It kind of felt like I was making a cheer leading skirt for awhile.




My mom taught me how to finish the neckline of Cohen's top over the phone.  I had to attempt it once before I got it just right, but I think it all worked out.



Lots of pinning.

This is the bottom of my dress, pinned to the ironing board.  How else do you get great pleats?  I seriously don't know.  I used costume satin for each of our costumes, which I learned was very difficult to work with. 

I made my own patterns and everything....

Note, this is NOT the correct way to piece a dress together.  It made sense to me at the time....

Parker wore a pillow case, and Josh a queen sheet.  That was easy!!

The best picture of the costume I got.

Party at the church!

Pumpkin carving was a blast.

The one on the right was supposed to look like Parker.... at least the mouth part.

We went trick-or-treating with friends.

Cohen and his best buddy Kaleb.

Cute!

Impromptu photo shoot...

Fall is so beautiful in Oregon!  I love all the leaves. 

One day after a Target run I decided to just get some cute pictures of the boys.

All in all Parker was fascinated with the leaves, and Cohen just wanted to run around. 

He was thrilled to even be outside and have it not raining and frigid.

Fun Times in October

Here's some stuff that was fun from October....more to come on Halloween.

I decided to do a volcano science experiment with Cohen.  The volcano was so short lived I must have done it wrong, but we had fun building the volcano anyways and getting the dinosaurs out and everything.

This Foosball table is at Josh's school.  Whenever there is a school/family event Cohen makes sure to hit up the Foosball table and usually spends most of his time there.  He is intense!

Josh started coming home from school like this some days.  He is a truly a doctor in training.  I love it!

Cohen started joy school (preschool) on my Birthday.  Here he is on his first day of school.  What a cutie!

Cohen combined a couple of his pretend games he plays.  It is very common that he is Hercules and I am Meg.  He also likes pretending that certain nuts from his tool set are wedding rings.  One day he was Hercules and I was Meg, and he gave me a ring, and we were married.  He was so proud and just taking in the moment.  He took it very seriously.

 I'm so corny it almost made me tear up.  He really loves his mommy.

Parker got his first hair cut.  It was beyond his ears!  He was a happy guy BEFORE his hair cut.... but not so much afterword.

Before

 Mind you, we only snapped pictures when we could manage it.... when Parker was not crying is eyes out.

 This baby cracker/cookie thing did the trick for awhile....

 He survived... barely

After

Parker took his first steps in October, about a week after figuring out how to really get around with his gorilla crawl.  He was 10 months.

I had a Birthday and my family treated me like a queen.  Josh let me be free from my beautiful children for much of the day.  What a gift!  I made my own cake... just because I wanted to I guess.  My wonderful friends also threw me a little surprise party.  What a fun day!

Here is Parker's first time brushing teeth.  He thought it tickled and just giggled the whole time.  Josh was studying, so I had Cohen record....



More from September...

Yes, September was seemingly a very busy month for us.  I better try to get caught up before all the holidays pass me by!

We finally went camping!!! (Sort of)

I was happy with what we did, but I sure wish Cohen hadn't gotten extremely ill the first morning we woke up there.  Poor guy.  We spent less then 24 hours camping.  Sad.

We have no fishing gear, but the  two families we camped with did!  It was fun to show Cohen, and it was fun to reminisce when my dad used to take my brothers and I fishing.  (Thanks dad!)

That's Mt. Hood in the background.

The Mangum's had a hammock they brought.  Fun!  I played like it was a giant banana with the 3 little boys, and ate them all up.  Fun times!

The walk to the lake from our camp site.  Beautiful!



The three boys that played and played.

This is the morning we left.  We were sad to go, but wanted to take care of Cohen.

Josh had a Birthday!  He's now 21... plus 10.  When asked what he wanted for his Birthday, he said he wanted a raspberry black forest cake.  I did my best, and I think he enjoyed it.

Since Josh was still on break from school, we went for a short trip to Multnomah Falls.

Beautiful!