1 down 2 to go....

My first thought Friday morning was TGIF!!! Then I thought WHAT AM I THINKING!?!?! Friday is just the start of things to come for the next few busy days. I never had these problems when we avoided Halloween before. It's definitely not geared to toward the TOK family, especially one where ALL members want to participate and in a dramatic way.

I breathed a sigh of relief as the last of the 7 school kids got onto the bus. They made it and had everything they needed. Well, I lattered learned we forgot to find and send Jake's library books with him, but all the IMPORTANT things that were needed were sent. LOL The elementary kids had their class candy. We'd sent in the apples for Jake's and Eileen's classes earlier in the week so it wasn't a concern that morning. The ones that could dress up had their costumes (only 2 middle school kids couldn't) This year at school I had...

Michelle...she brought her gown (found at the thrift store on Monday) for her princess costume...for her BOYFRIEND! LOL He made quite the cutie in his purple satin gown while wearing a pink and silver wig. She's a lucky girl ;o)

Val...wore her perfect for her formal dress we found at the thrift store. I had told her I wasn't buying her anything because we had an old dress I could mend and alter to barely fit her. But when she tried it on, it had to be bought. Luckily I had a $5 coupon so it wasn't that much. Too bad she won't be going to the prom this year. LOL It was accented with her dollar store lightup crown.

Liz and Luke couldn't dress up unless they dressed as someone significant to their lessons. PARTY POOPERS!

Carrie...I actually sewed her a costume on Wed (score one against procrastination!). Was super easy to design it and sew it (well except for my machine acting up because fingers had touched it that shouldn't have!) While sewing it I thought...WHY don't I do this more often!?!?! She had a cheap crown from Wal-Mart to wear.

Jake...Wore all black because he was being a Ninja. I designed and sewed his Ninja hood on Thursday night. While sewing this I was thinking...NO WONDER I don't do this more often! GRRRRRRRR! It came out so so but not how I wanted it to look exactly. He was happy with the hood, he wasn't happy with his black tshirt. Ninjas need LONG sleeve shirts ya know!

Eileen...wore her purple dress she wore to kindergarten graduation last June. I made her a cardboard and foil crown to wear with it. We decorated it with ribbon rosettes.

Olivia dressed up also because at 1:30 we took a ride to the school to watch the Halloween parade. We also watched an activity in Jake and Carrie's room. Carrie's activity wasn't planned but the teacher insisted we wait to take her from class AFTER the activity. The 5 kids I had with me were not happy to have to spend a half an hour sitting still in a classroom watching a bunch of 4th graders listending to a teacher. I wasn't too thrilled about it either. Judging from the looks on other parents' faces, we weren't alone in our feelings. Oops, back to Olivia's costume.

She wore a Barbie dressup gown that my mom bought for Carrie a few years ago (and has been used by someone for a costume since) I found a sequined, cone shaped damsel hat from the dollar store that was laying around. She also had to include a set of wings from the dollar store.

As I was almost to school I remembered....I forgot my camera!!!! GRRRRRRR I hate when I do that. Hopefully it won't be forgotten for the rest of the weekend.

Now for the rest of the weekend....

We have a Harvest/Children's Feast at church at 4:00 Saturday. The theme for this year is Pirates. So some of the kids will be dressing up differently then what we made them for school. Jake will be a parrot, using the costume I made for Luke last year. I still have to make his beak and tack it to his Ninja hood. I need to make some eye patches for the Pirate princesses and brides LOL. Liz is going to be tinkerbell. I'm not sure what Luke and I are going as. I want to make myself a beard but not sure if I'll get to it. I thought about making myself a pegleg but was afraid "P" and her family might not find it funny. She has lost a leg to cancer and wears a prosthetic. I hope she'll be using it to her advantage tonight. :o) I also want to make a few Pirate hats. After I'm done here it's the next thing I'll be doing online.

For the feast I have candy bags made up. (Luke and I made them this morning) I also have bags of gold foil wrapped peanut butter cups (treasure!), 60 glow stick bracelets, and 48 mini bottles of bubbles. I'm not sure if I'll be handing out things as treats or they will be using what I bought as part of the treasure hunt. I have to find the cord to Val's bubble machine. She's not sure where it is and I really want to bring it! It makes TONS of bubbles!!! The good thing about this is...I don't have to make anything to bring to eat or for dinner at home!!! No cooking!!! Woohooo!

Sunday is another busy day! We'll be going to church at 11 then leaving from there to go to my parents' house. We'll eat dinner with them and take the kids around on their street a bit. Jump in the car and take them to Tom's moms for a tour around their blocks. Hopefully we'll get home at a decent time seeing as there is school the next day. I can't wait to snitch some of their candy. hehehehe

Between all this I have do the two activities the literacy advocates sent home with each of the elementary kids. They all require the parent to do a bit of work. THANK YOU NOT! Six activities that require at least half an hour each to do this weekend. Some people have NO clue about homelife! GRRRRRRRRR!

Oh yeah and you can't forget, there's laundry and feeding the masses too. Unfortunatley getting ready will leave a mess to be dealt with the next day too. I can't wait until MONDAY!!! LOL Actually Tues as Tom has the day off (government holiday). It's one of the rare times when he's off but the kids have school. I hope it's a nice day, I have a bunch of things to do outside still (winterize the pool, dig up canna lillies, put up the popup for the winter, etc)

Well back to reality!
Be ye havin' a jolly, good day me Hearty!
Ya Ho Ya He...A pirate's life for me!