Happy Halloween!

It is impossible to get "great" family pictures these days  but we got 3/4 of the way!

What a great Halloween we had this year! We are loving having Daddy home all weekend and it was a great treat to have Halloween be on a Saturday so we could spend the whole day together.

We started the day with spooky ghost pancakes for breakfast. I used a squeeze bottle to make ghost shapes and added blueberries or chocolate chips for eyes and a mouth. We finished painting our pumpkins and put them outside for trick or treaters to enjoy. The girls painted theirs earlier in the week using their fingers and brushes over tape resist J and V. I wish I could keep them forever!

Then we spent the day watching scary movies and listening to Halloween music while playing games and dressing up in silly outfits. We took our mandatory holiday glamour shots for instagram with our lion hoodies on. We even got to watch the city Halloween parade go right by our house - the girls LOVED that.

The best part about this year though - I actually made costumes for the girls - with some big help from my Mom. She made all of our costumes when we were kids and I knew she'd love to help make some for her granddaughters.

We originally planned on the girls being companions to my niece's Pocahontas costume as Flit and Meeko. But then my niece changed her mind and wanted to be a princess instead. The weeks leading up to Halloween were so busy that I didn't even come up with them until the week before. I saw an adorable lion costume on Pinterest and since they're Leos I had to do it. I also found a few great DIY posts from The Happy Housewife and Try It Mom and borrowed some ideas and tips. I sent it over to my mom, she helped me buy the supplies and got it started.

We picked up two fleece hoodie and pant sets that were meant to be monkeys. My mom bought two styles - one with ears and one without. We ended up picking the one without ears and adding our own. My mom sewed tan fabric over the monkey face and the feet. She also added some shoelaces into the hood to tie it. I cut out the manes and we sewed them onto the hoods and a then added a tail. We painted their noses black and voila, two little lions!

Who's who? I feel like they become really identical when their heads are covered. But if you know our trick you'll know.

I absolutely love the way they came out and I'm pretty proud of myself for finishing one completely on my own. I have only sewn a handful of times in my life so it was quite the accomplishment for me. It was also really frustrating and annoying at times. I had to start over three times due to stupid mistakes I kept making but I didn't give up and it came out great in the end!

We go Trick or Treating every year at my Dad's apartment complex. It's great because the management hands out signs for people to put on their doors letting trick or treaters know where to go and where to avoid, so no wasting time! We brought the wagon and the girls loved seeing everyone and making people smile. And of course getting candy. I'm not sure it will last until they can actually eat it so I'm doing my part by making sure none of it goes to waste!

The Renaissance Princess and her Little Beau-Leo Lions

Going .2 mph 'cuz they won't sit down!

I'm already thinking about next year and tossing around some coordinating costumes instead of matching. They'll be walking so I think it will be even more fun for all of us. So far my favorite ideas are Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe, peanut butter and jelly (with us being the bread maybe?) or The Wicked Witch and Glinda The Good Witch. My sister and I wanted to have the 3 girls be the Sanderson sisters from Hocus Pocus and my nephew be Binx the black cat but Jillian quickly shot that down because the witches are "so mean!" I have a whole year to decide but I definitely won't be waiting until the last minute again!

We hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Xo,
Maigen