Who ya gonna call?

So, here is evidence of the major differences between my three kids. About two months ago, the boys and I were in the Dollar Tree and Casey spotted robot gear. He got two arms, a helmet, a chest plate and a shield--total of $4. That was what he decided he would be for Halloween. I made him a robot t-shirt with an iron-on I printed, but really, he could've cared less about that part. Costume done. So easy.

At a consignment sale awhile back, I found an adorable pink monster costume that I thought would be great for Marley. Brought it home, tried it on her and she responded as if I had just dripped boiling lava on her. She couldn't wait to get it off, and still gave me dirty looks for awhile afterward. I picked up a tutu for her and thought I could add a pink shirt, pink pants, and maybe a wand and let her be some kind of princess/fairy thing. But really, anyone who knows Marley knows she's not the tutu type. So, last week at KMart I picked up a cute bumble bee costume on sale for $7. Put on a Halloween shirt, black pants, and pull over the costume--voila! As long as we don't try to put up the hood with the cute antennae, we're okay.

Then there is Keller. Child of mine, without a doubt. At first he was dead set on being Frankenstien, but not any store bought costumes for this kid. I got green face paint, black pants, and kept my eye out for a big blazer and something to use as bolts. Three weeks ago, he decided he needed to be a Ghostbuster instead. He didn't want a store bought costume though, "we" were going to make the costume. I finally convinced him that we should order one, only to find out every stinking place on-line was sold out of them. Not to mention they were $30 and up. So, back to the homemade drawing board we went. I found a pair of pants for $10 that he can wear after Halloween, too. We went over to the huge Salvation Army store and found a long-sleeved button down that, when tucked into the pants, could almost pass as coveralls. I printed out and ironed-on two Ghostbusters symbols on the shirt. We dug out a pair of hand-me-down brown boots that would fit the bill. We visited the vacuum repair store twice to get a piece of hose. Saturday morning rolls around and we are about 5 hours from our first costume event of the season. Who do you think was out in the garage with a box, a backpack, spray paint, vacuum hose, a bug vacuum, electrical tape and glow sticks, piecing together a Proton Pack? Me, of course. I have created this monster--this child with huge expectations, a wonderfully creative imagination. . .but somehow he missed out on the "follow through" gene.

Here are all three kiddos suited up before the Goblin Gallop race this morning. This is our 4th year doing this 'fun run' with the kids.




Here's an 'after' shot, proudly showing-off their medals

Marley and Casey both missed the Halloween party we went to yesterday due to tummy troubles, but I brought goodies home for them. Marley looked like some kind of chocolate pirate after she devoured her cupcake!

I found this cool spider making a web in our front yard one day last week. It was about as big as a grape and the web was so thick that I initially thought that we had somehow ended up with a fishing line and lure hanging down from our tree in front. It is a Marbled Orb-weaver and eats bad bugs, so we relocated it to a different spot in the yard and left it to enjoy the fall weather a little farther from the front door!