Halloween

For Halloween, the kids decided they wanted to be characters from their favorite cartoon, "Jake and the Neverland Pirates." Jake, of course, wanted to be Jake, and Jillian wanted to be the Pirate Princess. I think they are pretty cute characters, so I jumped on board and really encouraged them to be pirates. Until I went online to try to buy the costumes. There were none to be found. Jake and Jillian, especially, wouldn't be fooled by just any pirate or pirate princess costume - I knew they'd want costumes that were just like the characters in the show. So I looked at the characters a little closer and decided I could make the costumes.

For Jake, I bought the blue pants and the boots, and we already had a white shirt that was handed down from a friend. I added the embellishment to the shirt, and made the vest. I also made the headband.

For Jillian's Pirate Princess, I had a lot more work to do. I bought the boots and the black leggings, and I couldn't find the pink shirt anywhere. I knew I couldn't make something that detailed, so she just wore a long-sleeved pink leotard. In hindsight, I should have gotten her a short-sleeved one, because she obsessed over pushing the sleeves up to just the right spot! I made the skirt, the vest, the belt, and the crown. Rick made the rainbow wand.

Here's my creation: (Jake hated the headband on his forehead - he kept pushing it up high on his head.)

I think both costumes turned out really cute! The kids were happy with them, which made me very happy!

We had a very eventful Halloween season. We went to Trunk or Treat at a local church, which had a hayride. The kids both had parties at school, and they showed off their costumes to all the other kids in the school. And of course we went trick-or-treating on Halloween night.

Jake on the hay-ride with Daddy.

Jake showing off his costume at school.
Waiting in the hallway for the costume parade to start.

The kids sat in the hallway, and then one class at a time, they would trick-or-treat in the other classes.

As Jillian walked down the hallway towards Jake's class...

....she leaned over and gave him a kiss! So cute!

Time to trick-or-treat! This is the only picture of Jillian with her rainbow wand. Sadly, it broke not too long after this was taken.
We went to probably 20 houses, and the kids had a great time. They were ready to be done by the time we got back home though.

After they went up to each house, Jillian would walk back to the sidewalk with her head buried in her bag to see what kind of candy she got.

When we got home, we set up chairs in the driveway to hand out candy to other kids. Jillian and Jake both got such a kick out of handing out candy. They fought over who got to do it, so they had to take turns. At one point, a little girl was starting to walk away without getting candy, and Jake yelled out after her, "Hey, Lady! Come get some candy!" And another time, he held a piece of candy in the air and shouted, "I have a lollipop! Who wants it??"

We had such a good time with our neighbors - dinner, trick-or-treating, and passing out candy. In between all that, we just hung out and had a good time. What a fun Halloween!