A Really Happy Halloween!

This Halloween season was a treat. I had the feeling it was going to be extra special when I noticed a perfectly creepy scene in our flower bed as September ended . . . 

And to think I could have missed this.
I'm glad I was out watering flowers or weeding or whatever that day.

Oliver even got our milk jug in the spirit with some spooky stickers. For a few weeks, every time we opened a new gallon I transferred his stickers onto it. It was a cute little idea.

This was the extent of out front entry decor . . . 

I decided what my costume would be early in September. I think that's a record for me. Usually I'm trying to help the kids come up with ideas and I don't figure out my own until kind of late in the game.

This time I wanted to stray a bit from my typical silly costumes. 

I've been feeling like I'm looking sort of weathered, so I thought dressing up like an old lady would make me automatically appear younger after taking the costume off. I think it worked for at least a few minutes. =)

I put a considerable amount of effort into making sure the costume would turn out better than my halfhearted get-ups from previous years. I found a blog with instructions for applying old person face. This was my first test run halfway through Sept. :

I basically just used eyeliner to trace existing wrinkles. Yup. That's them. I did scrunch my face a bunch to uncover some sure-to-be future creases.

This was my second attempt after my hair coloring gunk came in the mail. I only covered the front of my hair to see how it would work. It wasn't pliable like a reviewer had claimed, but it was better than any spray bottles I'd tried in the past.

I found this total gem of a dress at St. Vincent's one fateful afternoon before October arrived. It's probably the reason I ended up leaning toward a vintage/serious grandmother rather than a fun and friendly granny.

I didn't get the wrinkles very defined on my second try. It looked better in person. Maybe. =/

Cora finally decided on her costume mere days before the big night. She found a video on how to do makeup for a ventriloquist dummy. 

I suggested she do a test run, and at last she got around to it on the evening of the 30th. I joined her for a while, using the excuse that I was practicing possible hair arrangements for the morrow.

I'd been about to attempt a high bun, but my hair was too fluffy, so I left it like this for some obligatory pics.
I decided my hairdo of choice would have to be a low bun.

I think Cora made an error somewhere in there with the eyeliner, so she proceeded to go crazy with it instead of trying to fix it. =)

She really did a nice job on her trial run. It was well worth her efforts and time. =)

She couldn't have done it without my presence and support.

She swiped my cheek with the eyeliner, which sent me into a tizzy.

Somehow we made it through all this to see Halloween.

The pic on the left was taken 3 days after the one on the right. I just thought it might be good to have a current headshot to compare it side by side with my old lady self. It was sheer coincidence that my head was turned similarly in both.

I felt like trying a variety of facial expressions since I'd gone to the trouble of getting ready. It does seem like a shame to plan and prepare just to go outside in the dark and take the kids trick-or-treating. It's not easy to see everyone's costumes that way. =(

Oliver wanted to be Link (from The Legend of Zelda). His costume was pretty easy to put together with the help of some fabric glue. I thought he looked really cute. 

(He would only wear the ears for this picture since they felt weird on him.)

Ryan made the shield out of cardboard and colored it. It turned out great!

Cousin Ethan came with us on our quest for candy.

Bad lighting, but I need to share some evidence of my whole ensemble. 

I found the perfect purse at Savers.

Here's Cora's finished look:

She did well. Doesn't she look creepy?

We met up with Gavin's fam, Megan's fam, and my mom. Cora ran into some friends and opted to go with them. Ryan was with us as well, though he seemed embarrassed to be seen with me. He said it was a good costume, but that he couldn't stand looking at me like that. He said it was disturbing. So I kept it all on for the rest of the weekend. ;) Haha. I might have if the hair stuff wasn't so icky. 

I guess he can only hope I'll stumble upon a magical fountain of youth before I look like that for reals. 

I personally loved the way my costume turned out. Somehow I don't think genuine wrinkles will look quite as taut as my drawn on ones.

Here we have the lovely Jane and her friend Cristina. Jane decided to be a Greek goddess and Cristina was Miranda Sings, a popular YouTuber. I had to look her up, but Cristina pretty much nailed the look. 

We barely caught them for a photo op since they got ready over at Cristina's and we were leaving before they arrived. Before we made it down our street, they rounded the corner on their bikes. Crisis averted! I was worried I wouldn't get any pics of them.

This duo went trick-or-treating around our neighborhood on their own. It's sad when they outgrow wanting to go with their families. ='(

I thought she made a pretty convincing goddess. If only we didn't need to wear long sleeves on account of the cold.

The kids didn't last much more than an hour. Oliver and Ethan wanted to get back home and play. I went against my natural candy-loving instincts and didn't even pressure them to do "just one more street". It was among my life's most impressive moments of self control.

Oliver thought it was funny that his bucket was so full it wouldn't dump out.

In case you wondered what the top of my hair looked like...

And the back of it...

I even filled my purse with assorted hard candies as a prop. I had planned to make a brief video of me saying a short Halloween greeting and then feebly opening a piece of candy and slowly savoring it without acknowledging the fact that the camera was still rolling. Sadly, I didn't get to it.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!