Halloween 2004

I don't know what I will ever do when all of my children are out of diapers. Not only do the wipes come in handy for multi purposes from cleaning bums to fingerprints on Dad's office desk.... but I would be lost with out them when it comes to Halloween costumes. Yes, that's right, Halloween costumes. It all started last year when I asked Everest who was three at the time what he wanted to be for Halloween and he replied a backhoe, what does Edison want to be: a dumptruck, and what about Isaac: a traffic light. (Can you tell what this little boy's passion is? He lives for trucks and big ones, It was his first word) OK, since I have never actually ever seen a backhoe or dumptruck costume I can tell I'm going to have to be creative. So my mind went into overdrive and my creative side kicked in. I slowly began to piece it all together. I realized that if I cut a whole in the bottum of the jumbo diaper boxes that I buy that the boys would fit perfectly inside with their legs poking out. Then I began finding smaller boxes around the house to form the backhoe scoop with extende arm and the front shovel along with a nice dumper for the dumptruck. Not to mention I cut out bolts from cardboard and added styrofoam bumpers and large cardboard wheels with tread. I was really getting into this, I used a plastic cup painted orange for the contruction light on the backhoe and bicycle reflectors for head lights and brakes on the dumptruck. Spray painted it all yellow with chrome spraypaint for the bolts and bumpers. Then cut tiny holes next on top and used my old black nylons for straps to go over their arms so they could walk around and it looked like they were sitting inside driving. The front scoop on the back hoe and the dumper on the dumptruck was made to hold their Halloween candy. It was way cool and way fun to make. They loved 'em and even won the contest at Cameron's office party. A gift certificate at Toys'R'Us. Isaac on the other hand, I didn't use any diaper related products other than the one he was wearing. I found a cute sweatsuit with matching hat with earflaps and mittens and then took red, green and yellow felt cut into circles and loosely sewed it to the front. So I could later remove the traffic lights and use the suit during winter. According to Everest, dad was supposed to be a stopsign and I was supposed to be a construction cone. I thought of making giant signs that resembled construction signs that said, Under Construction and Caution Curves Ahead. However, all my energy went to the boys truck costumes.

This year they were pirates. Alright that shouldn't be too hard. Once again what would I do with out the diaper thing. I went to the local thrift store and yes bought my boys girl clothes. It will never happen again. But, it was the only place I could find the perfect pirate jackets and shirts. And perfect they were. Shoes were a delima, I couldn't find boots. Until I came across black snow boots at Walmart and I snatched 'em up before they were gone. They came up almost to their kneew and made their pants kind of puffy, close enough to a pirate look when put together with their long white shirts with big collars and cuffs and 'pirate' jackets. I used some old dark maroon fabric I had stored away for a sash to tie around their waists. Found pirate hats for $4 at PartyLand and cool swords for $1 at the local grocery store. But something was missing, yes this is where diapers saved me again. No pirate is complete without a treasure chest. So my brain really went into overdrive now when it dawned on me, the Huggies box! Hello! I used masking tape to cover the boxes making it look like slats of wood and then a light coat of my brown acrylic paint. (Someday I will paint masterpieces again.) And I happened to even have a tube of gold acrylic paint that sparkled a little. So I used it for the bolts or brackets along the sides of the boxes. They were perfect even though I ran out of time to make handles for them they still made my pirates complete after we drew mustaches and soul patches on their little faces.

We went up to Cameron's office for their office party and the boys had a blast, running around saying AAARRRR! When ever anyone spoke to them. But, then again my oldest says that anyways. They went to all of the offices and cubicals and filled their treasure chests to the brim. Isaac, not being able to get him in costume still was in the Halloween spirt. Every time someone would hand him a piece of candy he would hand it back saying 'uck' 'uck'. They looked surprised and said 'yuck?" I had to interpret for him and tell them he was saying 'stuck', he was asking them to open it for him. Cute, cute. He would set the candy down as soon as he would get anohter piece leaving a paper trail. He never really ingested that much candy it was either disgarded or smeared all over his face. I did however use a whole lot of wipes as I followed him around. After it all the boys layed down on the floor by their dad's desk and checked out their 'booty'. They tore through several pieced mostly tasting and setting aside for the next piece. When they grew tired and both complained of tummy aches. Edison with one hand on his tummy and holding up a sucker with the other hand asked 'will this make my tummy feel better?' I said 'no, sweet heart, it'll taste good but it won't make you feel better.' He immediatly held up another and asked "will this one make me feel better?' I replied the same and he quickly came back with a 'yes, it will, this one will, mommy' very determined.

The next night was our church's Trunk'o'Treat party. Every one decorates the back of their car at the church parking lot and the kids go from car to car. It was perfect, because it gets soooo cold by the time it's dark, too cold and usually snowing. So we went and had a blast the boys filling up their treasure chest once again. AAARRRRR Matey! It all ended just as the temperture was dropping drastically and we went home ending our Halloween extravaganza. A very fun and fullfilling weekend.

Cameron usually dresses up as a Mariachi guy. He has an authentic mariachi suit from Mexico that is way cool. So I'm going to look for a matching costume for next year. Maybe a spanish dancer, flamenco dancer or something. I did find one online that I like, but it was over $200. I'll keep looking around.

I don't have to worry about lack of diaper resources for a couple more years though. Most would be depressed, but me? No, I'm excited to have the multi-purpose uses available at my fingertips. I wonder what the boys will be next year?