My Dad - halloween god

So, Halloween just ended and it's my favorite time of year. Seriously. I go completely insane for Halloween. Sure, I love candy, but more, I love dressing up and all the frights. At work, I do the Haunted House for our Halloween carnival. I love everything about that. It is a lot of work to set up, but every year, they ask if I'll do it again. I always say yes. I will take pictures next year though. Someone asked me about that and I didn't even think of it!

So, over the years, I have gotten more and more obsessive, so have the kids. When Corey was 3 weeks old, I didn't bother dressing her up. We didn't go out, in fact, it seems weird to me when people take their infants out just for the candy. I have seen people do that and always wonder. Maybe they just can't buy their own candy. Anyway, when she was 1, she was a clown. That year, she had a store bought costume, but we did minimal make up. When she was 2, she was a lady bug. She picked her own thing, but the creativity hadn't come out yet. At age 3, she was a bunch of grapes. I don't have that picture on this computer, but it was cute. I got her some purple sweats and several shades of purple felt and made the top look like grapes clumped up. She also got a purple stocking cap that had felt leaves and a pipe cleaner stem. NOW the fun was beginning! Her best friend was a barbie cowgirl that year. So at age 4, I thought we'd make something even cooler, but we had a backslide. The barbie cowgirl was going to be a barbie cheerleader, so my awesome cool daughter, wanted to be a cheerleader too. I refuse to buy that crappy character costume stuff, so we just bought her a KU cheerleader dress that she could wear any time. The new born Amory was a Jack-o-lantern I made out of orange sweats, a orange hat, and black felt. FELT IS OUR FRIEND! He only went out because his sister and her friend were going out. Some people insisted on giving candy to a 2 week old, but whatever. Anyway, I'll have to find that picture on the other computer too. For now, I have just Corey.



At 5 years old, my child realized she will NEVER be barbie ANYTHING for Halloween. As we were driving somewhere, we were discussing Halloween. I asked what she wanted to be. She said, "I want to be a stoplight". I am sure that was random as we were sitting at a stoplight. This is a kid who at age 3 named her cat Pick because I asked her if it was her pick when she chose it out of the box of free kittens. So, when I asked it's name, she was frustrated at me for not knowing it was PICK!
So, I decide, stoplight, HELL YEAH we can do that. We ran with it. So, my kid was strapped in a lightup box and it was the BEST costume EVER! Her brother was a bee. It was a hand me down and it fit. We are creative BUT cheap!



So, the next year, was fun too. We had Corey decide she wanted to be an angel and her brother should be a devil! WAY cool.


The next year, we were all vampires. I can't find that picture. Then the next year, Corey was a dead prom date. It was so hard to get her to wear bloody makeup! Amory was a grim reaper that year. He had his face painted AND wore a mask. After that, Corey was a dead bride. That was fun. We found a black and purple formal at a garage sale. We bought black roses to make a bouquet. I need to get my old computer up to get these all!

Last year was a Vampire RockStar and a dead guy.




Then this year was a vampire school girl, a skeleton boy, and me the zombie punk.






Now what does all this have to do with my dad? Well, I got this enthusiasm from him. When I was a kid, I remember him working on my makeup to the extent of perfectionism. He even did my hair. Sure it took forever to get my hair combed out that year, but I looked like the best vampire of all time! Also, he taught me a cool trick for cheapness. If you need a beard (5 o'clock shadow) burn a cork and rub it on your face. Anyway, imagine a biker guy doing MAKEUP. That's my dad. Now, let's think of the time he wanted to be a woman for Halloween. He shaved his face, chest, and legs! Then, another year, he wanted to be a clown. His thick long hair wouldn't fit in a bald cap. He ripped it. He then shaved his head bald! I think that was the first time he had short hair since the Navy! He went all out all the time.

Oh, and he's also the one who taught us to carve pumpkins. I'm slightly saddened by the fact we didn't carve pumpkins this year. The ones the kids bought though, were not good though. AND the fact I had strep made me run out of time. I only have one picture of my dad online. It has nothing to do with Halloween though.

Anyway, most people say they miss their loved ones on holidays or on their birthday or even the anniversary of their death. Sure, sometimes I do think of my dad on those types of things, but the time I miss him most of course is Halloween!

So, what's going on.

Again, I've been out of the posting thing for over a month. I have an excuse! The first part is that October is always extremely busy. Both kids have birthdays. That's just the tip of it.

October 6th is my oldest child's birthday. It was also the day of the school fun walk. Well, I ended up with a bad stomach virus and all I wanted to do was puke. I normally help at the fun walk, I went up there, but they sent me home. Turns out we had our best ever turnout and the most money ever raised. Well, sadly we were supposed to go to the amusement park with my daughter and her friends that day. We had to postpone. I felt like the bad mom. She did end up having a great day though. She did the walk then my mom took her, her brother, and her friend running around shopping all afternoon. When my mom got tired of the them, she sent the girls with my husband to the movie and the boy went to my brother's.

Then sometime around the 8th, our cable was off. Luckily, my mom dvr'd many of my shows. BUT, we thought it was from late payment, so we had to wait for a week for pay day. (yeah, we are slow payers, sorry, it happens). I was off work, and no cable. In our house, no cable means no internet. BAD. Well, so that all sucked and we went in and paid it. It's usually back on right away when we get home. NOT this time. We call them and ask and turns out our cable was NOT disconnected all that week. We had tech support and everything. The outside cable was chewed up. Apparently one of my amazingly brilliant dogs chewed it in half.

We did the amusement park on the 13th. It was rainy and gross all morning. Of course it was! It ended up clearing soon after we got there and it was great. We had a TON of fun. Got all the kids home around 9pm!!!

Amory had a great party on the 20th with all his friends.















It was a costume party with a bleeding eye cake (yes, I made it, but while I'm proud of it, it's not that big of a deal). I had absolutely nothing planned other than cake. We had it at my mom's house though and she has a huge outside play area, so that was good enough. Fun was had by all.

Then in case that wasn't enough, we did the whole Halloween thing too. Amory decided to be the Boogey Man instead of a vampire. It could have been awesome, but he had no patience for the makeup, so it was just OK, but people liked it. Corey was still a Rockstar Vampire.









So, mix that with basketball, volunteering at the school, work, gymnastics and karate, we have been running. I do plan to write AT LEAST on Mondays again though. Check back tomorrow. (edited to fix pics)