halloween 2011. the year of the full length fur bodysuits.

what do you get when you combine one baby elephant...

with one happy/candy crazed clown...

with one dancing tightrope walker....

 and then throw in an angry lion and a bossy lion tamer just for fun???

  a circus. :)

we proved the rumors true and stepped out as a full blown circus for halloween. 

you guys have good instincts with the wizard of oz guesses though--- 

take a look at last year . 

i am trying hard not to covet the light in those pics from last year. 

perfection. 

the circus was running late this year and missed the light. 

only you photo junkies can empathize with me when i admit that it kind of soured my attitude till i smacked myself in the head and said-- self are you really going to ruin halloween because you missed the light???

 dumb.

on thursday we had the annual downtown trick or treating. basically a costume run through and a way to get free candy to pass out. sa-weet. 
mandatory parental tax of all full-size/favorite chocolate things was heavily enforced don't you worry.

she was soooooo excited we were going to do her makeup. perhaps i went a little overboard. i am fairly certain a tightrope walker is not supposed to look like a streetwalker. whoops.

she just kept dancing and dancing.. and at one point she told nate and i as we were walking downtown,
"every car that goes by i look at them like this (insert coquettish bat your eyes come hither look) to show them my pretty eye makeup."
errrrr... yeah. please don't do that. bad idea.

where's waldo?? pretty sure he's down at the palm garden lounge with baby santa.

we went to a funky fun little carnival put on by the VFW. i love that kind of stuff. 
i would take a junky little carnival put on by veterans over the summer fair/creeperfest any day.

a cake walk. a real old cake walk. where strangers bake stuff and you try to win it... 
i thought to myself.. does this seem safe? not really. but let them walk.. they probably won't win anyway.

grayson won.

random side note: nate branded me that night with the face paint and i forgot about it-- he was hoping i would go out to the store like that. ruuude. 
i got him back by letting arianna sound out and read my cheek. she then wanted to know what that meant and i made nate explain it to her as payback. he stumbled around until he said it meant i was spicy. :) 
i can't wait to hear their descriptions the next time i make my enchiladas. :)

so by monday night --- i had nate and i's costumes done. well at least done enough. we were late for my light because i was running around crazy trying to finish up all the last details. 


our fridge/freezer went out over the weekend and it messed my to do list right up. i do not have time for real life emergencies.. i am in the middle of figuring out how to make a manly mane and a circus jacket. priorities please. 
in the end i ran out of time to make my whip and the last few mane poofs in the back of nate's head. 
we all survived. 

when we all finally piled out the front door people were slowing way down.. craning their necks for a second peek. i like to think of ourselves as neighborhood joy givers. i am fairly certain i saw joy.. it might have been ridicule.. but at least they were joyfully ridiculing.

these two wore their fur lined, form fitted unitards well. really well. :) 

sorting of the loot. 
if there are still time honored traditions in the world... the sorting of the halloween candy haul has to rank up there in the top 10. 
it is a pile of promise. 
rules fly out the window and dreams of triple treat nights are had. 
who am i to stand in their way? if only for one night...because my answer to can i have candy for breakfast is- and always will be-- no... 
as i try to hide the snickers in my mouth with my coffee mug. 
there must be some inherent reward with surviving till adulthood or else who would even try?

scaring trick or treaters.. there were a few that came back around just to see the man with the mane. i think at least one baby cried.

post-chile lispstick soul patch. :)

he really loved his outfit. no. he didn't. but he really loves me. and i really loved his outfit. :)

settle down there lion. i am getting your apple cider.

grayson had a hard time hanging on to his happy clown persona.

and at one point the baby elephant lost her skin.
we were quickly unravelling post sugar high, bedtime hour...

thankfully our friends arrived from their nights out on the town just in time...
we had the flintstones with daddy flintstone still at work. :(

the pirates. yes they were pirates/ people with mustaches last year. rutheah changed it up this time and added a hippie pirate element to the mix. :)

luci and anna grace were in charge of leo.

and we had a zebra.. who's parents did not dress up. shame. 
we still let them in because it turned out that our king of the jungle host had forgotten to tell them that part.

ru loved the caramel apple bites. and hates me for posting this. :) but i'm sorry -- that is talent-- that woman is holding her baby, feeding him with no hands and eating food on a stick at the same time. well done.

towards the end of the evening we heard ari screech, "will broke grayson's nose!" we were relieved to see it was merely a costume injury... but realized it was probably time to call it a night.

which made luci a sad little elephant pirate... with the most smooshy little belly ever squeezed into a skin tight, fur bodysuit. :)

and one last shot before the jacket gets retired to dress up where it will likely be demolished by costume zealots.. i was pretty proud of myself for this one. i made it out of fleece by tracing my regular little blazer then piecing and adding tails etc.
i kind of want to wear it out just for fun. jackets with circus tails are coming back any day now.. i mean a 1905 resurgence is due, right?

speaking of tails.. this one just about got left outside. every halloween he salivates at the door waiting for the trick or treaters who are indecisive about their candy. but he's getting old and slow and was easily tracked down and caught. notice the look of indignity. he tolerates us because he is too lazy to find new owners. guaranteed.

after the circus left town and all the little ones had dropped exhausted into their beds... a grown up mini date was had out on the porch with hot apple cider and the self timer on my camera. he loves when i do the run and 'look natural' picture. :)

happy halloweeeen. i'm already out of candy that's worth stealing. which means november is for reals. 
the wind came rushing up immediately following our little porch date bringing a north chill and an end to weather that lets me pretend it's still summer(y)(ish). 
fall is here. all official like.
it's time to get cozy...  which i guess isn't such a bad thing. :)