Bake Me a Halloween Cupcake 2019

Miss V, Mr C, Zak, and Nicole A H Porter as cupcakes and bakers

Miss V told us she wanted to be a cupcake for Halloween, so I asked Mr C if he wanted to be a donut or another treat. He likes to do what his big sister does, so he wanted to be a cupcake, too. With a puppy on top.  With a dragon tail.  I told him, "Let's stick with the first two for now." We found dog ears and mittens, and got some face paint for a nose, if he decides to actually go with the "puppy decoration on top of the cupcake" costume on Halloween night.

I decided to be a baker to go along with their costumes. Zak thought for a moment about the baker look and wanted to go with The Muppet's Swedish Chef. That is, until he tried on the fake eyebrows and mustache I bought for him and he started inhaling fake wafts of hair. Just bakers.

I found small laundry baskets at the dollar store, and bought flannel solid fabric to pleat for the wrapper. They had some really soft non-pilling white fleece, so I chose that for the frosting. The kids helped me cut some felt strips for the sprinkles. I used some of the extra strips of white fleece to make suspenders attached to the laundry baskets, and then hand-stitched the white fleece onto the top. I sewed the top of the frosting, leaving holes for heads and arms. They do have to slip into the costumes from the top, but I'm glad they are outerwear-friendly costumes this year, because we will be wearing lots of layers as we trudge through snow from house to house. They'll earn their candy this year. Mwhahaha.

Thanks, Brother Todd Glad, for taking professional level pictures at our neighborhood Halloween party. They are fantastic!

Puppy dog nose

Our Swedish Chef. For about 3 minutes.

Ghostly Halloween

For a few months Miss V has insisted on being a ghost for Halloween. I figured we wouldn't be able to do the put-a-sheet-over-your-head look since at most schools and parties you can't wear a mask. One of the other kindergarten moms suggested buying a thrift store shirt or sweater, and going from there. My friend, Carrie, produced a ghost dress that fit Miss V perfectly, so I used the thermal shirt I found to make Mr C's costume. The kids loved the look with some white face paint and my dark eyeshadow (which spilled years ago, so I just keep it in a ziplock bag now). I tried finding white gloves and beanies, but I guess those looks are not in at Walmart and Dollar Tree right now. Miss V spent all of October "ooohing" adults and kids alike in preparation for her ghostly persona.

Zak has suggested the Uncle Fester Addams costume for a few years, so I figured now would be a good time to make the most versatile Halloween costume I could: Uncle Fester, the Grim Reaper, wizard dress robes, und so weiter. It does pull a bit in the front, but I was pretty pleased with myself upon completing the costume from scratch. I even added pockets!

With both ghosts and the Addams family in mind, I shopped at Deseret Industries for my costume. I found a white dress that was long-sleeved, big, and loose on me for a ghost costume, but I couldn't do it. I could tell it had been someone's religious ceremonial dress, and I didn't want to be disrespectful. I bought a black sweater and white collared shirt for my Wednesday Addams look, because I'm not quite confident in pulling off the Morticia Addams look. Since my Wednesday costume looks like me in a dress without Zak in costume, we went as the Addams to a trunk-or-treat on Friday night, and I just wore my NASA jumpsuit from a couple of years ago when I went to the school's parade and trick-or-treated on Halloween.

Waiting before school starts on Halloween

Glowstick necklaces from Uncle Aaron!

Nicole A H Porter and Zak as Wednesday and Uncle Fester Addams

Ghosts at trunk-or-treat

Playing with leaves during our walk home

Nicole A H Porter sewing Uncle Fester's outfit

Playing around with the costume before trimming the sleeves.

1000 Books to Lagoon

At the Logan Library, I heard about the 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program. They had a giant paper train on the wall, with an engine and nine cars. They gave out stickers for every 100 books read to place on the train. They would also give away a rubber duck type toy at every one books. We all got pretty excited at each milestone. At 1000 books, they would take your picture to put up on the final train car on the wall. 

We moved from Logan to Salt Lake before reaching our final goal, so we tried the Salt Lake County Libraries. They are amazing, and one of my absolute favorite parts of living in Salt Lake. Unfortunately, they didn't celebrate 1000 Books as much as Logan at each milestone. I decided to reward the kids by letting them pick something from the dollar store for 700 and 800. At 900 we went to the specialty candy shoppe in the mall. Miss V had picked at the very beginning to go to Lagoon when we reached 1000, and Zak and I thought that would be reasonable, as the kids hadn't gone yet.

I used the app to track our progress, and when the kids had both reached 1000, we went to our local county library. They gave the kids certificate, and hand stamp, and let them pick a book to take home. The kids appreciated the recognition. Then we went to Lagoon.

We all had fun. I was impressed with all of the little kid rides, especially the ones that could hold adults, too. They may have been there for decades, but one doesn't always learn these things until one has kids.

Daddy brought his JetBoil, and we cooked mac and cheese, as well as some dehydrated meals in the park. Mr C made it very clear when he was too tired to handle any more rides and fun. Miss V rode the bumper cars one last time and had a ball.

Zak and Nicole A H Porter