The Halloween Grinch

Okay, so I still haven't blogged about Halloween.  Yeah.  Life just gets away from this busy mama!  Look for a new post each day this week to get caught up on 2015. 

So for Halloween, we were characters from How The Grinch Stole Christmas.  But you already know that because I already unveiled the book that we made for the grandparents and birthparents for Christmas.  Here's a little backstory on that adventure.

 

In the weeks leading up to Halloween, I noticed that I often call Sal "Sally Lou Who."  I'm not sure why--I think just because she's a tiny little nugget, and when I put her hair in pigtails, she reminds me of a Who. 

So I started thinking, "Wouldn't that be the cutest Halloween costume?"  And if she was going to be Cindy Lou Who, then Noah needed to be the Grinch, obviously.  He was on board, especially after Ryan agreed to make him a sleigh out of our bike trailer, so preparations for the kids' costumes began in earnest.  We take Halloween seriously in this family!  I'm so glad I have a creative husband.  When I came out into the garage and saw the cardboard cutouts for the Grinch sled, I actually burst out laughing.  Too good. Noah got to help with the sled as well, and he loved it.  I love seeing him and Ryan working together on creative projects.

It was actually just the day before Halloween when I decided that Ryan and I would join in the fun too.  I suddenly thought, "We should wear ugly Christmas sweaters and be Whos!"  Problem is, we don't have any ugly Christmas sweaters.  But when I brought the kids in their costumes to visit Ryan's dental office, I happened to ask one of the other doctors if he had any ugly sweaters, and he did, and the rest is history.

And my hair? There's an empty water bottle under there.  Ha!  I used to do my hair like this for spirit days and pep rallies in high school.  It takes less than five minutes: You flip your head upside down, stick a water bottle in there, gather up all your hair and smooth it around the bottle, tie it off with a hair tie, and hairspray the heck out of it.  Viola--Who Hair.

It was fun to walk around the neighborhood together to Trick-or-Treat and to hear people laughing at our Who get-ups.  It almost made all of the effort worth it (more on that in a minute), and Sally was hilarious with her independence that night.  She did not want to be carried, and insisted on slinging her trick-or-treat bucket over her arm like a little diva and walking by herself or pushing the sleigh from behind.  Anytime I tried to pick her up, she would shriek and go limp and flop around like a wet noodle and throw a massive tantrum.  So we let her stroll up to the doors by herself and take her time moseying down the road with her treat bucket. The cutest.

It was a really fun night and a great memory, but I just have to admit that as cute as these costumes turned out, the entire process was anything but "fun."  I'm sure you can all imagine that the only Grinch throughout the whole process was Mom: I turned into a complete monster trying to get all the photos for our Grinch book and such--snapping at the kids, freaking out when Sally tried to pull out her pigtails, threatening Noah when he didn't want to put on his green facepaint, and offering ridiculous bribes to get him to pose for photos.  (I actually heard myself say, "If you will just look at the camera, I will give you five dollars!"  Whaaaat? Hahaha!)

A few people who saw the Grinch book that we made for the grandparents have said, "You are the best mom."  Upon hearing those words, my mind flashes back to the way that I grumbled and scolded and threatened, and I reply, "Are you kidding?  A good mom would never put her children through that torture!"

The good news is, Noah loves the memory, loves the finished book, and seems to have forgotten about the trauma that accompanied the journey.  So we will call it a win.  But let me assure you, I will never, ever go to these lengths for a Halloween costume again.  So enjoy these photos because next year you are likely to see the Nielsons in mismatched costumes from the dress-up bin. ;)