Remember Halloween? Back in October?

Like pretty much every other family with kids in the United States of America, we celebrated Halloween!  But unlike so many very talented mothers out there, costumes are not something I ever get very creative about.  It's too bad, because I love seeing what other people come up with (I thought about posting some of their pictures here, but that just seemed weird and stalker-ish), but I never feel particularly inspired when it comes to Halloween.  It's not just that I can't sew-- although this is certainly a major hindrance-- it's that I can never think of anything worth trying to create in the first place.  So I usually put in the bare minimum of effort when it comes to Halloween.

But this is a good thing, right?  We need someone who can appreciate how awesome other mommies are without adding to the competition?  Right?  I'm just doing my part to not further the Halloween version of the mommy wars!

So, yeah, you're welcome.

Anyway, here are my kids and their costumes, most of which were given to us by someone else, or were done by Craig (who is often more inspired than I).

My Mom bought this adorable penguin costume for Colton and (miracle!) he actually liked wearing it and kept the hood on for most of the time!

Kendra originally wanted to dress up as a cowgirl, and then suddenly changed her mind and decided to be a ghost instead.  So that made things easier for me-- all I had to do was sacrifice a sheet and let Craig do her makeup.

We walked into the church Halloween Party and my friend asked me, "Is Kendra a ghost, or Fruma Sarah?"  That made me happier than just about anything.  How had I NOT noticed that she looked just like Fruma Sarah?!?!?

Bentley wanted to be a ninja, so we bought him a hood and sword (do I get to call it a katana?) at the dollar store.  And then he wanted to leave them both in the car.  Kids!

Kendra on the hayride with Peter Pan

Ryder (as a dragon) with his date friend Nora, who was dressed as a flamingo

As I've often said, Craig is way more fun than I am.  This year for Halloween, he decided to have my friend Sarah, who studied theater make-up in college with a specialty in wounds, come to his class and teach his students how to do stage wounds on each other.  This is what Sarah did to Craig:

I like the stoic look on his face for this

And a black eye to boot!

Craig was so excited by this new skill set he decided to try it out on me as soon as he got home. I think he did pretty well for just learning!

Craig wanted a copy of this picture so I texted it to him with the caption, "Love you forever."  How's that for scary?

And here we are together, blissfully happy in our domestically abusive relationship!

Craig tries on Colton's costume...

And Ryder gets his hands on Bentley's ninja hood and sword

And Colton just looks so happy and excited here!

And here's the whole gang, ready to go trick-or-treating!

So that was us this Halloween.  Now go pat yourself on the back for coming up with better costumes for your own children.  I won't mind a bit.