Halloween 2011

 So December first is a good time for a Halloween blog, right?  I've officially become a horrible blogger lately.  And I have no real excuse now that I'm down to only one child.  Well, with an attempt to make amends, here is Joaquin's Halloween blog.  He decided he wanted to be a robot.  We had been planning a Curious George costume with Daddy as the man with the yellow hat, but Joaquin changed his mind.  He wanted to be a robot like when George dressed up like a robot.  Go figure.  While I made up a body (of pizza cartons and tinfoil) for him to wear at AWANA, the costume really took off when Daddy got a hold of it.  He fixed it very solidly with foil tape, jazzed up the painted egg carton buttons with a outside coat of gold paint and created a helmet.  For both Daddy and Joaquin it was very important that he could see out but that no one else could see his face.  The spray-painted a screen gold to reflect light and therefore people's glances.  This was placed in a box covered with tinfoil and attached to the body.  Then they added LED push on lights and dry hose arms.  I think they had more fun actually making the costume then actually trick or treating!  But isn't that the point of making your own costume?  On Halloween they sallied forth to show off their craftmanship (I stayed home sporting my pregnant mommy passing out candy costume) and were a great hit around the neighborhood.  After returning with an already obscene amount of candy, we continued our last tradition of avoiding the more grown-up trick or treaters by turning off our lights and driving to our various nearby friends and relatives.  Aunty Boo-boo got a visit as well as the Sturdys, Chelsea and Grandma & Grandpa.  Everyone was suitably impressed. :)  Joaquin wanted to surprise Grandpa who had never seen any part of his costume, so Daniel and I had to hide behind my parent's courtyard wall while Joaquin rang the doorbell solo (after first explaining to some confused and suspicious neighbors).  Then he marched inside without saying a word, which of course tipped Grandpa off as to the identity of this particular robot.  The last photograph is Daniel's favorite since he feels we could make a lot of money by selling it to the National Enquirer.  "The Eagle has landed"  One Headley tip for future Halloween fun, the push-on LED lights turned out to be very helpful as flashlights for the whole family, I would definitely recommend their usage on any costume as a convenience and safety measure.