Beauty and the Beast

Here's the official unveiling of Halloween 2013 at the Fokens' house. Beauty and the beast is the brother/sister theme we went with. Only kidding. I'm a big fan of matching costumes in families, but now that Miller is getting older...it really is impossible to please both. Miller really wanted to dress up as the Skylander wii game character, Tree Rex. Isn't the costume ugly? We are slowly graduating from the cutesy boy costumes as he ages. My costume rule is no blood, weapons or violence.  A big pat on the back because he stayed in the parameters of NO SCARY--I told Miller, we celebrate a fun Halloween. 

Remove the mask and you'll find the most handsome of first grade boys right there:) He really did resemble the beast sitting next to Belle. Eliza Kate is right in the heart of the princess age. She loves to twirl, sing ,and dance. Dressing up in jewels and dresses is a daily event. She really couldn't choose just one princess until two weeks before Halloween. I told her we had to finally select one character. I think she chose wisely! We had a dress rehearsal in which mommy was the beast twirling Belle around the family room. 

 With her hair swept up, she's growing up too fast on this momma. Three years old is a magical age.

They were antsy with Halloween anticipation. Our pre treating party was next door, and they loved watching all of the set up with jittery excitement during picture time on our front steps.

We ran next door around 5:30 to find our friends from the hood arriving. Ariel & Rapunzel were waiting with Mardi Gras dress up beads. Oh my, three princesses with dress up beads.

 Grayson was another Skylanders character. These two ran all over the front yards full of imaginative wii game stunts. Jumps, tree climbing, and few confiscated tree limbs were involved. They were truly "in character". 

They played their Skylanders hearts out waiting for the pizza to arrive. 

Our royal girls were enjoying the party--the belles of the ball:) 

They got a little silly too--oh my!

Our trick or treat crew from the hood. I'm loving how EK is curtseying. She kept looking back at Sam on the back row with the scary mask to make sure he was respecting her personal space. 

We love having Grandmama and Poppy come to pass out candy for us every year. They love spending Halloween with us as they don't get trick or treaters on their road. Grandmama sported her bedazzled pumpkin t-shirt. The littles loved their festive shirted Halloween grandmama.

And, they were off! We divided and conquered. The boys sprinted ahead with Mr. Greg. It truly is a sign of the times--I didn't see Miller the rest of the evening until his candy bucket was full and he was begging for water. They ran laps around us in warp speed. Trailblazers of the neighborhood.

We loaded up the royal carriage wagon. Landon pulled the girls from house to house. It's only a two seater, so the polite princesses had to take turns riding. We slowly rolled from house to house. Since the houses are more spread out here, it was an all night event. Our poor daddy coachman got a workout.

Our candy stash took a hit. Although, we purchased way too much candy.

This princess wagon called it a night around 8:00 p.m. She then came home to devour her candy and help our candy crew pass out candy. 

We waited for Tree Rex's homecoming on the front steps. She commented that her costume was itchy so she ditched her ball gown for comfy PJs. Sometimes beauty is uncomfortable.

After our friends made their rounds, we congregated on our driveway to play and watch the teenage crew roll in before turning off the porch lights and calling it a night. It was a wonderful first trick or treating night in our new neighborhood. Happy Halloween to all!