I'm not sure if I've addressed our Halloween costumes this year (not the camping ones...the ones the boys will wear to school and out trick or treating). We went through a few ideas, but Logan had sort of settled on Super Man while Aiden was still not really um...playing the game and picking anything. Finally one day, inspired by his love of lizards, he said he wanted to dress as "lizard boy". I remember distinctly that we were climbing into the van, which was parked in Anne's driveway after playgroup, when he made this pronouncement. We were on our way to get Logan from school. I was confused though because we had previously discussed how maybe he could dress up as a lizard keeper...like a zoo keeper with a lizard cage and a safari hat etc. When he said lizard boy, I asked him if that was: a) a boy who is also part lizard b) a boy who can talk to lizards or c) a super hero? He declared most defiantly: a super hero!

We spent the drive to Logan's school discussing Lizard Boy - his costume, his powers, his weapons etc. When we had Logan in the car, I told him about Aiden's costume idea. Logan was excited to hear the news that they would be super heros together...he, Super Man and Aiden, Lizard Boy! When we got home, I started searching on the internet for generic capes (found: none), anything remotely related to "lizard boy" (found: none). Then we searched for and found a good Super Man costume. I explained to Logan that I would order his costume, buuuuut I would have to help Aiden make his costume and invent stuff about Lizard Boy. I was 1/2 informing and 1/2 hoping that Logan would jump on this creative opportunity and invent his OWN superhero. He looked at me and said, "well...I could make MY own super hero too, right?...like...um.....rocket boy!?" Awesome!

So...we've spent the past month discussing all the different facts about Lizard Boy and Rocket Boy. For example, Lizard Boy has an secret underwater cave (even though we have since learned that most lizards live in hot, DRY places...there are some water ones too though) and Rocket Boy was born on...um...Pluto! Lizard boy shoots slime balls and Rocket Boy has little rockets on his belt that he throws at the bad guys. The rockets open up into nets which trap the bad guys (I'm opposed to actually "killing" bad guys...I like the boys to talk about them being captured instead). We obviously needed to include Brady, but he's not really at a stage where he's passionate about anything. He does point excitedly to the sky and exclaim "plane mama!" every time one flies over AND he's quite fast...especially when I'm chasing him (to do something like save him from running into a parking lot for example!) We decided to make him Fly Boy. After much pondering, I finally came up with a costume plan. Step one was to make shirts...which I found at my super favorite new site: spreadshirt.com (check it out!) You can make anything and it's not at all expensive! I made a green shirt with a rocket, a blue shirt with a lizard and a red shirt with a fighter jet on it. These will go over long-sleeved black shirts and will be worn with black sweat pants. Step 2: capes! Logan and Aiden have capes that my good friend Lisa's mom made. Problem: they say "Super Logan" and "Super Aiden" on them. Solution: cover them with little signs that say Rocket and Lizard Boy! Problem: Brady has no cape. Solution: I sewed him one using Aiden's as a pattern. I also made them belts, cuffs and masks using AJ's Robin mask as a template.

Since the boys have taken over every available space in our house, my work area is...once again...the island in the kitchen! Here is my giant mess:
These are the same stencils I used for the "Crayola" on the crayon costumes. There are 4 letters to a square in the package so I cut out the letters I need, tape them together and trim to make one giant stencil.
Here are the masks I made using 2 pieces of sticky-backed felt (no sewing required!) and elastic for the bands (sewing required if you're lazy like me).

I used fabric paint to put the stencils on more sticky-backed felt and then used that to cover the words "Super Logan" (barely seen in orange above my little Rocket Boy sign) on the back of Logan's cape. Aiden's will be the same.

I know this might sound kind of silly, but what I really want to do is this: finish all the little costume pieces, gather everything together for each boy, put them in 3 boxes with color coordinted ribbons on them (green, blue, red) and leave them on the table for Halloween morning with a note from "the commissioner" <--isn't he always the go-to for the super heros?! haha.

So after all this brainstorming, costume making etc. I stumbled upon SUCH an adorable costume idea. I hope my boys still love scuba divers next year because I would LOVE to make these for them and I SO know that they would love to wear these! Brian even suggested making them as a Christmas gift. I am entertaining the idea of doing that OR of taking the materials for these to GG and GGpa's house for Christmas so that the boys can 1. have a craft to do that 2. they will then play with while we are there.
how cute is that?!!

So...one final thought: in the file directory on my laptop (not our home computer, but the one I use for work and the one I usually use to blog), I have folders and then random pictures. One of the random pics that I ALWAYS see when I upload for my posts is one of Logan on Halloween in 2005 (he was 7 months old). I think I was like DAYS pregnant with Aiden during this time. Here is my very first baby and his very first Halloween: (I think the outfit says "my lil pumpkin).

I really have no good title for this post...just pictures of what we've been up to. Logan has also been doing some pretty funny stuff during "nap time" lately.

Monday: we went for a quick play date with some friends. Here, my friend Kristina (aka: the queen of fun), introduces the boys to stair surfing on an old crib mattress. Aiden loved it! I suspect that the next thing we'll be doing is trying this on our front stairs. I was surprised at how slow the mattress goes down. Several of my friends (Karen!) have said that they do this too....I'm sold - totally fun!
...check out my bad photography skills! :)
Tuesday afternoon, we had some of the family over for a quick lunch. Aiden and Logan were almost beside themselves when it was time for baby Charlie to leave (Logan cried and hid under a pillow on the couch!) Aunt Sara let them hold and kiss on him for a couple minutes. Of course I had a great picture of L, A and Charlie together right as my camera battery died. We'll see them again this weekend so hopefully I'll get more shots of our new little cutie.

During "nap time" on Wednesday, I decided to mow the lawn for Brian. Logan, who rarely naps anymore, usually plays outside while I work. He doesn't like the sound of the mower though and tries to play on the other side of the lawn. I looked up at one point and he was coming out to meet me with the play mower. Mama's little helper!

Wednesday was a tough day for Aiden. He was getting up to all sorts of mischievousness and lost almost all his stars. Sadly, he wasn't allowed to have a freeze pop after dinner. Brady actually walked over and snuggled up to him as he was being sad. Nothing like a Bear hug to make you feel better!

Today Logan and I did quite a few things together while the little guys were napping. We played Neighborhood Sounds Bingo, built some sort of ship out of his shopping cart and then "played" rock band (no TV was turned on during this play session). Logan stood up on his stage (the couch), said "alright every body!!" and then started singing (Hello Now Ladies and Gentlemen....intro song to Rock Band) Rock it out dude!!

Lastly, I was really touched by Logan last night. He received a thank-you card from one of his preschool teachers yesterday thanking him for his end-of-the-year gift (Target gift card and a green car). He had me read the message to him 3 times and then took it up to his room that night so he could sleep with it. He ended up putting it up on top of his bookshelf and said "Mrs Karin is so sweet mommy!"