Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Without further ado

I give you ... Robo-Elliott and Patrick, Ph.D.! (Also known as: "Thug Life E" and "The Mad Scientist Who Turned His Brother into a Robot.")
If you're curious, Patrick looks like he's about to burst into tears because I was begging them to PAUSE for a photo, and Elliott was having NONE of it. "We only have two hours, Mom! NO TIME!!!"

We borrowed a little girl's dress-up doctor coat (thanks, Laughmans!) and made it Mad Scientist-y. He had an ID ("Patrick, Ph.D., Mad Scientist"), Pete's old lab safety goggles, a ruler and about 12 pens. He helped decorate the bucket--can you tell??--but the real pièce de résistance was that 1970s blond police detective wig I put on sideways:

Elliott's costume was a recycling wonder! We saved assorted lids, containers, yogurt tops and more for this shiny number! An old box, a little foil, some duct tape and voila! We only had to buy some dryer venting (insanely hard to cut, by the way) for his arms and an empty paint can (did you know you could buy those???) for his loot:

As a control freak who, by my very genetics, likes to take Halloween costumes pretty seriously, my biggest accomplishment was letting the boys help. Elliott made that sign on his back that read, "Robot 'It's Alive'." When I affixed it, I couldn't help but add, "Made by Patrick (who used to have an older brother)."

Here, polite neighborhood children crowd the door while Paddy explains to this nice old lady how trick-or-treat works. "Just slip the candy through the ever-so-slightly open door, and no one gets hurt."

Elliott practiced talking in his robot voice for at least a week, but fully refused to pull it out while in costume. (Makes total sense, buddy. Stick to your convictions!) As punishment, he couldn't reach his candy-picking hand to his bucket-holding hand (HA!), so he kept having to ask for help. Still, hiding in someone's landscaping, I *nearly* caught him smiling once!

I was surprised how quickly they were ready to be done! I thought a 4- and 6-year-old would be in it for the long haul, but they called it quits after not even an hour. Back home, Elliott was thrilled to bits to start sorting. Kit-Kats first--11 in all! Wahoo!  

Patrick, on the other hand, couldn't understand how you could possibly make a pile of candy you DON'T LIKE. Quietly, gingerly, he opened his allotted pieces with care. "I'd never put YOU in the give-away pile!"

Another one in the books! Happy Halloween 2011!