We're baaa-aaaack!

'Round these parts, you know I skip every milestone but Halloween. UNLESS it's 2020. Then I don't even log into Scully Space. SO! Here's a quick recap from LAST year, when Covid zapped every ounce of Halloween energy I had--

We had nuthin'. No trick-or-treat. No creativity. No joy. Until I announced I'd bought full-sized candy bars, and the boys could get two each if they threw on SOME kind of costume. 

But this year was different. This year, we were BACK! Even the ghost was happy about it. 

We made hotdog mummies, and James quickly decided they're delicious, and we need to make these every year. (Eight, as it turned out, was not enough.)

And yippee yahoo, my veggie pumpkin came back, this year featuring extra cruciferous vegetables no one but me likes! 

James scrunched up his face and helpfully questioned, "Why does the pumpkin have hair, Mom?" 

Of course, he's always been a brat. 

But! He's also my most excited holiday helper, so let's dive into his costume reveal first! 

Obviously (and in case you can't read his belt buckle), he's the World's Strongest Man, a staple of any circus sideshow! 

The funniest part here is how much mental anguish I experienced while trying to construct that barbell. We have a set of those big bouncy balls with handles (You know what I mean, right? Kids sit on them and jump/bounce/race. What are they called??) that was my inspiration. I thought I could pop those onto a piece of PVC pipe and voila! Totally wasn't gonna work. I moved onto the idea of spraypainted styrofoam balls, but those get expensive! In the end, I decided it didn't need to be black and that a couple of punch balloons taped to either end of a broom handle would suffice. 

We could absolutely form James' hair into this split-bangs look, but I did need to splurge on a $5 handlebar mustache. 

The muscle shirt was already in our dress-up bin from Patrick's costume a few years back. The tank top is mine--HA! And here's an old laundry bag that said the price of admission is 25 cents OR candy. 

Are you dying at his handlebar smirk?! 

Next, and last since teens are nuthin but Halloween dream killers, is Matthew! 

Multiple people asked me if he was from Peaky Blinders to which I'd retort, HE'S FOUR and a paperboy!

...in Daniel Tiger slip-ons. (Artistic license)

We tried to emphasize the bag to drive home the not-gangster theme. 

I mean, he's basically a dead ringer, right? 

He has no idea what he's yelling here, but I love him for his commitment. 

Bet he coulda sold a half a zillion newspapers, too!

Out in the wild, Matthew found the whole ToT experiment to be a bit overwhelming. (This year was his first!) We made it through one half of one street before he wanted to be done. He ruled out houses that had scary costumes, scary decorations, scary pumpkins, barking dogs, and a couple of maybe-scary old ladies. He much preferred quiet decision-making with no human contact.

But he definitely yelled, "Fanks!" when he heard the prompt! 

This scene never gets old.

James opted to make the rounds with his 4th grade buds. Hilariously, he also declined to trade any candy with those buds, but safely back home, he delighted in sorting and counting his spoils.

That's 231.5 pieces of candy because SOMEone opened a fun size Starburst and gave this poor muffin only one chewy square!

Candy supplies started running low early. It was a bus-y night! And I couldn't be happier. 

Happy Halloween 2021!