Trick or Treating as a wee-new truck

I never saw this coming... Davey wanting to be a fire truck for Halloween. A firefighter? Sure. A fire TRUCK, no. But he wouldn't budge... he wanted to be the actual truck and that was that. I had to make it happen.. so I did my best. See previous post for details on that. As for trick or treating, the night went great. Big Dave asked the local fire dept to join us in front of our house while he did live shots for the 5pm, 5:30 and 6pm newscasts. Our neighbors and friends joined too. We had fun and Davey collected a pretty sizable stash of candy.

Also, on a related (and embarrassingly painful) note: I got zero pictures of my other child. Zero. Apparently, it slipped my mind to photograph him too. I promise I love him. I cried when I realized this hours later. He was dressed as James Dean. I put a heap of gel in his hair and molded it to stand straight up, rebel style. He wore a black leather (polyester) jacket, white t-shirt and jeans. He was freakin adorable. I will forever hate myself for forgetting to take his picture too. I promise I do remember to feed him.

(This is the only picture of Oakley from the night.

What's worse is I took this while I was using the bathroom.

Poor kid.)

**************Update from Dave*******************

Crystal is the best mommy... she spent so much time trying to get the boys and their costumes ready.   I mean countless hours/days of hard work.  So this week she was trying to put the finishing touches on everything, plus get the boys ready for Halloween, and then her goofy husband has work come to the neighborhood for trick or treating.   Oh and did I mention Crystal has been fighting not feeling well and migraine headaches.....I know Crystal is hard on herself for not taking pictures, but she had a lot on her plate, and she did great.   Plus we had a lot of video of the Oakman... here are a few screen grabs :)

 

How to make a fire truck costume...

Start with a cardboard box. Cut a hole in the middle.
Good luck trying to fit it to a four year old boy who can't
stand still for two seconds or answer two questions about how it fits
before whining that it's too exhausting to stand still and answer questions about how it fits.
Use best judgment.

Spray paint four round foam disks.. they'll become the wheels.

Spray paint box.

Wrap metallic silver duct tape around cone shaped foam...this will be the horn.

Cut round circles out of flat sheets of metallic silver duct tape... will become hubcaps.

Put metallic circles onto finished wheels.

Get a dome-shaped plastic bowl and Sharpie it red... this will be a red siren on top.

Try like hell to buy already-made white ladders.
If you can't, then buy Balsa wood.
Cut it, measure it, cut some more because it's uneven.
Measure again, trim, measure, cut and trim, then cuss...
because not one of the pieces is the exact same size.
Make it work.

Glue all the crappy mis-sized pieces together.
Spray paint ladders white.

Get red duct tape and make the straps for the costume. 

Cut cardboard, wrap in metallic duct tape...will be front bumper.

Use scraps of duct tape, Sharpie black lines for front grill.

Cut rectangles out of construction paper for front windshield.
Glue bumper, stick on grill, and position self-adhesive battery-operated lights.  

Wait for glue to dry on wheels and ladder.
Find red reflectors and caution tape and adhesive letters at hardware store...glue on back.

Finished truck!

All done? No wait...

Hole doesn't fit four year old while he's wearing Fire Chief jacket...
re-cut hole and thank God you don't have to repaint an hour before trick or treating.

He's happy... yay!

Every second of this project was totally worth it.

Crazy hat day

Little man got to wear a fun hat to school for "crazy hat day". Here he is about to leave for school and he thinks his hat will be the biggest one. He was right :)

Almost finished...

Waiting on the glue to dry on the wheels and then just a couple more finishing touches. Been working on it consistently today because it has to be done before tomorrow....the last day of Boo at the Zoo. Davey gets to wear his fire truck costume at the zoo for their Halloween celebration.

Costume in progress...

Halloween costume update: davey's fire truck is coming together...I got the front bumper (made out of cardboard and duct tape), headlights, grill and windshield done. I still need to attach the wheels, ladders, siren light and  horn, along with a few other details.

Swim class with NiNi

Someone special came to watch Monkey at swim lessons tonight...

Pile on

A little post-dinner pre-bathtime wrestle never hurt anyone. Everyone pile on daddy...

Playdate with Bennett

The highlight of davey's day is this right here...getting a playdate with our neighbor Bennett. He is a year younger than Davey, but they are super good buds and Davey loves playing at Bennett's house, which is right across the street from us!

Pat Benatar, is that you

Oak is angry because I gave him a haircut and now he looks like Pat Benatar. Love is a battlefield.

WATCH: Walking in rocket ship pajamas

If there's one thing I love... it's my two babies wearing matching pajamas. I also love seeing my younger one learning how to walk. Here are both of my favorite things...

Autumn walk

This beautiful Sunday afternoon walk is courtesy of the Bears sucking. It was 3rd quarter of the game when Cutler threw an interception and Dave couldn't take anymore. He turned of the TV and we made his day better by walking through this nature preserve that's close to our house. It was in the mid 50s and leaves were falling everywhere. Perfect October day...