Halloween Under the Sea

Please excuse my shiny-ness. Ursala was fresh from the ocean I guess! Sorry Stephen, next year I will really try harder to get your costume done. In the meantime, we just have to pretend that there was a USC fan in The Little Mermaid movie. Stephen, the fan, was the man behind the camera and therefore was not pictured here. :( Usually that's my job, right?
Here I'm wrangling the kids and you can see my tentacles better. I credit Stephen with the creation of my shell necklace. I had the shell but couldn't find a way to connect it to a string. He got a Halloween necklace from the kids trick-or-treat bag, and I was able to wedge the plastic Frankenstein pedent up into the shell to hold the weight of the shell.
The picture above wasn't the greatest of the kids, but I like how it shows the cool backdrop that was created for our ward trunk-or-treat party. The activities committee got all high-tech this year and had a photographer who put the pictures up on some website that everyone can see. (Once I get that website address from Stephen, I'll do one of those nifty little "click here" links.) The next photo is better of the kids faces, but the color is off. These, by the way, are NOT the professional ones.
My personal favorite family theme this year was the family who dressed as characters from the movie UP. Sister Gemlich - oh my stinkin' creative and ambitious - was KEVIN! Please tell me you've all seen the movie! The life-size costume of that bird was AMAZING!
She used a bunch of feather boa's to cover the body (a pillow case, sinched at the top) and the neck and face were made out of paper mache! Genius! Pictured above are Russel the boyscout, Kevin the bird, Carl the 83-year old grandpa (and his walker with tennis balls in the background), and Dug the dog.
In the picture below, you can see an airbender in the background. This costume was made by my friend Aurora. The Airbender's (Aurora's son) is our friend Ezra. Do you remember the picture of the big brown-eyed baby Lorenzo a few posts back? Ezra is his big brother.
Next we have Emilee who created a basketball with her belly. The coolest thing is that this (unbeknown to her at the time) was her last day of being pregnant! She gave birth the very next day on Halloween! What a trooper! She makes being pregnant look so easy!
Flounder saying, "Trick or Treat?" (The head piece was too small to close in the front even though I made the largest size and only sewed tiny seams.
The back view of Flounder. Oops! I forgot too add another fin on top.
This next little guy is Keaton dressed as a jockey! My friend Michele had a cute hat that she wanted to use for a jockey costume. We brainstormed how to make Keaton a silky jocky shirt and she ended up picking up 3 different silky clothes from a thrift store. We then pieced them together on a onsie. Shona, the dog, played the prize-winning horse.
I just couldn't believe how creative people got this year! We had the Flinstone family, a ship of Vikings, a blue angel jet, conversation hearts, Rocky (the boxer), Dorothy and the scarecrow and lion from Oz, all show up to trunk-or-treat. It was a feast for the eyes! I couldn't stop gawking and staring and asking questions. Consequently, my pictures are a little lacking, sorry! (That, and Ursula didn't come together 'till after the party started. Another story entirely...)