You have probably seen hundreds of other posts about people's Halloween costumes and their eventful weekends so I thought I'd just annoy you with one more by sharing ours.
Making the saints costumes...
The parish we belong to has a wonderful All Saints day celebration for the kids and it is one in which is a big deal to all the young families. Last year, our first time attending, we witnessed how much our children enjoyed it. We also noticed a special little connection between John-Paul and St. Pio was sparked by it (because he had dressed up as St. Pio last year) and ever since that day, John-Paul has always felt a special bond with St. Pio.
John-Paul as St. Pio last year
Because of my type-A personality and me not wanting to be stressed out getting costumes together the week of the celebration, we started talking back in August about which saint they would like to be for All Saints day. They each chose their own patron saints this year. So little by little I started gathering what was needed. The cassock for St. John Paul II? Bill's old white dress shirt with the collar cut off. Mother Teresa's sari? Old white bedsheets I found in our attic and some blue fabric paint. Then Joseph's costume: St. Joseph. I was confronted with a reality I didn't want to face: I just might have to sew this one together.
I have no clue how to sew. And if there's advice I'd give to any young ladies, college-aged or under: LEARN HOW TO SEW BECAUSE IT IS SUCH A PRACTICAL LIFE SKILL. It's quite pathetic that I don't know how to sew a button on (thank goodness for Youtube tutorials that did help me do that though). I wish that in high school I would have spent less time on AOL Instant Messenger (am I dating myself with that? Does anyone else remember that?) and would have applied myself to acquire PRACTICAL SKILLS like cooking and sewing. Everything today is overly-geared toward technology and over-activity to the neglect of simple basic domestic knowledge like sewing a hem, cooking a meal, etc... (By the way, I eventually did learn how to cook after Bill and I were married. He confessed a few years later that most of what I made in the beginning he had to stomach down...).
But anyways, it really wasn't a big deal since I used a sewing machine and once I got familiar with a few things, it wasn't too bad. (But really, I'm still quite pathetic with sewing).
Karate chop on costume (showing it who's bo$$)
The costume was bare-minimum and super-simple because I just can't do much else. After this first-time experience though, I have decided that when Teresa gets older (I guess 7, 8ish?) that her and I are going to learn to a sew together and make it an enjoyable mother-daughter time together.
So to the kick off the weekend we had our usual family prayer night on Friday in which John-Paul rambled in a stream of consciousness a confession of his sins which included "sorry Jesus for hitting Teresa and I will try to play nice and not hurt her. I bit her. And then I grabbed her tootsies and bite her tootsies and I squeezed them..." to which Bill busted out laughing first, followed by the rest of us:
Bill: "What's he saying over there?" (Because sometimes John-Paul just rambles on to himself in his own little imagination)
Me, saying seriously but can't help smiling: "Bill, he's examining his conscience" (Which he was seriously doing because that's what we were doing at that time...however John-Paul will just sometimes talk in a way which makes you think, "Oh, there he goes talking to himself in his own imagination again about who knows what.")
It left us with the giggles!
Halloween
Down to grandma and pop-pop's house we went!
Grandma has on her official Halloween shirt
I'm sure this was grandpa's idea...
Aunt Nina's ghost costume...
...which Teresa wasn't a fan of...
...I don't think she was a fan of this either.
Finally we were off to go trick-or-treating!
The kids had a blast :)
And so did I.
All Saints Day
The kids always love running around and playing with the other kids for a bit after Mass. They especially get excited for parties and celebrations at our parish. So you can imagine all the fun they had on All Saints day (except when John-Paul got shy and embarassed up on stage in front of all the kids and ran towards the arms of mommy for comfort and security). Then how can we forget Teresa's blank and emotionless stare into the eyes of everyone in the audience?
Playing around a bit with their best friends before eating.
Prepping the costumes
The stage is set...
St. John Paul II and St. Joseph
Blessed Mother Teresa (emotionless)
Now in reality, we hope to raise real saints for the glory of God!
(p.s. - I didn't do anything for Ronan...next year...)
So we had a wonderful weekend and I hope you did too! We love being Catholic and we love our family in heaven who intercedes for us (all of us - you too!), the saints. May their heavenly intercession and holy example bring us ever more deeply into the Heart of Christ.
Hope you enjoyed the pictures!
Bye for now!