Halloween 2013 {My Pirate Crew}

So since the birth of our second child, I have made it a thing to make the kids’ costumes coordinate every year.  Why I put that pressure on myself, I have no idea, but I do have fun doing it!  And I always try to make their costumes a little more unique than what you find in the store (again, maybe a little over ambitious).  As we add kids, and as they are getting older with actual opinions of what they want to be, this is getting to be a little more challenging! In years past they have been Pebbles and Bamm Bamm (scroll to end of post), Little Red and the Big Bad Wolf, and Batman and Robin (Luke was just a babe here, but we made him the Riddler :)).  I honestly don’t know which is my favorite!  Emma’s cuteness as Little Red totally gets me, so that’s my front runner.

I had great ideas for this year, but Seth and Emma insisted on Jake and Izzy from Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  So, with refusing to spend $40 on each costume at the Disney store, I enlisted my ever-so-talented mother to help whip me up a couple vests for the boys (Luke filled in as Cubby this year) and a skirt for Emma.  For those who have seen the show, Emma is the Pirate Princess version of Izzy – she didn’t want to be everyday normal Izzy, but the more dolled up version that she is in a couple episodes.  Surprised? I’m not.  Anyways, I threw together all the extra accessories, made Izzy’s pixie dust bag, and voila, we have our own little Pirate crew.  And no Halloween is complete without a little photo shoot in the costumes.  But again, as I add more children, this part is getting to be even more of a challenge. (Side note:  this little mini-shoot I conducted should be proof to all those families that I photograph that think they have the worst kids to be photographed.  If I can get through a shoot with MY kids, I can most definitely handle yours!!)

Our little Cubby (minus his bandana, the little stinker)

Jake….

Izzy, the Pirate Princess…

Pixie dust away!!

Blue steel?? 🙂

Luke, as cute as he is, is our biggest stinker when it comes to the camera. He thinks it’s hilarious to run from the camera as fast as he can.  Fortunately for me, my camera is faster!  I looked at the time stamp on this series of pictures, and these took place in 3 seconds.  THREE SECONDS!! And there were even a couple more I deleted. 

My little misfit, I mean, Pirate Crew!  (And here’s documented proof it’s impossible to get all three kids to look and smile at the same time….)

P.S. When did Emma turn 16??

Now it’s time to start thinking about next year! I’m already concocting a few ideas, but I have to wait until after January to really nail in their costumes, once I know what baby #4 is! And I totally just realized that baby is going to be almost 10 months old at that time! Whoa.  Reality check.

I wonder what year I’m going to cave and just go buy costumes from the store?  Any bets? 🙂