A Halloween Miracle!

We decided to get very festive this year for Halloween. At the beginning of October, we started talking about what the kids should be for Halloween. Dan had already decided to be a sith, from Star Wars. Supposedly, his entire Art Department at school was going to dress in a Star Wars theme for a Halloween party of one of the teacher's house (turned out he was the only one to show up and the guy hosting it didn't even dress up). We decided Anna should be a bumblebee. Then, Dan suggested that Alex be one too. After a few days, I decided I would dress up as one too.

Me and my swarm of bees.

It's not easy getting a three year old and an almost one year old to look simultaneously at the camera.

It was fun to plan out their costumes and make them. I made our skirts from black and yellow tulle, and ribbon. Dan's mom gave Anna a similar skirt for Christmas a few years ago. I used that as my model and just copied the idea for our costume. They were pretty easy to make. Just cut tulle into 5-6 inch strips, about 24 inches long for her and I can't remember how long I made mine. Tie them around a band of elastic that will fit around the waist. Add ribbon every 4-5 strips and there you go!

I made the antenna head band from elastic, felt and fuzzy pom poms. I wanted to do yellow, but I had these leftover from when she was a lady bug two years ago.

I sewed strips of yellow felt on this black shirt. It has a logo on it, but I made sure the stripe covered it. The wings I found at the 99 cent store and they actually have a little bee on the back of it. I made the purse from felt as well. Overall, this was a very inexpensive costume. The shirt, leggings and shoes were given to me. The tulle was on sale for like 74 cents a yard, the wings were a dollar, and the felt was 25 cents a sheet. The ribbon was $2.

Alex's outfit on the other hand, wasn't as cheap. I actually splurged a bit and paid $10. I got it at a big consignment sale they have here, twice a year. I originally had sewn black stripes on a onesie and was just going to have him wear black pants. But this was so cute, I couldn't pass it up. I'm glad i did, because otherwise, his outfit would have been kind of lame, compared to ours.

He wasn't a big fan of the hat, but doesn't he look so cute in it?!

I don't normally dress up, but I'm glad I did this year. It was fun.

My outfit was easy to put together as well. I just had to pay for the tulle, ribbon, and wings.

Here is Dan's outfit. He made this cloak himself, without a pattern. It turned out pretty well! I won't say how much he spent on his. It was more than all of ours combined. I told him next year, no more cloaks! He made one two years ago. He needs to branch out. Lol.

His co-worker, the one who threw the Halloween party, had these light sabers. He let him borrow them. They're pretty cool. At our ward party, a few teenagers came up to Dan and asked if they could give him a hug, because his costume was so awesome. Haha.

We got to take Anna trick-0r-treating for the first time this year. I really enjoyed it. It was so cute to see her say trick or treat and get excited about her candy. We just went around the street behind ours. As soon as we came inside, she sat down and checked out her loot. We put Alex in the stroller and luckily, he was fine with that.

So I wanted to tell about the title of this, A Halloween Miracle!

So our ward party was on Saturday. I need to give a little background info first. I mentioned that I got him black pants at the consignment sale. Well, there was actually two pants pinned together. I only needed one pair, but for the price of one, I could get two, so I got both of them. Friday, before we went to Dan's co-worker's party, I went to the local consignment sale and got Alex black socks. They also had Halloween costumes on sale for $2. I briefly looked at them and saw some bee costumes. So Saturday, a half hour before the ward party, I go out to the car to get our costumes that I had left there from Friday's party. I had changed Alex into his sleeper before we left, so we could easily put him in bed, and put his costume in the diaper bag. Well, I quickly realize I left the diaper bag at Dan's co-worker's house, along with his costume.

I'm pretty bummed, that Alex won't be able to dress up and we won't all match. I tell Dan this and he suggests to go the consignment store and see if they have a bee costume for Alex. I had totally forgotten about that! I had 15 minutes before they closed, so I hurried over there and lo and behold, I find a cute bee costume that is just Alex's size! I get home and remember that his black pants were left at the other house. Then, I remember that I had bought TWO pairs of black pants. Whew!

So it all worked out, we had fun at the party, we all looked cute and it was a Halloween miracle! My main reason for sharing this, is really to show just how kind Heavenly Father was to me. When I think about how there was a costume just his size and that I had been led to buy two pairs of black pants, it's just worked too perfectly. It's amazing to me how He was able to micromanage the little details, so Alex could have his bee costume and we could all match. It's obviously not the end of the world if he didn't have one, I would have lived and gotten over it, but He knew it would make me happy. He knew it was important to me and He foresaw something I had no way of predicting. It really made me happy that He helped me out so much. There have been a few other things recently that have really helped me see Heavenly Father's hand in my life and His kindness and mercy to me. Elder Bednar gave a talk a few years ago about the tender mercies of the Lord. I'm so thankful for those and thankful for the little and big blessings I receive from Him.