Hello, DHR? My Mother is Out of Control!

If our babies could talk, this is definitely what they would have done today. In a valiant effort to get the best Halloween picture ever, six Moms joined forces to set the perfect scene for a brilliant photograph. It included a black sheet, pumpkins, (TONS OF) candy, and of course, seven perfectly costumed children. To make it absolutely perfect, all the seven children needed to do was smile and look at the camera . . . all at the same time. I don't know if we really thought this would happen, but you can easily imagine that it never did. In fact, I think a total of three pictures even caught a partial smile from any of them.

This is probably the best picture we got all morning. From the left is Luke Chavers (monkey), Colt Parrish (bear), Ava Grace Yates (ladybug), Jack Peacock (dog), Canon (lion), and on the trunk is Julia Blank (peapod) held up by her brother Alex (Spiderman).

The whole ordeal was pretty hilarious. Not one single child was in a good mood when we started our photo shoot. They were all either due for a nap, a feeding, or just hating life at that particular moment. At one point, Canon, Colt, and Luke were sitting together. Luke and Colt were fussing, and someone said, "Hey, D. Do you think you could make Canon cry, too?" It wasn't long before he was fussing, and we got an excellent picture to show for it.

Poor Jack missed a few pictures because he just couldn't handle the chaos. This is the class of 2027 (minus Jack).

Alex (our almost-three-year-old veteran) was trying so hard to take care of his baby sister, Julia. She passed out in the middle of everything, and Ava leaned over on several occasions to check on her. As our neighbors drove by on their way to pick up last-minute Halloween gear, they slowed down at the corner to watch the crazy "newbies" trying to force happiness out of some very cranky babies. We haven't heard from DHR yet, so we're thinking we're in the clear.

Canon was seriously pooped!

After the photo shoot, we called in reinforcements from the Dads who had previously agreed to take care of the kids while the Moms had craft time. My mother had given me a Cricut machine for my birthday, and I was eager to play. All of the girls (minus Erica, who had plans with her in-laws) decorated picture frames to display our Perfect Halloween Picture. It took almost as long to pick out a good picture as it did to decorate the frames. We literally worked all afternoon, but we had a great time doing it. We're already planning a Christmas Craft Party to expand our creativity even further.

This is Alicia's - voted Cutest Picture Frame Ever!

This is Mary's - voted Best Gluer of All Time!

This is Mandy's - voted Most Meticulous Cricuter! I don't know if you can tell, but the bag at the top has "Luke" spelled out in tiny letters!

This is Erica's - hers was made by Mary & me, but everyone contributed ideas.

This is mine - voted Most Quickly Made Frame & Most Boring.

I missed getting an individual shot of Tuan's, but hers is at the top of this highly creative pyramid.

As if our day was not full enough, more of our friends came over to help us pass out candy to our neighborhood Trick-or-Treaters. At our old house, we had dozens and dozens of kids (some adults, too) who came out on Halloween night. Our new house (which is in a slightly more private sector of the neighborhood) did not prove to be as exciting. I'm guessing we had about twenty-five kids show up. We were giving them handfuls of candy, just trying to get rid of the 10+ bags everyone had contributed.

I think Canon really enjoyed Halloween, despite the trauma I put him through that morning. He loved playing with Alex in his Spiderman costume. And he and Luke made up after fussing at each other during the photo shoot. I'd say it was a good First Halloween for the King of the Jungle.