SHIRLEY, Halloween needs to be gone for a year!

This summer, Ellie decided that she wanted to be SHIRLEY TEMPLEfor Halloween.
I told her that not too many kids her age know who that is...(I've never even seen a movie)... ELLIE DIDN'T CARE! She still wanted to be Shirley Temple.
We started looking early.
We found this dress at SECOND CHANCE DANCE (Southern/Val Vista). It only ended up costing about $13 - $14! My mom & I thought that it needed a BIG red ribbon on the waist, so she went and got one. We borrowed sponge curlers from our friend, Amber Hansen.
A week before Halloween, we decided to practice her hair. So we did. Elle slept on them one night.
The morning that we practiced her hair, I decided to Google: SHIRLEY TEMPLE PICTURES.
WOW!
Here's a few:

O.K., besides not having chubby legs, how exact is this??

I can only imagine that this DEAL of a dress that we bought had to have been made for a Shirley Temple dress!!!

What do you think?

I was shocked at how perfect this dress was.. we added some ribbon to her hair & all we needed was shoes. (Thanks PayLess)

My Grandma Sherwood has always been OBSESSED with Shirley Temple, so we surprised her at work.

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The next night, USA GYM had their Halloween Party...aka: THE BOO BASH!

It was fun filled to say the least!
Ellie loved enjoying more face painting,

jumping all over,

helping me out at the CRAFT STATION, and much more.

It was a hit!

I had to take some snaps of my FAVORITE COSTUMES!

Operation - it really worked! Loved it.

Ellie's favorite coach - Coach Lia. {besides her mom of course}

The owner, MIKE as a BUNNY!

Fruit of the loom! Homemade & so creative.

(Coaches: Adam, Paris, & Anthony)

Marchel as an I-POD! It really had pictures on the screen that switched!

Dante as MR. T!!! ha ha. It was exact.

Superman Lance helped with the bounce houses.

{Thanks, you really are one of my heroes!}

Here's a couple more stations-

Coach Whitney taught THRILLER! Even the boys were into this!

Downstairs there were lots of different games & a haunted house,

a trampoline station,

and of course a craft station with yours truly!

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Next up, Lance & I had to prepare some kind of outfits for our neighborhood carnival, since we were part of the commitee.

Lance loves to come up with outfits that he doesn't have to dress up much for. (Stay tuned for upcoming pics of us from Halloween)

I was cracking up at him. Everytime he walked in the room, he had added something new to his b-ball outfit/costume. He was like a little kid dressing up. I was crying tears everytime he walked in the door. I thought it was so cute.

Uh oh Lance - don't dance.

Before the neighborhood carnival, the Gibbons came over to show us their fun costumes: Riggs, the adorable missionary...

Jax, the stud football player....

Roxy, The darling Ariel....

And then there's Officer Noah Hunt.

He meant business.

oh... and of course- Shirley.

The group all "acting their part"!The neighborhood carnival turned out great. There was food, games, & so much to do.

INCLUDING GETTING LOST.

Ellie was missing for 10 minutes & panic started to hit. There were so many people, we were right by a park. We started to freak out!

AS soon as I told Jheri & they announced it on the mic.... that same time is when I found her.

AHHH, I hate stuff like that.

Ellie was just watching people at the dunk tank. I don't know why she wondered there while Lance & I were finishing our shifts, but yeah, she did!

Ellie loved the "parade"... walking across the stage,

helping her mommy & daddy,

playing Plinko,

getting a cupcake at the cake walk,

and riding the train around.

Thanks Jheri & all of those that helped! (Keith & all those other men, too)

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Thursday afternoon {was flippin hot} the kids had their PRESCHOOL CARNIVAL at another preschool. It was a blast. Again, so much to do!

Here's Ellie & Noah with their cute teacher - Miss Rebbecah!

Ah yeah -- another cake walk,

Snow cones, (O.K., call me the meanest mom ever, but some things like this just stressed me out. I couldn't wash Ellie's costume unless it was by hand with an old toothbrush. The red dots bled.. lovely.)

The kids went fishing.....

played a game with their helper teacher- Miss Lauren.

more games,

Spin art (?) - an other stresser! Fun for kids, though...

They got to pick their own lil pumpkin & color on it... (did I mention Permanant Marker?!)

The kids had a great time! Everything was so fun & cute.

That same night {after dance}, Ellie joined in on the tradition of Carving Pumpkins!

She told Lance that she wanted something about a princess on it.

Prince Charming couldn't resist. He helped her carve out a castle.

Grandma Cheryl painted some of the kids nails for Halloween... pumpkins, etc.!

Thursday night I was still up at midnight trying to finish our last time of doing the curlers. Incase you lost track - I had to do them 5 times & each time it took over an hour to wrap them. NEVER AGAIN! I have already warned Ellie about not having too much prep for other costumes.

Friday, Halloween was finally here! YAHOO!!!

We went & showed Grandma Riggs the kids costumes. On the way there (and when she saw anyone) Ellie would wave as if she were in a parade.

Dang, look at those tight curls! We got asked a few times if it were a wig.

After seeing G-ma Riggs, it was back to G-ma Cheryl's for "Grandma's Store".

Ellie loved everything! {thanks Cheryl}

Next door the Clouse's were having their annual Halloween canival. They do it all to raise money for a family in need at Christmas! They feed & entertain you for donations! I wish you could see how creative & awesome this spider was that they made!

We loved to see some of our cousins...

But then it was time to hurry home to go trick-or-treating.

I have to share some fav's again:

The Hamblin family was all charactors from TOY STORY. It was the cutest thing.
Here was the dog (with a slinky on her bum) and Tour Guide Barbie! Ha ha, so cute.

Of course Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head! You'll have to check thir blogs for better pictures of everyone else. I loved it. I want to copy it someday!

The HANSEN kids were all "The Hansen Brother's! (mmmm, BoP!) Loved it.Love them, too!

Wierd....

Geoff Garner came home a couple weeks early to celebrate Halloween! ha ha! The Garners are always making everybody laugh!

Elle & Noah had a blast trick-or-treating & passing out candy. (Except Ellie couldn't do that job too long! I kept hearing her ask kids: "How many do you want?!" and putting our whole bag of candy in front of them.... UH NO ELLE! Nice thought though!)

This is a neighbor- Elaine Fort with her darling polka dot pumpkin!

ALSO, it was Elaine that told Ellie that she had to show her something inside.

What was it?

She had a Shirley Temple doll that was dressed up EXACTLY like Ellie!

PERFECT, huh!

The last house the kids went to was a little scary....

This neighbor was really in the box talking! The kids were pretty nervous.

Don't worry... these missionaries went trick-or-treating, too! WITH THEIR SLEEPING BAGS. Ha ha, they meant business to- no joke!

As soon as the kids got home - what did they do...???....

OF COURSE!

Before the night was over, I knew Ellie had to take a bath. I asked her if I could try to FRO her hair. She told me that I could.

I kept telling her that it looked just like Annie's. She was so excited to see it.

Once she looked in the mirror........ {I was in the background laughing tears with Shalae & my mom} ELLIE was NOT happy. I then said that it kind of looks like Nepolean Dynamite. (Come on- it does!)

She started crying tears & ran in to daddy....

Lance said: "Ellie said that mommy said her hair looked like a boy".

SAD.... but still funny.

I love her.

She's so sensitive- JUST LIKE HER MAMA!

Good thing daddy could stop her tears.

Good thing I don't have to do any more curlers.

Good thing Halloween is over- for a year.

And good thing we had so many carnivals and all- BUT COME ON-

I am CARNIED out.