Trick-or-Treat!

Halloween is here!

The pumpkins are done

 

I had to work the night before, but I brought some Halloween-themed treats in

 

The kids went to school in costume, Nick with his tie-fighter and Katheryn as Princess Aurora.

 

When the kids got home from daycare we had to eat quickly and then reapply makeup, and Katheryn had to do a quick wardrobe change.

 

Then it was time to start trick or treating!

The kids had their giant hands that we've used for the last couple of years
And the kids were ready to go!

Of course we needed to get a group picture first!
X-wing fighter, Darth Nickolas and Elsa

We left our pumpkins and candy on the porch and then headed out!

First stop was Grandma and Papa's house!

We had a routine as we went.
I would go up to the door with Katheryn (until Katheryn ditched us for another family), and Nick would yell "Happy Halloween" or "Trick or Treat" from the bottom of the stairs. I would have his bag, and then Nick would say Thank You.
It worked out well. And Nick had fun
When Katheryn left us, and it was just me going to the door, I got some strange looks, but usually I stepped away from the door so they would see Nick.
Some people came right out, one neighbor stopped and told me about a local accessible farm, and a group of teenagers loved Nicks costume and wanted a picture. We have 2 houses in our neighborhood who have ramps, so we made sure to go to them, so Nick could actually knock on the door.

The weather was beautiful (for the first time in a long time) and we went out to about twice as many houses as we have before. So half way through Kyle ran home to get a pillow case so we could dump the candy in.

When we got home, Katheryn dumped her candy into our (empty) candy bowl.

Nick was so happy with all of the candy he got, it was such a fun night for them! We were out for 2 hours

They are both already talking about what they want to be next year!

Darth-Nickolas' Tie Fighter

After we completed the Death Star Nick reminded me that he wanted a tie-fighter for school. After spending days and days on the Death Star there was no way I was sending it to school (and I don't know if it would fit on the bus, and I didn't trust anyone else to get it on and off the chair).

 

I told Nick if we had enough time I would make the tie-fighter. I figured it would b easy, I just needed some black foam board and duct tape.

 

I got 3 black foam boards from the dollar store. I cut 1 board in half, and then sliced the other 2 so that they folded.

I balanced the middle board on a toilet paper rolls and then duct taped it on the angle (the angles are the same on both wings) and taped the last half on the same angle.

Easy!

I needed a way to fit it onto the walker, and make it easy for Nick and the teachers to get them on and off.  I am always looking for things that we have around the house. This was an expandable gutter-extender. You know the things that you put on the end of the drain, to direct where the water will go?
Well we had 2 of them and they were perfect to fit on the walker.

I cut it to fit on the handles and then I had Velcro to make it stay on the walker.

It worked out well. But when Nick went to a Beavers Halloween party, I found that it wasn't making it the completely right place. So I added some wire to the front wheel and middle of the bottom braces so that I won't slide off.

I added some more duct tape, and an Empire symbol to both sides and it was complete!

 

I did it all in an afternoon, and now Nick will have a walker costume for school.

Planning for Halloween

We start thinking of Halloween really early. And while the beginning of September may seem early, really it has been since last Halloween. But now that it is September, it is time to get to work.

Nick is going to be Darth Vader this year.
Simple, I thought, we will make his wheelchair into a tie fighter. (We do a wheelchair costume because if we plan on walking Nick gets tired quickly).

This was my idea for his chair. And I've been collecting supplies for it through the summer. Pretty simple I thought.

 

And then I googled Darth Vader's tie fighter and realized that it was different!

 

OK, no problem we can still do this. I just need to figure out how to make it bend.

When we were at Easter Seals Camp we were talking about Halloween and Nick told someone he was going to have the Death Star.
I said that isn't what he is going to have, but that is a FANTASTIC idea!
And so then I started thinking!

I took some pictures so that I could photo-shop my idea to see if it was possible.

And I think I can do this!

 This is my inspiration!

No I just need to order my supplies! I am so excited to get started on this!
And if I have time, I will do the tie-fighter for Nick's walker!

I also talked to Katheryn about her costume, she wants to be Elsa again, but this time Ice Queen Elsa. We looked at a bunch of different dresses (on E-bay) and she found one she likes, and I ordered a wig and we will get some other supplies for her. So Katheryn is happy too