Riley's 1st Halloween

Here comes Superman! Up Up and Away!


In his capsule with his "green crystal".

I have to admit we have set the precedence HIGH for every Halloween from here on out! Riley was 3 months old on the 29th, and he had a more elaborate Halloween costume and props than I EVER had! But that has more to do with who his Dad is than anything else!

First, Riley had several Halloween costumes or outfits because everyone knows that it's Kelly's favorite holiday! After all, it's the only time he can wear short shorts or tights and get away with it! ha! GiGi bought Riley a monkey suit back in August, but it was still a little too big. Kelly and I were going to be the bananas if Riley had gone with the monkey suit. Then his Sterne Grandparents bought him a cute pumpkin outfit and socks, and Jason Brown bought him a pumpkin hat and cat shoes. He's decided he hates hats, so we weren't able to pull those off! Therefore, he ended up being Superman! Kelly got him a Superman costume with a built in cape. Sounds simple enough, right? Not in our household!

It started out with Kelly coming up with the idea to trick the stroller out to look like the capsule that Kal-el (Superman before he was Superman for those of you who don't know like I used to not know!) was sent to earth in when he was a baby. Basically, it looks like a star. Kelly made his yearly Halloween trek to Hobby Lobby and found some styrofoam cones and covered them with foil. It worked, but then my anal retentiveness kicked in, and I said we couldn't just put those things on a orange and brown stroller! There was no way anyone would know what that was! Plus, it looked like some medieval torture device! So we decided we'd get silver fabric to cover the colors of the stroller, which is a great idea if you can sew! I can't! So then we had to call GiGi in for her seamstress skills! Kelly didn't leave one stone unturned - we also had a green glow stick in the stroller with Riley to represent the green crystal Kal-el was sent to earth with. And Kelly and I had silver capes made out of the same material because we were Superman's parents - in the movie they dress in all silver. Oh yeah, and we even had the 'computer' from Krypton represented in the cup holders of the stroller as well! Then at the visit to my office, someone said all you need is the theme song playing now! (Actually Kelly and I had already discussed this, but ran out of time doing all the stroller and cape stuff.) So Halloween day, I downloaded the theme song to my iPod and used my external speakers to play the theme song as we strolled Riley around! I've decided Kelly's the creative one, I am good at coming up with how to execute the creative theme, then we have to bring my Mom-GiGi in to tie it all together and fill in the gaps! She's pretty creative too! The teamwork definitely paid off! And did I mention that I felt like we were already pulling an all nighter to get some school project done??!! Me, Kelly and my Mom up until after 1am working on Riley's Halloween props, and he's 3 MONTHS OLD! Yes...we need help! No, he's not spoiled at all! :)

Superman's Capsule pictured below.



As far as Trick or Treating, we went to my office on Thursday afternoon. Mainly, so I could take Riley to meet everyone! We left there with a REAL Hershey's bar from Darcy that Kelly and I enjoyed today! :) Then we went Trick or Treating with Ethan, Josh and Nancy on Halloween night in their neighborhood. Ethan was Bob the Builder, and oh so cute!!

Bob the Builder aka Ethan.


First, Nancy cooked us chicken enchiladas for dinner - YUMMY! Then Halloween turned out to be a bitter sweet night! Josh was flying back in from a business trip in Atlanta, and his flight kept getting delayed. So Nancy and I had the boys, and Kelly was going to pick Josh up at the airport and come meet us. During the time when we were waiting for Josh & Kelly - Nancy, Ethan, Riley and I sat in their front yard handing out candy and taking pictures. Eventually, Ethan got antsy and wanted to go next door to trick or treat.

So......THANK GOD! Nancy put our video cameras in her house, but left her phone and digital camera in the cup holder of her chair with the bowl of candy there for people to grab from. After all, we were just going to the house next door! And all her neighbors were sitting out in their front yards, so there were plenty of people around! You probably know where this is going now - after we got started Trick or Treating - Ethan was loving it and ready to go more, so Nancy said she was going to run home and get her phone so we'd know when Josh & Kelly were there - as she turned around she saw a guy and HIS CHILD! Walking off really fast away from her house...she yelled out did you take my phone and camera and they just kept walking! They had taken her phone, camera and almost the entire bowl of candy to boot!! I didn't realize what was going on at the time, but there wasn't much we could do with 2 kids in tow! That's really sad! Stealing with your child, and the guy's kid was probably 3 years old. I called her phone within a minute or two of it happening, and they had already turned her phone off, so I guess the guy is a seasoned veteran at taking other people's things! How pathetic is that?!

But we didn't let it put a damper on our night! Nancy handled it very well! Her thought was the guy obviously needs it worse than we do! Although, we aren't sure how he plans on charging or uploading the pictures from the camera! Luckily, she had already uploaded the pictures of Ethan at school earlier in the day to send out to family! If that had been my camera, I always have anywhere from 200-500 pictures on it! And my video camera literally has EVERY video we've taken of Riley since he was born so I'm very thankful she thought to put those in the house.

Soon after, Kelly and Josh arrived and we all went Trick or Treating together. Ethan loved it! He was so cute saying Trick or Treat, Happy Halloween!

Kelly's already tossed around a couple of ideas for Riley's Halloween costume and props next year! I keep picturing Kelly and Riley having a conversation in a couple of years with Riley saying something like, "But Dad, I just want a store bought costume and no props like everyone else!" And God help us all the year Riley decides he's too old to dress up!!!

If you'd like to see all of Riley's outfits and "the making of" Superman's capsule. Check out the rest of the photos on Flickr @ Riley's 1st Halloween Photos.

Riley also got a piggy bank from his Grandpa & Grandma Sterne and money from them and his Great Aunt Shireen! I'm sure that will get spent on Star Wars figures (just like his Dad) as soon as he's old enough!