Starfish Invasion aka: Halloween!!

What could be scarier than the streets of Chicago taken over by three suck-thristy mutations from the sea? It was a good plan, but the littlest starfish was so cute that citizens of Chicago were too threatened.

 So, a bit of history in regards to what I have named Starfish Gate, a crisis that occurred when Brock and I went on his school field trip to the pumpkin patch. Which there are no pictures of. Because that day, pardon my french, SUCKED (and not in an awesome starfish way). It was 15 degrees colder than anticipated, and Brock, who was so excited to wear his costume, has a breakdown and would not wear it. Which was a shame because I had chosen his layers of warmth based on the edition of a giant felt body sack (as seen above). The whole class was miserable.

 Here is Brock's number in the works. He insisted that his starfish be "purplish-pink", and that the boy starfishes were all purplish-pink. Girl starfishes, aka, mommy starfish was allowed to be whatever color she wanted. My first choice would have been to be purlish-pink, known in our house as "radiant orchid", so onto plan B. Matt and I were able to trouble shoot the costumes once I had made ours. With Matt's idea of supportive seams at the shoulder, we were able to fix some of the construction and comfort issues Brock might have experienced on that first run on the school field trip. Emotional issues are, of course, more difficult to troubleshoot. Perhaps the comradery of parental starfish was the real treatment... anyhow, spirits were high when we set out for the festivities in the the Southport Neighborhood.

perfect.

 We did a quick change in the car

 and practiced our moves

 Now we've got it! Starfish unite!

 and the whole family is here (yes, beer is part of the family)!

The following day, the real Halloween, Matt and Brock met up with the Focklers to trick or treat in the Bridgeport neighborhood.

This was definitely the first year that Brock truly understood trick-or-treating, and he was hooked. I (Holly speaking now) sadly had to work on real Halloween so Jen, Jackson and Jonas's mom (who Brock has a not so secret crush on), was a welcomed substitute.

There was a moment, 30 suckers in, where I was like, "why do I spend every minute of free time for 2+ weeks for something that will be worn a total of 2-5 hours? Let's also note Matt's very math geometric pattern planning and dedicated sucker duty. Well, the answer is always plain at the end when you see an adorable felt sea creature and a larger more ridiculous but handsome version waddling down the streets of Chicago. I love you Halloween! Brock says next year he wants to be a rattlesnake, so there, it's documented, we'll see what a year does to his reptilian ambitions.