Crashing Hallowen Parties...and Winning

So here in Forest Grove in our ward we are the thorn among roses or the rose among thorns - however you'd like to see it.  Our ward is half native Forest Groveians and half optometry students.  I'm not sure what the trend is with LDS people doing optometry school here but it hasn't been broken yet.  We, however, are the only physical therapy students in the entire ward...probably even the stake.  We usually get shuffled into the optometry student category by all the natives - which is fine.  It's true - we are in the "student" department so it's no big deal.  Anyway - seeing how we're not official optometry students - there are a lot of events and activities that they have in their program/department which we obviously don't attend.  Also fine - because we're Physical Therapy students.  We do get invited to some of these events anyway seeing how we're the lone PT students and having one more isn't really a big deal.  They have a fun Halloween party every year where it's mostly just the LDS optometry students who go - most who are all our friends.  We decided to crash it so we could utilize our Halloween costumes for more than just one night.  So we were half invited really. Super fun.
Steve came up with the idea of doing the Super Mario Brothers theme - brilliant.  I could just picture Ross in his ADORABLE overalls, sweet green hat, and a little mustache to boot.  I was totally sold on the idea.  Plus it sounded pretty easy to put together - especially since I knew I was going to be the one in charge of getting the costumes sorted.  Steve is not accountable for having to do or remember things that are beyond absolutely necessary with how his school load is - understandable - but he can't complain about what I come up with.  Ross was pretty much taken care of since we already had a green shirt and overalls for him.  I went thrifting regularly looking for some white gloves and overalls for Steve.  When I searched online for them to buy - the cheapest pair were $30...not something I was willing to do for a Halloween costume at this point in our poor lives.  Unfortunately we don't live in the 80's or even 90's anymore when overalls were totally in a cool...I had a pair at least until I was 20 - yes I did admit that.  I finally found a pair that were just a tad off Steve's size, but figured he could deal with it or I could fix it if we needed to.  $4 total...have I mentioned I love a good thrift?  I found Steve his red shirt for $2 and then bought some fleece material for his and Ross's hats.  They were ridiculously easy to make - which helps with my lazy sewing tendencies.  They also turned out amazing - which also helps in my confidence with sewing. :)  We found some gloves and Steve and Ross were sorted.  Now I just had to sort out my being Princess Peach.  I got a few "jewels" from the craft store, wore a pink dress I had, stuffed my shoulders with socks to "princess it up" and crafted the crown myself.  I was quite proud! 

Some pre-party modeling.

Tough Mario Brothers

Ross kept trying to rub off Steve's mustache.

Luigi after having defeated Bowser and saving Princess Peach!  She's so happy!  It's just all in a day's work for Luigi. ;)

The clan.

Back to the story.
We go to the party which was totally fun.  I love it because everyone gets clever with dressing up and doing themes.  We had some dinner, chatted, and the kids got to play games.  I couldn't resist taking pictures of everyone's costumes - they were too great. 

Mandy and Jenn - our Smee and Captain Hook!  Our couple winners.

Cameron, Kim, and Wes - our building, fire, and trusty fireman on his ride. :)

We needed a little color from Bethany and Sean. :)

Baby Peach didn't want to make an appearance yet so we just stuck with the three of us. :)

Luigi is so over the pictures.  Mario is just his wing man.

Kendra, Karl, and Paige - Ursula, Prince Eric, and Ariel - the Little Mermaid.  Kendra crocheted the fin and starfish bra herself - AMAZING!  Paige won for best little girl's costume.

Hayley, Jason, and Brooklyn - our Bee, Spider, and cute Ladybug!

Steve, Rebecca, and Jack - a baker, his assistant, and an oven cookin' a bun. ;)

Jared, Claire, and Carter - Cat in the Hat with Thing 1 and 2 - brilliant!

Some adventure seeking super heroes!  Scott, Kristen, Skylar, and Parker - Superman, the Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, and Batman.  We were well taken care of that night in the safety department.

Jett  - our old man and his walker from "Up"

We tied for first with the Mullins' Peter Pan theme.  Oliver - who was an elder in my mission actually! - Maimee, Belle, Cache, and Piage - a pirate, Princess Tigerlily, Tinkerbell, Peter Pan, and a mermaid - we had to have the picture with Smee and Captain Hook though! :)

There was a voting station for best costumes, and to our surprise we tied for the best costume!...a little awkward since we technically weren't "invited" to the party...but winning a Halloween movie - Hocus Pocus - and a bunch of good candy felt too good to pass up.  PLUS - Ross just looked so stinkin' adorable in his costume.  Getting him to wear the hat was a bit tricky seeing how he'd rip it off the second we'd put it on him.  We tried modeling it for him, having his daddy show how fun it was to wear it...everything.  The only thing that worked was distracting him with the bribe of going outside.  After that - he kept it on pretty much the whole night!  The mustache took a bit of restraining actually...but once I started drawing it, it tickled so he didn't care.  We just forgot about the gloves because we felt we were winners already.  :)  

Family Pic!

The Brothers sharing some "flower power"

Maybe it's a mushroom that will make him bigger?

Got to love the "stache" and hat - my dreams came true with how adorable he looked!

The happy winners who had crashed the party!

Ross thoroughly enjoyed the party - seeing some of his friends, eating candy and cupcakes, and even riding his friend, Wes's fire truck.  Not bad. :)  Bring on Halloween!