Halloween Fun!

Ryan House is a state-of-the-art pediatric hospice and palliative care home in Phoenix for children with life threatening diseases.  But once you're a part of the Ryan House family, you're always welcome--and that's how we found ourselves celebrating Halloween over the weekend, a few days early!

The kids put their costumes on (Jenna was a leopard, Kyle was Han Solo, and Lauren was a black cat), together we set foot into Ryan House and that was the last time I saw all the kids together in the same area at the same time.  They all took off in different directions a moment later.

Jenna enjoyed the playground and the pumpkin painting craft table.

Lauren enjoyed the face painting and playing games.

Kyle wasn't interested in much other than convincing the staff to turn on the Wii (they didn't) and playing with the drinking fountain.

Do you like Lauren's black kitty cat costume?  It has an interesting story behind it.  Check it here.

Halloween 2011

Halloween '11 was sort of awesome.  It was filled with tricks (check out the costumes our friend made for our wheelchairs) and treats (check out the cavities the kids have from all the candy two months from now).

I initially wrote about our Halloween costume selection process here and here, so I won't repeat the stories.  But I do have additional photos--yay!  Here you go.

Here the kids are with my friend Kelly's girls--Super Girl and Bat Girl! That's a lot of estrogen for Han Solo there to navigate his way through.

Here's a good look at Lauren's beehive--our friend Marie made this for her! She also made Kyle's Millennium Falcon! Marie is good people.  You can gaze adoringly at Marie's gorgeous smile--and read about her life with lupus--here.  Many thanks to Marie, who I hereby appoint chair of the Committee to Develop Wheelchair Costumes for Halloween 2012.

Halloween Costume Brainstorming

For Halloween this year, the six year old wants to be a vampiress.

Three year old girl wants to be Snow White. Three year old boy claims he wants to be a pig (?).

My challenge to you, blogosphere, is to help me come up with ways to incorporate the three year olds' wheelchairs into their costumes. I'm not sure what we can do with them for Snow White and a pig, so throw out for our consideration even better original costume ideas which can incorporate their chairs.

My pal Lorraine set the bar high last year with this masterpiece for her daughter, Zoe. See what I mean?




The gauntlet's been thrown! Brainstorm away!