Celebrating Carnival

The last few days was Karneval over here - Carnival, Mardi Gras, whatever you call it. It's the occasion for everyone to dress up and go to the big parade. The kids shout "Helau!" and try to catch as much candy as possible. This year we caught a lot.

Big brother waiting for the parade.

He was dressed as a lion this year, after being a cat the previous years. I bought the hat at Ikea on sale after the holidays and sewed (yep! Me! Sewed! With a machine!) some felt to a simple yellow sweatshirt, also adding paws complete with felt claws and a tail with a pompom.

There's lots of music at the parade, too.

The kids like it - but prefer the parts with the candy. Obviously.

Here are some of my favorite costumes.

These guys here were "dressed as nothing" or "NIX" in German.

Ice cream cones!

Lots of animals, too.

Big brother kept holding up his basket and shouting Helau for more candy.

These guys here had Ikea lamps as hats!

And these were hot air balloons.

Since it' still fairly cold here and little brother is coughing already, we decided to let him have the choice of going with mommy and big brother to the parade or spending the day at grandma's. Needless to say, grandma won. He loves her. 

I'd say it's back to normal now, but it's little brother's birthday next week. So what have you been up to?

Swenja