Halloween Costumes 2010

 Alidia had been planning on being a ballerina for Halloween. Two days before she switched to a cat. Then Halloween morning she was opting for the monkey costume from last year. When it was time to get dressed it was the bunny that won. And she was a cute little bunny. She carried a little mirror around admiring her nose until it was time to leave the house. And she definitely had the most endurance of the crew when it came to trick-or-treating. She wanted to hit as many houses as possible and there was no fear of spooky decorations once she knew there was candy involved in making it to the front door.

Aviana always chooses her costume early. And always sticks to her guns no matter how unique or difficult it may be to come up with the pieces to the costume. This year, however, was simple. She found a hand-me-down dress when we were unloading boxes and instantly declared that it was to be her Halloween costume. I thought she wanted to be a princess or Tinkerbell, but she said she was a dancer. As it all came together I thought she looked like Esmeralda, a sort of gypsy dancer. She loved it! The curls, the makeup, the knocking on doors, handing out candy, she embraced it all with her usual contagious joy!

An hour before it was time to trick-or-treat Cole decided to have costume meltdown drama. Cole's the kind of kid who changes his mind every third day in the month leading up to Halloween, so we never get super attached to any one idea he comes up with. But as he dressed in his Confederate soldier gear Jeremy asked if he was sure that's what he wanted to be. And that was highly offensive to Cole. Thus began the next hour of indecision and tears over what to be for Halloween. The entire dress-up box was emptied and a variety of costumes were tried on. A list was made and a vote was had, but still no decision could be reached that would make Cole happy. Then it started to rain and the emotions ran even higher as the fear of a rained out evening entered into the already distraught and unstable Cole's mind.

And just when I thought he had come to a decision......a wolf....... I heard tears and saw pieces of grey costume being flung to the floor. Apparently he was told that there wasn't time to make a mask for his wolf costume. And that was the end of that, no penciled in nose and whiskers would do for him.

The end result. Indiana Jones. The same thing that he had laid out in the morning, before all the costume drama and and scheming had begun.   And I just have to add, that after all the ruckus about the costume, Cole was the first one to be ready to throw in the towel on trick-or-treating. His hands had "frostbite" and he was going to "die of freezing". And he was terrified of anything even remotely spooky. So much that one old man just tossed the candy to Cole at the end of the driveway because he refused to walk to the door even though all of us were up there.   That boy wears us all out sometimes.

However, his indecision did lead to mom and dad trying to inspire and encourage him. Which thrilled the girls more than Cole, but it was kind of fun for us too!  **Photo credits go to Aviana for that one**

Happy Halloween!!