I don't know why I drag my feet so at getting pictures off my camera, but I do. Finally, a week later, the pictures are on the hard drive and ready for viewing.
Halloween is an interesting holiday for my kids. Child A loves to find the outfit with the shortest skirt or neatest accessories, and she'll pick it out in about five minutes. Little Man is the challenge. For starters, he is terrified of scary halloween monsters. The big Halloween stores with the scary costumes and big blow up spiders out front? We can't even go NEAR those or he will freak out. We talked about looking for a costume in one of them this year and he told me he thought he would be OK, but when we got halfway across the parking lot he got scared and wanted to leave, so we did. We did check out the costume aisle at the department store, but he just could not choose one, and after a half hour or more, I gave up. He decided that he wanted to be an airplane, and I was pretty sure that we were not going to be able to find an airplane costume either in a store or online - and if we could that it wouldn't be in our budget. Our pretty nonexistent budget. So I made him an airplane costume. Or rather, I should say I McGYVER'ed one out of cardboard, duct tape, pipe cleaners and red paint.
Here it is under construction:
And in its finished state:
For good measure, here is Child A in her cowgirl costume:
(Does anyone else take issue with how short they m ake the tops on the girls costumes? This costume was HER SIZE, there was no reason to think the shirt was going to come up around her ribcage. For crying out loud, she wanted to be a COWGIRL not a Dallas Cowboy's Cheerleader! )
J came over and we all went to a local store-sponsored event, then to my parents for more candy, then back to the house where dad took them around the neighborhood. The biggest downside is that we had a windy halloween, so the little guy didn't keep his costume on very long. It was big enough that a gust of wind would just about knock him over. I stayed at the house to hand out candy to any trick-or-treaters who came by - which was a complete waste of time since we got none. I took a mountain of candy to work on the next day. I am grateful that my kids' dad and I are able to be polite and friendly with one another. We made a decision together when we decided to separate that we would make sure the kids came first, and I think we have done a great job of that. It has made what is at best a difficult transition easier on our children. I know we have done a lot of things wrong over the years, but I can tell you that both of my kids know that mom and dad both love them very much.
On a lighter note, the best part of making my son's costume was the memories it brought back of halloween celebrations when I was a kid. One year my mom made my brother a robot costume out of carboard boxes, a round carboard Baskin & Robbins ice cream container, aluminum foil and silver paint. Our neighbors had a big party every year, the kids would bob for apples - the adults would bob for olives in their martinis. The big kids would take the little ones trick or treating around the neighborhood, and if we were really lucky the Lawler's would be drunk when we rang their doorbell. If they were, they usually gave out money instead of candy. Remind me someday to tell the story about the time my dad cold-cocked a drunk Bob Lawler over the backyard fence, its too much of a digression here)
Remember when costumes didn't come in stores? I had so much fun making that damn airplane that I think I might just make it a tradition.
