Halloween

This year was an interesting year for Halloween. We realized we've lost voting power over Aubrey's costume but are able to enjoy Mason's passive participation the holiday for a few more years. Todd decided  months ago he wanted Mason to dress up as Yoda. I've always picked Aubrey's costumes so it was nice to be relieved of the costume picking duty. Then, Todd had the idea that Aubrey should be Princess Leia. Yeah...that didn't go over so well with the very verbal and opinionated 3-year old. Princess Leia does not wear a crown or anything pink so that was quickly shut down. Todd tried for weeks to get her to change her mind to no avail. Aubrey decided to be Sleeping Beauty purely based on the fact she wore a pink dress and a crown. Todd wanted to join in on the Halloween fun and decided to be Luke Skywalker. He tried to convince me to dress up as part of the Star Wars gang, but I shot down that idea as well. Between the 3 of their costumes I spent over $100 so I decided to forgo the dressing up and just be mom. Once the costumes were delivered Aubrey was so excited to see her dress hanging up in her closet. She asked at least 2-3 every week when it would be time for her to wear it. Finally, Halloween arrived and she got plenty of wear out of that costume. Her preschool let the kids wear costumes to school and her dance teacher encouraged the girls to wear their costumes to class. So, she wore that costume the majority of the day and was in heaven.

I had both kids dressed before Todd got home from work and attempted to take pictures of them in their costumes. In typical form, it was a torturing even for me because getting them to cooperate was a pain in the rear. Todd came home and helped get a few decent pictures before the rest of our trick-or-treating party arrived. That party included my sister, Todd's friend, his girlfriend, their 4-month old son, and our next door neighbor and her 2 kids. It was a lot of fun to be with such a crowd. Aubrey had to be coaxed to go to the doors again this year but the quick reward of candy in her basket slowly brought her out of her shell. After a few houses I took Mason home to get him ready for bed and hand out candy. Our friends and their baby went home shortly after I left but the rest of the trick-or-treaters covered a good chunk of the neighborhood. Aubrey was so excited about trick-or-treating and her candy getting her to wind down for bed was a challenge. She is still enjoying a piece of candy from her basket after each meal and I've avoided eating any of the yummy chocolate so we will call it all a success.