Halloween Costumes

I already more or less wrote about our Halloween night, but let me sum up: Andrew worked late so I sent the kids out to trick-or-treat for themselves for a while before joining them because we weren't getting any trick-or-treaters out anyway. It was such a cold night (for us southerners) that the youngest few wanted nothing other than to go home (they reasoned we didn't have to go door-to-door collecting candy since we had a big ol' bucket waiting for us at home and kept saying things like, "It's almost my bedtime!" (but then, of course, they didn't want to go to bed once we got home)). The houses in our neighbourhood tend to have rather large yards so it took a lot of walking to get not much candy, not that it was a terribly difficult or unfamiliar walk (we walk around our neighborhood all the time), but I imagine it would have been nicer if we had been warmer. 

The one picture I took of the kids on Halloween

I didn't take very many/good pictures of the kids in their costumes because I have a hard time fitting such a thing in when I'm flying solo and am under a deadline for getting us out the door, but today was such a beautiful day (our first one in several days) that we decided to spend the afternoon at the park and I took far too many pictures of the kids in their costumes there.

So, here's Benjamin as Cap Garland (wearing flip flops):

And here's Miriam as the Phantom of the Opera:

 



Benjamin and Miriam weren't keen on the idea of romping around the forest in their costumes, so they quickly shed theirs, but Alexander and (especially) Zoë were thrilled at the prospect of wearing their costume(s) all day so I have about a billion photos of them (I likely have the very most of Zoë because she had two costumes and was super into posing and dancing while Alexander spent the while time whining, "Tan oo tarry me?" and, later, when exhaustion had really set in, "My need milk! My need milk!").

Oh, look, here's Alexander chasing after me, saying, "Can you carry meeee?"

And here's Zoë as Snow-White-Running-Away-From-The-Wicked-Queen:

This is the costume my mom made for Miriam when she was about Zoë's age. My mom and I were happy to see it worn again another year.

Here's Alexander begging to be picked up again:

And here he is a little happier now that he's holding my hand:

Here are even more pictures of Snow White showing off her costume:

And here's Alexander agreeing to sit in some leaves:

And looking...oh...so...smrt:

Or at least...concerned and cute:

And here he is begging to be picked up...again (it's what he does, people):

At this point, Zoë changed into her unicorn costume, so the next billion pictures are of my sweet little owlet and unicorn flitting around the forest together (later I thought it would have been sweet to have a lion and unicorn (like the nursery rhyme) but I didn't think of that until later and Alexander likes owls, not lions, so...):

My mom often says that Zoë reminds her of my niece Piper and I often simply don't see it. But today I can totally see the resemblance...

 Oh, look! Benjamin hopped into a picture!

Alexander was really ready for a nap, I think, which is why he wasn't really into playing and only wanted to be held and/or have milk. Here he is staring off into space:

Here's Zoë showing me a leaf:

And here's Alexander happy to be holding my hand again:

Here's sweet Zoë:

Here's sassy Zoë (trying to convince Alexander to play with her):

I completely understand this is way too many pictures but I'm terrible at deciding which ones are keepers and which ones aren't, so...

Spur of the moment on Zoë's unicorn night, I made her a rainbow ponytail to wear in her hair and she loved it:

 
Here's Zoë doing one last little dance in the forest before I put the camera away:

Alexander joined her for a few minutes but ultimately just wanted to be picked up again. Still, it was fun to watch the kids play and explore along the trail, fully immersed in their little make-believe worlds. It's almost sad that Miriam and Benjamin are giving that sort of thing up (or are at least old enough to feel silly doing it in a public park), though growing up is something that must be done, I suppose.

Anyway, those were our costumes this year. Except, I guess, for Rachel, who was Eowyn from The Lord of the Rings. She was at school while we were at the park, so perhaps I'll make her dress up later to take a picture or two...or 563...