Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Halloween!

Halloween was a blast.  The kids LOVED dressing up and they LOVED seeing all the people in costume.  Since we had a wonderful owl hand me down costume from some fellow Rice fans, and they're still young enough that we can influence their costume choices, we decided to have a family theme.  It might be the only way I convinced D to dress up. 

Our sweet little kiddos still love all things farm and farm animals (do they have to grow up?!)  So, after explaining what Halloween is, the simple version anyway, I asked them what farm animals they would like to dress up as.  Rafa excitedly picked a cow.  Sylvia excitedly picked a duck.  I was a little surprised they chose different animals since Sylvia often wants to do just what Rafa does, and play with whatever Rafa's playing with...  Anyhow.  I told them that D would dress up as a farmer and Rafa suggested I dress up as a donkey.  What?!  Wait now, kiddo.  You don't get to choose mama's costume. 

Once it was all settled, we continued with our bedtime routine.  Then, tears.  Rafa wanted to dress up as a cow right then and there.  Riiiiight.  Three year olds have no concept of time.  I attempted to explain that we have to wait for the day of Halloween to arrive.  I have no idea if he understood, but I eventually distracted him with a book. 

So, you can imagine that by the time the day arrived, there was much anticipation and excitement in our house.  I loved the idea of making their costumes, but know MUCH better than that, so we bought some fluffy things online that are no doubt best for kiddos living in cooler climates.  Of course, we weren't really thinking about that when we ordered them.  The week of Halloween was quite warm and I was imagining my children sweating buckets while naked under their plush jumpsuits.  Fortunately, a cold front mercifully arrived the day of Halloween. 

Somehow, the stars aligned for us.  We clearly hadn't exactly planned properly.  The kids didn't nap, we were going to keep them up super late, we took them to the house of some dear friends of ours that they don't know very well, but it was truly a fun time for all.  I guess, when you have three kids three and under your expectations for a good time at anything are very low (seriously, what are the odds that at least one kid will have at least one meltdown?!) and so, sometimes they are actually met or exceeded.  The party was in the middle of a neighborhood party where they block off the streets for 3 blocks (about all my kids can walk) and there were lots and lots of families with small children.  The icing on the cake was spending the holiday with my sister's family who moved here from Mexico this summer, what a treat!

The whole thing made even D start thinking about what to wear next year!