Of mice and footballs: Our Halloween

So about a month ago, when I started noticing all of the little kid Halloween costumes being displayed in stores, I asked Taylor what she wanted to be for the big dress-up holiday and, no surprise, her answer was, A PRINCESS! And you could have heard my over exaggerated groan in Iowa. Because I am OVER princesses. Here that, Disney? This mother is D-O-N-E being hijacked by your toddler-loving princess propaganda. Done.

And just as Disney has a knack for selling out, I also have a problem telling my daughter No. So I knew that to get her out of a glittery, princess costume, I had to come at her with something awesome. And lucky for me, we recently had an Angelina Ballerina movie through Netflix that she had WORN OUT. And because her precious Beeba had introduced her to the beloved dancing mouse last year, when I suggested she be the ballet-loving creature for Halloween, she jumped onboard.

And to make – Yes, I said MAKE – the costume was pretty easy. Especially because I am totally channeling my inner-craftyness via a new obsession with Pinterest. So I learned how to turn tulle and elastic into giant tutus, bend and hook pipecleaners into tails and manipulate felt, headbands and hot glue into mouse ears. And, TAH-DAH! I turned my daughter into the cutest Angelina Ballerina ever.

And Luke, my sweet, giant son, I dressed as a football. Brown hat, brown shirt, brown pants and athletic tape for the laces. And Chris, dressed in his high school football jersey, made the perfect receiver.

And because I realized how easy it was to make a tutu, and because I didn’t want to be the only Amys not in costume, I channeled Alice the mouse for the night.

So. While this was our family’s first time celebrating Halloween as a family of four, it was also Taylor’s first time ever trick-or-treating in her hometown. So when it came time to actually head out onto the streets and beg for candy, you can bet that our little girl was pretty excited.

And going into the trick-or-treating aspect of Halloween, I was thinking we could go either way with Taylor. She could maybe cry and act super scared to be around strangers, or she could channel her inner candy-lover and hold her bucket out like the other kids. And she was the latter.

And after about three houses, she stopped after eyeing her sugary-loot and grabbed my hand and said, I really, REALLY like Halloween, Mommy. This is so FUN! And I agreed. It was the best Halloween ever.