Dress Rehearsal

In preparation for the Halloween events that await us tomorrow, I thought it would be wise to have some sort of dress rehearsal for Ella. Seeing that this is her first Halloween experience and that she has never sported a costume in all of her almost 12 months on earth, I wanted to test the waters and see how she handled the whole experience from the safe confines of our home. See? Being an old seasoned mother of 2 now means I learned something the first time around.

At first, everything seemed to go quite well. There were smiles. Lots of curious exploration of the adorable chicken costume that's been loaned to us. Even a still moment and posing for the camera. And of course I went bananas, because come on- am I alone here, or how irresistible are those cheeks? They're edible, actually. Isn't she the most wonderfully precious chubby chicken you've ever seen?

And then without advance warning, things took a turn.

A very bad turn.

Until finally, she was practically screaming the words, "TAKE THIS AWFUL THING OFF ME THIS VERY INSTANT! I HATE HALLOWEEN!"

After giving it the old college try (i.e. redirection by way of dancing, singing, clapping and tickling her) her screaming volume and intensity only increased. Whoopsies. Apparently a baby her age can't be bribed with Butterfinger's or M&M's. Silly Ella! So, I gave up, but I got my 4 pictures and that's all I really needed!  Consequently, it appears that Ella will be dressing up as....Ella this year.

In other news, we received a very sweet invitation from my wonderful sister today to go trick-or-treating at her office. As I was getting Ben ready to make his Spiderman debut (for approximately the 45th time this year), I realized there were several holes in his paper-thin Made in China costume that needed my immediate mending attention. Thankfully, my magnificent sewing machine was ready and waiting (THANK YOU, MARGE!). As I sat there in a heap of threads and needles (yes, plural needles. I have this unfortunate knack for breaking needles) I couldn't help but think of my childhood and my own mother and the way in which she made the entire Halloween costume/dress up ordeal a happy and creative one for me. We never had much money to spend, so creativity was indeed the catalyst for invention when it came to costumes. Usually I took the easy road and resorted to applying layers upon layers of eye makeup and bright lipstick to my face because it was the one day of the year I was allowed to do so. It was my job to take full advantage of this. It didn't really matter what my character was, there would always be the thick makeup. Baseball player? Makeup. Karate girl? Makeup. Old woman? Makeup. Cheerleader? Makeup, double time. And believe me, I thought I looked fantastic every time..Good thing I have an older brother who- still to this day- delights in informing me it was quite the contrary. Whatever.

Anyway, despite the copious amount of tears shed today, I hope Ella will look back one day and think that I approached this bizarre holiday with creativity and happiness, too. As for Ben, I'm just praying that the seam work I did today bought us another 2 years on that hilarious Spiderman costume of his.

Finally, in the spirit of Halloween, if you've never had the pleasure of seeing this (or even if you have), may I be the first to introduce you to a portion of Jerry Seinfeld's stand up performance? In this bit, he touches on candy/costumes/Halloween from the days of his youth. Very apropos and hands-down hilarious. I just love that guy. Enjoy!