Halloween

This year I got to make Squirt's costume. After her batgirl costume a couple years ago I swore I wasn't going to do that again, but the opportunity arose and I am glad it did. We ended up with a 9 day notice that we were going to make one.  That may sound like ample time, but since I typically make her finalize her choice by October 1st it left me feeling crazy anxious.

She is on a mythology kick, thanks to reading the Goddess Girls series. So far Persephone and Aphrodite are her favorites. Last year she was in a play of Persephone and Demeter at school so that may have contributed as well. Long story short, she chose to be Aphrodite this year, in large part due to the fact that the Aphrodite costumes we saw online had pink scarves while Persephone had purple. 

We were headed to the 5th street Haunted Market on the 30th for October visiting teaching, and I snapped a couple quick photos with my phone thinking I could get better ones on Halloween once I helped her with "makeup" and we spent more time getting ready. This turns out to be the best I got, and it's a good thing I did since the costume was never fully put together again. 

The 5th Street Market has a shop that specializes in African imports. We took this picture so that Aeryn could stand next to the giraffe... since she loves giraffes. She has off and on called them her favorite animals since she could speak, but really, anything with four legs and a pulse is likely her favorite.

I was able to whip it up better than anticipated, though I learned in the process that I HATE SEWING SLEEVES and am clearly not a seamstress. I can fare well enough for crafts and decor, getting quite particular and perfectionist like, but when it comes to clothing I am a wreck. I found a dress pattern for $0.99 and used a white sheet I already had on hand for the dress, then bought 1.5 yards of pink fabric at $2/yard so as far as costumes go this was about as cheap as it comes, unless, you know, you already have everything on hand. 

For the first time since we moved here, kids were allowed to wear costumes to school on Halloween. I showed up in the morning to watch the costume parade. It ended in the gym where the kids all did the monster mash. For as much as Aeryn says she doesn't want to take a dance class, she sure loves to dance. She threw her soul into that even though most of the other kids around her wanted nothing to do with it.

I love that she's made it to fifth grade without getting embarrassed to have me around. I'm sure that is just around the corner though.

In losing her BFF from last year to another school (which I'm actually not too sad about) she has made new friends. This is the girl of the hour. It sounds like they play at recess most days. 

Kids changed out of their costumes after the school parade, and as fate would have it, she left all the sparkly adornments in her desk. At least the dress and scarf made it home! We improvised with one of my scarves tied around her waist but the glitzy part of the costume has yet to reappear.

Once again she went trick-or-treating without me. I can't decide if I like that or not. She came home with quite the stash, and I'm proud to say the only thing I've eaten was three rolls of smarties that she said she didn't want. 

I'd say it was a successful holiday.