Halloween

In my small sample size of n=1, four seems to be the age at which all holidays, celebrations, and special occasions rouse excitement levels of epic proportions. While the last few Halloweens have been fun, this was the year Elle truly got into to the pumpkin carving, costume selection, candy acquiring, and appreciation of all things spooky. My little drama queen thrives on celebration of even the most mundane (can't imagine who she got that from), so give her a legitimate reason to be festive and she's unstoppable.

I've learned from years past that Elle has a real problem with Costume Buyer's Remorse, so I decided to wait until the last minute to force her to commit. Even so, I was partially expecting her to wake up Halloween morning with an incontrovertible desire to be the Queen of England or Chewbacca or something equally impossible to assemble in the chaotic scramble that is Attempt-To-Get-To-Work-On-Time.



But she held unwaveringly to her decision to be a candy corn witch, and spent Halloween Eve rigorously rehearsing her role. This, of course, included "flying" around the house on a broomstick.

I had all sorts of creative and embarrassing cute costume ideas for Elise, but ended up going with a simple and comfy skeleton ensemble. Apparently this was the year of the skeleton as 2 of her suitors at school wore matching outfits.

Surrounded by boys at such a young age...

I did manage to work in the piglet suit the day before Halloween under the auspices of "outerwear".

Elle enthusiastically helped me carve our pumpkin. By which I mean she enthusiastically cheered me on while keeping an adequate distance from the "yucky" pumpkin guts. The enthusiasm continued for the face drawing and initial carving, but rapidly transitioned into nothing short of typical melodrama Elle-o-drama as I punched out the first eye. In a tone of utter horror she shrieked, "Ahhhhh! Mommy! You didn't tell me you were going to kill him!"

Mommy, the Jack-o-lantern Slayer

We enjoyed a delicious dinner at our neighbor's house, followed by trick-or-treating.We were excited this year to have Nanny and PawPaw join us for the festivities, and grateful to have them stick around the next day to watch the girls whose daycare was closed. Closed the day after Halloween-- seems a little too coincidental to me...

Naturally, E took the task of trick-or-treating very seriously. She perfectly executed her "Trick-or-Treat!" and "Thank-you!" at every house and ran as fast as those little witch legs could go to keep up with the bigger kids. At one house the man told her to take 5 pieces, but I guess he thought she couldn't count, so he was helping her out as she chose. In a slightly offended voice, she interrupted: "You don't have to tell me that. I already know how to count." Sassy, that one.

I really think she had a blast, and I know I did watching her soak up the holiday joy. Elise enjoyed being surrounded by family and watching her sister's crazy antics. I'm already excited about Thanksgiving and Christmas is just around the corner...