Happy Halloween (mostly)

Our little pumpkin
Daddy and his girls

Naomi debuts as Snow White

Anna, former princess, converted doctor

Trick or Treating...to go or not to go, that was the question! We had gone to a Halloween party the night before and everyone was crabby from staying up too late. It was 5:20 pm and we were supposed to be meeting some of the kids from Kid's Club any minute to take them all out for an evening of "Halloween fun" but all of our kiddos were in the process of a meltdown. Anna and Naomi were both supposed to be princesses, but five minutes before leaving, Anna cried and cried, insisting that she did NOT want to be a princess. Is there any particular reason? Had she been traumatized the night before!? Every girl at last night's party was a princess. In fact, we were almost banned from the party since our girls showed up as princesses- I guess princesses don't like to share! I finally concluded, as any mother would, that it, of course, didn't have to do with the dreaded phrase..."terrible twos" but that she must not want to be like everyone else! :) So we got out our 'back-up' costume. Now some might say, "wow, she is really prepared". (she must have been a girl scout). But I will tell you, no, I am definitely not...in fact, those terms generally seem to elude me. But lucky for me, my new addiction, is garage saleing! Now this addiction leads me to many things...generally not always helpful, like when I come home with four books on how to get rid of clutter :) or when I go out for "donuts" and come back two hours later because I took a little detour (just a little one!). But last night, this addiction came in handy. Several weeks ago, my mom, Tara, Emma, and I went out in search of good finds. We stumbled upon a costume sale, where I bought the Beautiful Princess outfit (to go with Naomi's costume) and the Doctor's outfit (for next year). Thus, without knowing it, I stumbled upon preparedness. Fortunate for me! After Anna refused to be a princess, we proposed the idea of the doctor. She immediately liked the idea but after pulling it out- refused to put on the pants. Now, we thought about letting her be a pantsless doctor- after all, the physicians should get a dose of their own medicine, finding out what it is like to have to strip down to a measly gown in a 65 degree room in the middle of winter. But thought that maybe we might be taken in for child endangerment or something. So...we made her put the pants on. At which point, we are thinking, 'is this even worth it? This is supposed to be for THEM" But because we were meeting other kids in several minutes, shoved the pants on her with her, again, crying in protest. Once we got out the doctor kit, though, all was well. Ah...life with a toddler! We then met our group (10 minutes late as usual) and headed for a church carnival and then went door to door seeking out lots of sugar! They all ended up having a good time- even Abby who was happy to go along for the ride in a backpack carrier. I tried to post more photos for you but for some reason they would not load, so this is all I could get on there. I hope everyone had a good Halloween. We ended up having fun. Lesson for all those with three children two and under (because there is SO many of you!): even when you feel like it is too much work to get out of the house, GO, because you may still have fun. (though there have been many times where it ended up not so good) But, at least on holidays, it is worth the risk!