I am publishing an email that I sent out to a couple friends and family on Halloween. It was pretty funny and I wanted to include it on my blog, mostly just to add content to the blog because it is so new and empty, but also because a couple people wrote back to say that they enjoyed the story. So...read on and enjoy.
Just wishing you a happy and safe Halloween. I hope I get to see pictures of everyone's costume! I will send some of my kids later on.
So, here's the tale of a 10 year old diva trying to decide on a costume for Halloween:
My beautiful daughter Aislinn had decided to be a cowgirl about 3 weeks before Halloween and proceeded to borrow her Auntie Erika's cowboy hat when we traveled up to PG for Thanksgiving. I was pleased that her costume was taken care of and it was going to be a simple thing and without hassles. I guess I was tempting fate, because as the spooky day drew closer, all of a sudden, doubt began to creep into her little mind. Our only job was to go to the reliable Value Village and purchase a checkered "cowgirl" shirt. Aislinn was already in possession of jeans, bandana, belt with big buckle, and boots that would serve as cowboy boots. Easy, right? I think I made the error in allowing her to come to Value Village to pick out that shirt. When we hit the store and she gazed upon the vast treasure trove of Halloween costumes her little mind exploded and her "easy" cowgirl idea flew out of her mind. I was not on guard, I didn't think I had to worry about Aislinn, I thought her costume was a done deal. I was trying to keep Mackendra away from the naked barbie section, my mind was otherwise occupied. Suddenly, my oldest appeared at my side and I heard these words, "Mom...I was thinking (always a problem, and I don't recommend it)...maybe I could be something other than a cowgirl...whatchu think?" My response? "Wha?...No, Mackendra, you can't have a barbie...sorry, what, Aislinn? Mackendra! Get back here right now! Do I have to grab your ear?!? I'm gonna count to 3! 1....2....... What?! Yah, whatever, sure, just hurry! MACKENDRA!!!!" With those simple words, I sealed my fate. I unwittingly unleashed a prepubescent, ADHD, 10 year old girl in the worst place possible! It was like she had planned her coup for when I was preoccupied. I was set up by a pro. I never saw it coming. Suddenly it was, " I wanna be......... a WARRIOR PRINCESS! Can I buy one of those swords?" Well, we tried finding the right warrior princess dress for about half and hour and that was a no go. Mackendra was abandoned in the naked barbie section as I tried to convince my oldest that maybe a warrior princess could be substituted for a gypsy girl, like Esmeralda from "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". That was a great idea until she couldn't find the perfect gypsy skirt. Another half hour gone. By this time, Mackendra had even abandoned the naked barbies and was lying on the floor under the clothes racks sucking her thumb. Did you guys ever notice how huge the dust bunnies are in those places? Doesn't anyone ever sweep there? I think there was 30 years of dust bunnies and they were attacking Mackendra! She started to cry. I told Aislinn at that time that I didn't care what she was going to be, but she had to get it in the next 10 minutes. I saw that "disappointed in my mom, I'm tired and going to make her life hell, I want things my way!" look in Aislinn's eye a bare few seconds before the waterworks started with her as well. So, exasperated, dealing with two crying kids I told Aislinn that we could come back another day, that we had 2 weeks to get a costume. It obviously wasn't the best decision for Aislinn, and she let me know...but we left Value Village without a costume that first day.
We tried again a couple days later...same result: indecision, frustration, dust, shouting, crying, stomping. This all occurred over about an hour. Finally, I had had enough. She didn't even know what she wanted to be. And this is after I had spent an hour with her at home, looking at Halloween costume ideas on the internet! Three hours, people! Three hours I had devoted to Aislinn and her Halloween costume. I think I deserved a little gratitude and consideration! But after being called "the worst Mom, EVER!" I told her, "that's it! I'm done. I am no longer going to help you with this. You have to find your own costume, use your own money, find your own ride to the store, everything! Good luck!"
Crap! Now I did it.
So, for the next week and a half, Aislinn moaned about not having a costume, but didn't do anything about it. I held firm, it was hard, and I had to have a pep talk from Frank on one occassion to stay firm and stick to my decision. Finally, last night, the night before Halloween, Aislinn realized that I wasn't going to give in. She started going through all the dress up clothes, and my clothes. She came out as a WAITRESS. "Who are you supposed to be?" I asked. Oops! Wrong question. But honestly, waitress' dress like everyone else, normal people. I couldn't tell! I kiboshed the "asking the nieghbor to drive her to the dollar store" idea. And finally...finally, she came up with a suitable idea. I did relent and helped her accessorize her outfit, but she came up with it by herself, she got everything from home, and I think she did a great job.
I will send a picture tonight. Hopefully...by tomorrow for sure!
Happy Halloween!
By the way, Mackendra's costume took about 10 seconds to come together and it was prepackaged and cost under $10! Love it!
PS I have the Halloween pictures. Tell me what you think.
The "Diva" for my Diva. Aislinn called herself a "Heiress, like Paris Hilton, but better", but to me, she was just dressing up to fit her attitude. By the way. She was a huge hit with her classmates. They thought she looked beautiful.
And here is Mackendra. Isn't she just the cutest? I didn't see another kid dressed up in the same costume as her, which was surprising as I bought it as a kit at ToyRUs.
And this is me. Yup, I dressed up. I even went to the kids' school like this. I made some babies cry! It was cool. I'm the Devil. I got the face paint idea from YouTube.
Here are some of the costumes from the kids' school.
Halloween went pretty good, we good a pretty decent stash of candy. Maybe next year we can convince Frank to dress up? Nah.
Oh yeah, here's my youngest sister Erika and her boyfriend dressed up. They went as Mr. and Mrs. T. You know "I pity the fool!!!" guy with all that gold jewelery and "The A Team"? Yah, pretty funny.
And these are my nieces and nephews. Pretty cute. Miss them!
Thanks for looking.
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