Costume drama/trauma

Ok, now that I have a little more time to explain, I'll share the story about last night's costume anxieties.  LOL

First of all, you should know that the PLAN was for Savannah to go as a mummy.  We had planned to wrap her in toilet paper & call her a mummy.

We usually buy costumes for Halloween on eBay WAYYYYYYYYYY in advance, but this year, Halloween snuck up on me & everything we tried to bid on was already wayyy too high priced (in my opinion anyway!) so we didn't get a 'real' costume for anyone.

Ok, so last night we needed to leave the house by 5:15.  We had eaten & were ready to put on costumes to leave at 4:55.  First Samuel put on his.  Five seconds & he was done, holding his candy bag, standing at the door grinning ear to ear, jumping up & down squealing "let's go, let's go, let's go".  It was clear he was excited & ready to GO!

So now it's 5:00 & I send Sarah to put on her Strawberry Shortcake costume while I start wrapping Savannah in TP.  I got out the tape (thinking I'd have to stick on the first couple strips & then could wrap everything else on top of that).  I wrapped & I wrapped, but every few INCHES, the TP was break & I'd have to tape it down.  It was a lesson in futility to say the least.  About a 1/2 a roll of TP (& about 6 ft. of tape!) into this little project, I gave up & said sorry....no mummy costume.  Clearly we should've attempted this prior to 15 minutes before time to leave, but at that point it was quite clear that the mummy costume was not working.  I knew she'd climb into the car & sit down & it would split down the back or something.  Ugh.  That's when panic hit both of us.  Savannah started crying & throwing a pre-teen hormonal fit about how she'd just skip Halloween & not wear a costume.  I reminded her that meant no candy b/c she couldn't do the games without a costume (ya know, you use those moments of parental liberty to make up rules like this).  While in the middle of this........

Sarah came into the room, crying that she'd spilled something down the front of her costume & it was now wet & looked like she'd wet her pants.  Panic further ensued as she sat down in the kitchen floor to sob about her wet costume.

During all this, Samuel's still giggling & grinning at the front door with his candy bag singing somegoofy made up 'candy' song which ticked off his irritated sisters to no end.  Between sobs, they both expressed (ahem...) distaste for his song.

I quickly ripped Sarah's costume off & threw it in the dryer & then started making suggestions of what Savannah could wear instead of the mummy get-up.  I suggested Larry's Boy Scout leader shirt, saying she could put it on & go as a Boy Scout.  She was being a fusspot by then & just shrugged her shoulders & gave me a grunt.  I figured that meant no, so I moved onto the camo shirt that was hanging in Larry's closet next to the Scout shirt.  She perked up & mentioned her Army soldier hat (a camo cap our cousin who is actually in the Army gave her after Basic training).  WooHoo!  We had a hit, so she took off w/ Larry's shirt to hunt for the cap.

I turned back to the utility room to see Sarah slouched on the floor in front of the dryer, face in her hands, shoulders shaking as she cried "I don't want to be Strawberry Shortcake again."  She wore the costume last year & it still fits, so I had figured it would be fine, but apparently she wasn't too happy with my choice.  In an effort to get rid of the tears & get us OUT THE DOOR in the next 5 minutes, I suggested she wear Savannah's costume from last year (a Barbie pumpkin fairy---no, I don't know what it is either, but we still have the costume hanging in my closet, so I yanked it out).  We figured out immediately that it was wayyyy too long for Sarah, so back into my closet it went.  We ran to Sarah's closet to survey what she might have in her clothes.  People tell us often that Sarah looks like Dora the Explorer, much to her dismay (I think it's the haircut).  I suggested that she could wear a pink Tshirt & throw on a backpack & call herself Dora but she didn't like that.  She's never been real happy when someone tells her she looks like Dora, so I guess it wasn't nice of me to suggest that.  She was pretty frustrated with me for suggesting it.  LOL!

I checked the clock & it was now 5:12---we literally needed to leave in THREE minutes.  I decided it was time to make an executive decision.  "Sorry babe, you HAVE to be Strawberry Shortcake.  It's all we have.  I promise to do better next year & get costumes earlier, but tonight, this is IT."  I told her to get the hat for the costume out, brush her hair & put it on & come to the living room while I ran to get the wet costume out of the dryer.  Luckily it was dry!  I ran back to the living room to the tune of Savannah squawking in her bedroom about the camo cap she was looking for.  I went into her room & found her looking a bit like an ostrich---her head was buried under her bed looking for that cap & her rear end was poking out.  I had to bite my lip to keep from giggling because we were in a serious crunch for time & I knew we HAD to find that hat really fast!  She came out from under the bed about the time I walked in & looked at me, all teary eyed, and told me she was really upset that she couldn't find the hat.  The cousin who gave it to her is something akin to Wonderwoman in her eyes, so not being able to find the special hat was breaking her heart.  Oh boy......

As I listened to Samuel giggle about candy from the next room (still!!!), I reminded her how short we were on time & suggested she use the camo handkerchief instead for her head & assured her we'd find the hat later.  She agreed & tied it on as I walked out to the living room.

With one final peek at the clock (5:14), I called for the kids to come line up by the door for our annual costume picture before leaving.  I got these two almost immediately.

But alas, Strawberry Shortcake was weeping about not wanting to wear her costume hat in the bedroom floor.  One final moment of encouragement from mommy (GET IN HERE NOW!!!!!!!!!!) and she walked sweetly to the living room to pose for a pic, although not entirely happily.

We then ran to the car, hopped in & took off!

I worked the first hour of the carnival in a beanbag toss game booth for preschoolers & Larry took the 2nd hour.  Here are a few pics of the kids during the carnival.  Somehow Savannah alluded the camera all night!  Oops!

How quickly the weepy Strawberry Shortcake perked up when given a pony ride!

The other pics I took were a little dark & blurry, so I'll just skip those.  Refer to the last post for a pic of the post-carnival candy loot.

All in all, it was a great night, despite the costume trauma before we left.  And let me just say---Samuel never stopped grinning all night long.