Tricks, treats, and tractors

For Audrie's very first Halloween, I decided that I would make her costume, a fairy, so she would have something unique and sentimental. Since then it has been my mission every year (for reasons that escape me) to create homemade Halloween costumes for my children. Each year I watch as other parents stroll through the costume aisle picking out a ready made outfit, complete with all of the necessary accessories, purchasing it, and leaving with all of the ease and relief that comes with that process, while I am scrambling to figure out how in the world I am going to fashion a pink and purple dragon out of felt and hot glue! As each October rolls around, the temptation grows stronger to just give in and buy one of the zillions of costumes available to trick-or-treaters, but every time, that little voice in my head guilt trips me into believing making homemade costumes is my obligation. In actuality, I think it’s just my stubbornness that keeps me in this fall frenzy. Since I made my “costume making mission” public knowledge, I have to forever stick to my guns and tough it out even as the costumes become more elaborate. So over the past years I have sewn, hot glued or duct taped together two fairy outfits, a pink bird, a pink dragon, Puss in Boots, and a cowboy and girl. This year, the costume making time was very limited, and the younger child was very resistant to wearing anything that didn’t resemble normal clothes, so the costumes weren’t very elaborate. Audrie went as Little Red “Funky” Riding Hood complete with argyle tights and Converse shoes, and Finn was the Big Bad Wolf. (He wouldn’t wear his ears, so we had to get creative with his hair and lots of hair gel!) Trick-or-treating proved to be a bit of a challenge at first because Finn had not taken his nap and was starting to take on the personality of the Big Bad Wolf. After watching his sister, though, he decided he needed to get in on the action and get some candy, as well as give some away! Audrie took her time in soaking every bit of Halloween night up. She noticed every decoration, played to the hauntingly spooky houses, and relished all of the fanciful costumes. The night ended with the sorting of the bounty, as always, and the hopes that I wouldn’t polish off the chocolate in a couple of days.

The next day we headed off to Crowe’s Nest Farm for our scheduled November field trip. We learned the process of modern day cow milking, went on a bumpy hayride, and saw a variety of animals. After a self-guided tour around the facilities, a few interesting finds, and a short rest, Audrie was ready to do it all again. But alas, the mom was exhausted, so we called it a day and skipped to the car.