Halloween Costumes

I love costumes. Lucky for me, Halloween comes once a year and saves me from the embarrassment of having to find Harry Potter and Jane Austen events to go to in costume. Last year, I started the tradition of having our entire family dress up as a group costume. We were characters from the Mario Brothers video games. Shawn was Mario, I was Princess Peach, and Lizzie was Yoshi…

I really love making costumes. I love coming up with the ideas, searching for materials, and putting it all together. The sad part about all this is I can't sew, otherwise I would be a costuming force to be reckoned with. I made our costumes last year from thrift store finds and super glue. This year, I want to do something along the same lines for our family costume. Something that is one part store bought, one part thrift store, and one part amateur craftiness.

So here's my brainstorm list so far. Any favorites?

Mail (in honor of Shawn's profession):
Lizzie - Mailman
Shawn - Letter
Me - Mailbox

The Flintstones (this one might be too cold for October though):
Shawn - Fred
Me - Wilma
Lizzie - Pebbles

Harry Potter (possibly too scary for Lizzie or else too hard to recognize):
Lizzie - Voldemort
Me & Shawn - Death Eaters

Scooby Doo:
Shawn - Fred or Shaggy
Me - Daphne or Velma
Lizzie - Scooby

Pirates (this one might require some sewing):
Me & Shawn - Pirates
Lizzie - Parrot

Batman:
Lizzie - Batman
Me - Catwoman
Shawn - Joker

Ghostbusters:
Me & Shawn - Ghostbusters
Lizzie - Ghost

Little Red Riding Hood (wolf might also be too scary):
Lizzie - Red Riding Hood
Shawn - Wolf
Me - Grandma

Prison:
Lizzie - Police Officer
Me & Shawn - Criminals

Genesis (definitely too cold for this one):
Shawn - Adam
Me - Eve
Lizzie - Apple

Justice League:
Lizzie - Supergirl
Me - Wonder Woman
Shawn - Batman

Sigh. So many ideas, so little time. I feel a lot of pressure to do a great costume this year because next year Lizzie may not want to go as part of the adorable family costume Mom and Dad have picked out for her. And, in only a few short years, she'll be asking me to go trick-or-treating as Dora or Tinkerbell or something else like that. So I have to have my costuming fun now!

I'd be grateful for any other input or ideas. I really need to decide in the next few days or else we'll be scrambling at the last minute to put something together.

-- Lisa

PS – Lizzie is already practically 25. Here she is expressing skepticism over one of the dresses from her costume trunk (“Um, Mom, I am so not being this. Lame.)…

Daddy & Liz

Laughing it up...

Smiling...

-- Lisa

Mommy & Liz

Hanging out. Reading books. Cuddling our babies.

-- Lisa

First Baseball Game

Last night, we took Lizzie to her first Indians game. Liz won free tickets from the library's summer reading contest (lucky girl), so it seemed like the perfect time to introduce her to baseball.

Though we didn’t watch much of the game, we did walk around the park a lot and Lizzie seemed to enjoy checking out the other spectators and breathing in the fresh summer air. When we ventured up to the second level of the stadium, we discovered a play area with lots of Little Tikes type toys (houses, cars, wagons, etc.) so we stopped to play.

At the same time Lizzie was playing, these guys came out…

They are basically three people dressed as hot dogs who have a race around the base in between innings. There is Ketchup, Mustard, and Onion. Onion is the only girl of the group and, for some reason, she carries a purse (why would a hot dog need a purse, I do not know).

So the hot dog people come out and they're walking around saying “hi” to all the kids. People are smiling and waving and taking pictures. Onion decides to come into the play area where Lizzie is calmly sitting in a wagon. "Hi, Onion!" all the kids begin to shout and then Lizzie looks up and sees a six-foot tall hotdog towering over her and instantly begins to scream her head off. Shawn goes over to pick her up and we can both tell that Onion feels bad for scaring her because she is trying to wave to Lizzie to signal something like, "hey, even though I'm in a giant, creepy costume, I'm still nice." But Lizzie is not having it. She looks right at Onion and starts to yell, "No! No! No! No way, hot dog!"

Shawn and I practically collapsed into laughter. The poor child was completely frazzled by the giant hot dog looming over her, but she still had the gumption to try to tell her off!

Since it was close to Lizzie’s bedtime and it was clear our child had been emotionally scared for life by this incident, we decided to leave. On our way out, the people at the gates were giving away stuffed animals. As we approached, we could see that the team was giving out tiny plush versions of the racing hot dogs. I stuck my hand into the throng and came back with a small, cuddly version of the very onion-flavored hot dog that had terrified our child.

Luckily, Lizzie seemed much more comfortable with this version and she cuddled it the entire way home.

Don’t worry, Onion, all is forgiven.

-- Lisa