Friday, January 7, 2011

Halloween 2010

I tend to be a bit controlling. I am the oldest child and I like to be the boss.

I tell Troy how he should and shouldn't be driving. (course, I wonder if that is just a WIFE thing?)
I like to give people advice.
It's hard for me to give people assignments when planning an event because in my mind I have planned out exactly how it should turn out!
Sometimes I change Lucy's Sunday outfits if I don't like the choice Troy has made for her.

Yes, I have issues.

Well, this year for Halloween it was really hard for me to let go of control. First off, my kids are getting too old for the family costume themes (which I love). Believe it or not, they actually have a mind of their own and wanted to make their own choices on costumes. So I let go and allowed Jack to request Batman and Lucy, little orphan Annie. We gathered the costumes. Batman was borrowed from a friend. For Annie, I actually thought I would be able to sew something spectacular. I don't sew...remember?

About a week before Halloween, I looked at my pile of red fabric and realized my shotty sewing skills were not going to miraculously whip up an Annie dress for Lucy. So we scrapped that idea and dug out an old hand-me-down from the costume box for her second choice....Snow White.

Jack on the other hand changed his mind on costumes DAILY. When we got down that costume box he laid eyes on his last year's family theme costume of DINO (which looked very juvenile for his size 6 body). He loved it. The memories came flowing back! He put that thing on and for 4 days didn't take it off. Because he looked kinda silly in this too-small, pink, puffy, high-watered Dino costume, I tried to convince him that Batman would be better. Batman is tough. Batman doesn't wear pink. Batman hates high-waters! But no. He was set on Dino. He even wrote part of his name on Dino's tag. Nothing I said was going to convince him otherwise. I kept telling myself, "What do you care? Just let go. Control, be gone."

Well Halloween came. I still tried some last minute persuasive techniques for the Batman costume, but no. Jack was Dino and Lucy was Snow White. And they were so happy!

Seeing the two of them dance around was evidence to me that some, no most, of the things I try to control are better left untouched. I will always look back at oversized Jack in his undersized pink dinosaur costume with the claw feet dangling at mid-calf and just laugh!

IMG_5696
IMG_5700

Carving pumpkins with cousins.
Jack is clearly not sure about those pumpkin guts!

pumpkincarving
IMG_5690

No comments: