Halloween - Cowgirl Style

As Halloween approached I began looking through the various toddler costumes that were available from the stores (the Naughty Leopard from Wal-Mart was a particularly interesting one - I actually wrote to Wal-Mart about that one expressing my dislike over the sexual implications of the name and its inappropriateness) as well as the numerous dress-up clothes that we currently have in the house and decided that Abby would simply use her dress-up clothes and be a princess or fairy as we had an abundance of poufy dresses and tiaras. Then I heard that her preschool (which doesn't celebrate Halloween) was having a Cowboy/Cowgirl Dress-Up Days event. The kids were invited to come to school in their cowboy/girl outfits, feast on camping themed snacks, color some cow pictures, and learn all about cowboys. I thought I could put her as a princess on Halloween (Thursday) and then a cowgirl for preschool (Friday) and she could have fun dressing up as two different characters. I easily found a cowgirl hat but an actual costume eluded me so I figured she'd just go in jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt. Then I got to talking with the in-laws and they mentioned that they'd look around in Portland to see if they could find anything and they hit the gold mine!

Abby dressed up as a Cowgirl!

Not only did they find an actual cowgirl costume but it was pink! I appreciated that the costume was essentially one dress with all the pieces attached. We put her in tights and a long-sleeved t-shirt then slid the dress over, tossed on her hat, and voila....an awesome costume for trick-or-treating. She loved her cowgirl hat (and in fact still does - it's currently sitting on her bed with her other "special" toys as she naps). We headed out to trick-or-treat our street and I was curious as to how she'd do. Last year we went to one house on the street, she got her candy, and was all "thanks for the sucker mom, I'm totally done now that I have my one piece". I thought she'd get it a little more this year so we'd have a little more fun. I wasn't disappointed!

With purple pumpkin bucket in hand, she's ready to get some candy!

Our first stop was a quick lesson in what to say ("trick or treat" then "thank you") and she caught on right away. She wasn't too big a fan of the scarier costumes but after moving to avoid those she used her small little body to squeeze into openings and get to the candy faster.

Look at how tiny she is here! My little one is normally not described as little (as she towers over most other kids her age) but goodness you can totally see that she's still a little girl instead of the big girl I always picture.

Totally thrilled (and hamming it up for the cameras) with her first successful trick-or-treating house stop.

After leaving the first house we started walking down the street to the next one and quickly had to increase our pace as Abby sprinted off. She was a girl on a mission! She was super cute saying "trick or treat" in the quietest whisper but made my Momma heart proud as she exclaimed thank you of her own volition before turning away. We only had one 'issue' at a house where the gentleman lowered the candy bowl down to Abby's level so she could pick out her piece and instead she grabbed a fist full. :-) I did try to have her hand some back but he was really nice in letting her keep the five or so pieces she'd snagged.

I think her hat is half the size that she is!

Two houses on the street were decorated a bit scary so Abby requested assistance in walking up to their doors. She's currently going through a phase where everything is scary. Heaven help you if you drop a raisin on the ground because that will forever become known as the spot that the bug was and bug's are scary enough to require Mom to carry Abby by that spot each and every time. :-) It's actually pretty comical as she runs to me screaming "too scary bug, too scary bug" and I look down and it's something harmless like a squished french fry.

Grandma Akers helping Abby trick-or-treat at the scary house.

Quite quickly we'd trick-or-treated our street and were back to our house. I wanted Abby to actually trick-or-treat from Nate (as he'd stayed home to pass out candy) but she was so excited to start eating her candy that she ran right passed him into the house.

Trick-or-Treating from Dad.

After she picked out two pieces of candy we all got into the car and headed over to Nate's Aunt and Uncle who live in town to trick-or-treat at their house. Nate's cousin (along with husband and new baby) were also there so it turned into a nice little family reunion. Aunt Sharon was kind enough to get Abby set up decorating some cookies and then, when that wore off, playing a new game on the iPad.

Decorating Halloween cookies. I think she put over 10 googly eye decorations on the one cookie alone.

When we got home the sugar rush of the day was in full swing as Abby started just running around and around in circles in the living room. I cut her off her supply at that time and we started settling down and working on our bedtime routine. I'm very happy that she "got" Halloween this year as walking around with her was a lot of fun. I'm a little worried about next year, though, as I don't think a single street of trick-or-treating will suffice. :-)