swan lake.

A week before Halloween, I pulled together about half of our costumes when I decided, "Hold up. Eliza needs to wear a tutu for Halloween!" Thus was born, Swan Lake! Eliza is Odette, the White Swan. I am Odile, the Black Swan. And Sam (who was a super champ to go along with my theme) was Von Rothbart, the evil sorcerer. Seriously, it was the most fun! 

All of my mommy dreams came true this year while creating these costumes. I made her tutu, which she immediately latched on to. She wore her "too, too!" all week long, and still asks to wear it every day. We went to the dance store three times to pick out a leotard and teeny-tiny ballet shoes. I could hardly believe they made shoes that small. She was so excited to try them on, "thoos, thoos!" I spent my evenings that week hand beading and sewing sequins to create the embellishments to our costumes, while watching my fill of Netflix and pounding down early Halloween candy. There were sequins stuck to our feet, beads rolling around the floor, and feathers floating through the air. It was a dream. 

Sam's costume was a little more tricky. We looked up different versions of Rothbart's costume online, and Sam decided that if he was going to do this he only wanted this one. He wanted the wings and the spikes. Yikes! So, we finally settled on faux suede bat-like wings, and faux-leather "spiky" scales. I'm pretty proud of that costume, if I do say so myself. Eliza loved watching it all come together. She would play with the little squares, and hand me bits and pieces of things as I worked. And, she loved trying to touch the wheel as it spun on the machine. 

My costume was pretty simple, since I already owned most of it. I just added some flare, and perfected my Natalie Portman face. Eliza was beyond excited when she saw me do my make-up. She kept trying to touch my face and squealed with delight. So, I sat her down on her little chair and painted her nails, and put a little white shadow on her face. She was so darling, I thought my heart was going to explode. She would hold really still and squint her eyes in a little toothy grin. She loved putting her "bows" in her hair, and danced all around the house.

She had such a ball that week. We won a costume award at our church Halloween carnival. We went out to trick-or-treat twice on Halloween day/night, and then hit up an after party at a friends' place. For the official treating, we went out to Russell Street in Berkeley, which is famous for their celebrations and decorations. It was nuts! I have never seen anything like it. One house built an entire pirate ship in their front yard, as tall as their two story house. Another house had an elaborate light-up show of an alien attack. Eliza collected a few bits of candy in her sparkle purse, and then managed to bust into every single piece. She would be innocently clutching a sucker one second, and the next thing I know it's half-way gone- sucked through a tiny hole that she punctured with her little vampire teeth. She ate so. much. candy. I felt so bad! But, not- because she had a blast. At the end of the night, when I peeled her leotard off, it was filled with half-eaten M&Ms and Nerds. 

Happy Halloween to you all! I hope it was magical!

PS. How much do I love that last photo where Sam and I are being super serious, and Eliza's photobombing? A lot.