Boys in Costumes

Halloween is not a big deal to me. Not having celebrated it as a child, it doesn't hold much sentimental power over me, so every year I'm ho-hum about it. I do appreciate very much the fact that our church has a Hallelujah Party on Halloween; and that's a safe, barrel-of-fun activity that my boys literally count down the days to.

As the big day approached this year, Josiah and David announced that they wanted to be Zorro--not surprising in the least. At first, Jeff and I decided that it wouldn't be the best thing for them to be Zorro for the Hallelujah Party; after all, this is a Mennonite church we're talking about. :) But then, we talked to some people and found out that the sons of one of the pastors had dressed up as Zorro when they were small boys, so then we decided that it must be OK, right? If the Blossers did it, we can do it! :)

Jeff had found plain black hats at the dollar store a while back, perfect for Zorro; and since the price was right, he got three (one for Tobin, too, just in case he wanted to copy his big brothers as they wore their hats around the house). That was the easy part: we still needed a mask and cape at the very least. Imagine my surprise and delight when the doorbell rang a week after our Zorro incident, and there stood my friend Misty, holding two gift bags. She's so talented! Not only can she take pictures, she can also sew and do all kinds of creative stuff. She gave a gift bag to Josiah and one to David; and when they opened them, they discovered a black mask, a black belt with a "Z" and other decorative stitching on it, and a black cape. They were beside themselves with joy! So was I, since that meant I didn't have to give another thought to their costumes. :) Thank you again, Misty; you surely made two little boys very, very happy...and made them look forward with even more anticipation to the Hallelujah Party so that they could SHOW THEIR FRIENDS THE ZORRO COSTUMES! :)

Who is that masked man? (He's holding an imaginary sword because, even though they were allowed to be Zorro, they were NOT allowed to take along their swords)! :)

Oh, I recognize that half-smile. It must be Zorro Josiah!
And here comes his faithful sidekick Zorro David. Imagine how much more injustice the real Zorro could have fought if only there had been two of him?!

In contrast to the big boys, Tobin was a giraffe--a very peaceful giraffe. He had loads of fun with this costume today (which we purchased at Goodwill a few years ago for only a couple of dollars), although eventually the hood bothered him and he kept pushing it off his head. I took these pictures here at home before we left for the party, while he was still content with the hood up.
He's the cutest little giraffe I've ever seen.
We had a little extra time before we left so he went for a walk, down the hill to see Grandpa...
...helped by Grandma's steady hand.

Shav was a jalapeno (although various people tonight guessed that he was a tomato or a strawberry...it IS kind of hard to tell). He used the costume that all the other boys have worn for their first Halloween. After we got home tonight and settled all the boys in bed, I had to dig through my picture archives and find a photograph of each of the boys wearing this costume. After I had put them in this post in order, Jeff said I should scramble them and let people try to guess which picture is which boy. This should be interesting. :)

A.

B.

C.

D.

I'm glad they all got to wear this costume. Some traditions are too sweet...er, spicy...to let fall by the wayside.