When There's No Time to Pinterest: Simple Makes Perfect

I think it's funny how our approach to Halloween costumes has changed over the years as we have had more children and consequently have less time to devote to things like getting the perfect Halloween costumes for our kids.

I love this picture from Halloween 2013. The boys were the cutest, a Bumblebee transformer (6), a dragon (4), and a puppy (2). They had so much fun in their hand-me-down and second hand costumes. We didn't have a Bumblebee mask so my talented husband painted our little transformer.

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I told a friend this story with no intention of posting it, and she said you should write about that. I thought it was such an ordinary thing, but maybe it isn't in our perfect pinterest world of high expectations.   
 
So here is my story…I took the boys to a church Halloween party last week and when we pulled into the parking lot, the boys noticed children in costumes.  Uh oh, huge Mom fail, I never even thought to have the boys put on costumes. 
 
I had spent the time between school pick-up and the party trying to get my 8 year old to sit still long enough to do his homework and making homemade applesauce.  This is no easy task.  It is hard to get him to do his homework every night.  We finally got something accomplished with him sitting on a stool in the kitchen reading to me while I peeled and cored apples.  This was a potluck church party so I needed to get the applesauce done to have something to take. 
 
Somehow I managed to make applesauce and get all four kids in the car and get there almost on time.  We were less than 5 minutes late to a two-hour party, which is on time in Mom-time.  
 
I was feeling pretty good about this, and then we pulled into the parking lot and saw THE COSTUMES! The boys were pretty let-down and I felt really bad so we turned right around and went home.  Luckily we live about 5 minutes away, but I knew this would make us a half hour late so I let go of the need to be on time for this one.  I pulled into the driveway and said run into the house and grab something out of the costume bin.  (We have saved all of our costumes over the years and they are in a big dress-up bin in the little boys’ room, a benefit of having 10 Halloweens under our belt.) I never even got out of the car.  I stayed in the car with the baby while the boys ran into the house.   
 
A few minutes later, Captain America, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, and a bat came bounding out of the house.  I didn’t know what they would choose.  We hadn’t even discussed Halloween costumes yet this year and here they were… three very happy boys dressed in costumes they have worn a million times. 
 
Most of our costumes are hand-me-downs, homemade, or purchased after Halloween on clearance or second hand and they are the best.  One thing life with four kids has taught me is that simple is usually best and that everything doesn’t have to be perfect all the time.  

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