Welcome, to my three ring circus! Where every day is filled with funny acts, tricks, laughs, and a bit of chaos mixed in.
We’ve been doing family halloween costumes ever since A was born and have been having so much fun coordinating them every year. Eric and I have been dressing up together ever since we dated. In fact, one of our very first dates was trick or treating together. Some of our favorite family costumes have been our winnie the pooh and tigger too costumes and last year when we did jurassic park when I was pregnant. But really, who am I kidding? I’ve loved all of the ones we’ve done.
On the flip side, I’ve always felt kind of torn this time of year because of my beliefs and faith when it comes to engaging in this holiday. It can be a hard thing to navigate when you have kids, but we continue to try and raise our boys rooted in a strong understanding of what’s right and wrong and make sure we use our discretion and best judgement when it comes to activities. I feel like I mention this every year because it can also be a hard time with a lot of judgement coming from others if you do allow your kids to dress up or not. But regardless, you all have been amazing and supportive and I alway hope this little space of mine will continue to be a place of respect for each other.
In other news, let’s get back to this year’s costumes. I have a lot of ideas floating around in my head for the years to come, that is of course if the boys will continue to coordinate with us. This year we’ve had soooo many changes that have gone on that many times we’ve joked around that we might as well have our own circus. From moving to a new house, navigating the baby’s cleft journey, and life in general, we’ve had a lot of crazy moments take place. It only felt fitting when we were thinking about costumes that the circus made sense.
A lot of people have asked us how do we get the boys to agree on costumes and is it something they really want to be. Thankfully they have always been really easy going with dressing up and once we decide on a theme they pick what they want to be from there. I didn’t feel like spending a lot on my costume so I did what most people do and turned to amazon. I found this studded blazer that worked out perfect and this fun mini ringmaster hat. Everything else I already had. Eric DIYed his strongman barbell with styrofoam balls and some pex pipe wrapped with electrical tape. I also found the boys costumes online, because, convenience.
We’ve always incorporated our dog into our family costumes so it only felt appropriate to also add in our rabbit and hedgehog. Bonus points if you can spot them in the family pictures! Let’s just say, it legit felt like a circus when we were taking these. The dog kept walking away and trying to knock the lion mane off. The rabbit kept jumping out of the hat and the hedgehog would unball at times and try to wiggle out of my hands. My sister usually takes pictures for us, but our schedules weren’t matching up. Instead, I had to recruit my mom to snap a few for us. I love her to pieces, but my sister will usually just snap away and catch all the funny candid moments, but my mom was more focused on trying to get the baby to look, so we don’t have many pictures of the actual chaos. And believe me, there was some chaos going on if you can imagine it.
After we wrangled the pets together we did have some fun with this. My word, that little elephant just makes me smile so big. And my little tiger who was so cooperative gave my mama heart all the feels. For a split second, he looked more like the little boy I’m hanging onto than the changing big boy he is becoming. And my little magician, he has been dazzling us with his disappearing tricks, and of course pulling a rabbit out of his hat. These three have all of my heart. I know these will be moments we’ll look back on and cherish and I’m sure as time goes on I’ll miss my little circus acts.
Here’s to everyone having a fun and safe day!
