Goin' Buggy

I had a lot of fun making Halloween costumes again this year. The best part was, I only had to buy elastic, wings for Maddie, and antennae for Gwyn and Lana. I think the total cost was about $12. The kids were tickled pink with their costumes.

I made Everett's spider costume from Cary's Master's grad gown. This wasn't an original idea--my creative mother did the same thing for my brother Jim when he was little. I decided to make Gwyn's ladybug outfit like a poncho when I found two precut red circles in my stash. These photos were taken at the Trunk or Treat at church.

Maddie butterfly and Lana bee:

To complete the family theme, Cary and I were bug catchers.

I love letting the children have fun trick-or-treating, but I really don't like ANY of the spooky stuff associated with it. Being so caught up in our own Campbell family brand of fun, Cary and I didn't really anticipate the scary things the kids would encounter on the two streets we walked yesterday. I was a little bit at a loss as to what to say to four innocent little children about the green man with needles sticking all over his head, or the army lady with the grotesque mask. They don't completely grasp what is real and what is not yet. I guess if I would have been on my toes, I would have asked the woman to remove her mask so that the girls could see the face underneath. I know that I can't isolate my children, and that I need to educate them, but if I was wearing a scary mask and saw little ones coming, I would rip it off before they even saw me. (I wouldn't wear one in the first place.)

All in all, we had a great time. When I went to kiss Everett goodnight, he told me he was scared--of monsters in the dark and of having bad dreams. I reassured him and told him that if he was scared, he could pray. As I walked back downstairs, I could hear him praying. What a sweet boy.

Here are some more photos from our neighborhood trick-or-treat night.

This one was in our neighbor's living room. (Lana did not want to be in the picture.)