And I’m happy to report that this sweet little boy of mine had ZERO cavities! Yay!!
Candy. I am always dipping into my kids’ candy loot. I have no will power when it comes to candy. Nope, none at all. My favorites? Smarties. I love, love, love those little candies. That, and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. My kids know this and they are so smart about it. They will use it to manipulate me into letting them eat their candy, even if it’s at 7:00 in the morning and they haven’t had breakfast yet. All they have to do is hand me one of these candies and say, “Here, Mom…I saved this for you!” and I’m like, “Awww…thank you! You know that’s my favorite!” and they smile, and I smile, and I pop the candy into my mouth…and that gives them the green light to get into their candy bag right then and there, because they know I won’t be a hypocrite by saying, “Hey…no eating candy before breakfast!!” when I’m standing there with a piece in my own mouth.
I loved hearing her little voice shout “Trick or Treat!” as she walked up to the doors, and then hearing her say “Thank you!” after the candy was put into her bag, and then to hear her shout, “Wait for me, guys!” as she ran to catch up to her older siblings…she was just so precious! After every house she visited, she would stop and retrieve the new piece of candy that was just put into her bag, and she would excitedly hold it up to us and say, “Look-it what I got!!” It took extra long Trick or Treating this time due to that little habit of hers, and that is why she was always two steps behind her siblings. But oh…she was just so cute. We loved every minute of it.
We enjoy Trick or Treating with our kids every year. The only thing is, as the years go by, we keep losing them to friends. They grow older and pretty soon it’s no longer a thrill to walk door to door with your parents and your younger siblings. First Anthony strayed away from us, then a year later Audriana, and then a couple years after that it was Afton’s turn to go off with friends. And so for a few years we had the younger six with us all the time. But this year both Alex and Avery went Trick or Treating with their friends. And so that left us with just our youngest four. Just four! Not much of a crowd for us, that’s for sure. And I although I was having fun with them that night, I found myself thinking about the older five … and wondering just where the time went? Life just goes too quickly sometimes. Makes me sad when I think about it. My Trick or Treating crowd is getting thinner and thinner. Whatever will I do when there is no one to walk door to door with? Hopefully by that time I will have a few grand-babies to Trick or Treat with!
Just want you to know ~ you make me wish I had more kids!!!!
Your little girl looks very adorable!
I hadn’t been visiting much so had to skim through your posts. Looks like you are doing well.
Chris xoxo
The way I see it is this: every race has a history. Once upon a time, innocent “white” women were burned at the stake when they were accused of being witches. Should I not let my daughter dress as a witch, then? out of respect for all those women falsely accused? What about all the “white” pioneer women who were slaughtered as they traveled across the western plains? Last year my oldest daughter dressed as a pioneer woman. Should I not have allowed that?
PEOPLE are cruel to PEOPLE. Period. All kinds of people, all kinds of races…cruelty and discrimination isn’t limited to one certain race but I believe has been shown to all people, all races, all religions, throughout history. Should we only dress up as animals, then?
“Jewish” people were discriminated against and murdered not too long ago in our history, but yet if my husband wanted to dress as a Rabi for Halloween, I wouldn’t stop him. And we are not Jewish.
I never said Aria was dressed as “an Indian” or a “native american” but instead I said she went as “Pochahontas” — wasn’t she someone in history to be admired? Perhaps she had tragedy in her life, but there are many people in history who are admired who had tragic ends (Joan of Arc, for example) yet if my child dressed as Joan of Arc, would that be wrong? Wasn’t she discriminated against and ultimately killed due to her religious beliefs? or would that still be okay because Joan was “white” and we are white? What if my Muslim African-American friend wanted to dress her daughter up as Joan of Arc? Should I be offended, as a white Christian woman? I wouldn’t be. I really would not be offended in the least.
Where do you draw the line?
I have relatives that have recently passed away (my aunt and my grandmother) and if for Halloween my kids wanted to throw a sheet over their heads and go as “ghosts” I would not think they are making fun of our dead relatives- who could, for the most part, be considered ghosts right now.
I’m really sorry that a 2 year old dressing as a Disney character offends you and those in your community. I truly am sorry about that. Just know that it is not done to mock —it’s just dress up. Make believe. Pretend. Fantasy, even. Maybe if you looked at it a different way… to that of being admired and celebrated instead of it being some sort of a put-down. Afterall, the Native American culture is beautiful and is to be admired. I loved dressing little Ari up in such a pretty costume.
Anonymous,
Thank you for your comment. You are right. We are not prejudice people. Thank you for saying that and for the compliments you give to my family. I do not think you are being rude. Not at all. And I’m sorry my daughter’s costume is hurtful to you and the people in your community. I wish it weren’t so.
While I appreciate your polite way of expressing your concerns for our choice of Halloween costumes, I have to respectfully say that I do not share your views. I’m not saying you shouldn’t feel the way you feel – absolutely not. We are all entitled to our own unique feelings, especially about what hurts us. I just think that costume parties and Halloween (which is really just one big, giant costume party, if you think about it) is all about dressing up as someone else, or something else.
I admire Tina Turner, and let me say that if I wanted to go to a Halloween costume party dressed as Tina Turner, I would dress up in one of Tina’s crazy outfits and yes I would paint my face to look more like hers. I would wear a wig, too. And I would do the same to any child of mind who wanted to dress up as Tina Turner. I sincerely doubt Tina would be offended by that. Would other African-Americans be upset if I dressed like Tina Turner? Well, I don’t know….but I sure wouldn’t be upset if an African-American friend of mine dressed up as Elvis. Or George Washington. Or Brittany Spears. Or a Pilgrim. Or Betsy Ross.
You suggest I not dress my child up as any other race. What about if one of my little girls wanted to dress as a geisha or if one of my sons wanted to be a sumo wrestler? I should say no? I shouldn’t allow that just because we are not of that race? I just don’t agree with that. As a Native American woman who, I assume, has Native American children…what do your children dress up as for Halloween? Do they only dress as Native Americans? They don’t dress up as anyone else who belongs to another race other than their own?
I don’t mean to be rude, but I’ve learned that racism is best dealt with by confronting it. I don’t think that you are prejudice people, but dressing your daughter like a Native American as a costume is extremely offensive. I’m sure it’s not intentional and as a Native American woman I forgive you for the slight. However, just as you wouldn’t dress your child in black face, you shouldn’t dress them like any other race either. I assure you that I don’t mean to shame you, but I feel its important to educate people about their actions that hurt others. I want to stress that I think you are wonderful people, but in order to end racism it needs to be confronted. It is possible to do unintentionally racist things and not be a racist, so I want to make clear that I am not saying your family is. I only want to let you know that this is hurtful to me and many others in my community.
They are so cute and yes I can not stay away from the candy. I just had a normal size Reece Cup 2 I may add. Have a great weekend.
Is this a dentist or the orthodonstist? In the Netherlands all children should go twice a year to the dentist. Not always fun. But it is reimbursed by the health insurance
When the children were 12 years they can go to the orthodontist.
Sometimes a brace is needed. This is also paid by the health insurance
I like your pictures!
we do the same thing! i figure what does it matter if they have a couple pieces a day for a month or all at once now and get it over with. ours is almost gone, just all the candy no one likes is left
great pics!!