Costumes 2015 plus a very merry unbirthday

First, costumes from Saturday. We only had four dressing up this year, which seemed... odd. Bizarrely easy and odd. 

L., K. and G.

Plus H.

G. was a little black ninja.

I made the hood and J. made the ninja swords. 

L. was The Brave Cowboy

She needed (with L, it is always need, not want) a two-holster belt and pistols. The pistols are rubber band guns (no one has lost an eye yet) and I made the holsters.

K. was a lion. I made this costume for P. years and years ago.

H. was a cat. A cat with ears. No, she did not want a tail. No, she did not want whiskers. Yes, she did want candy. It's hard being both 13 and 5 at the same time.

Here is Gretel. She is calm. She is not barking. She didn't have to start out in her crate. It is hard for her to keep up the calm, non-barkingness when people keep coming to the door. The evening did not turn out to be as fun for her as she had hoped.

TM also turned 13 this weekend. Birthdays are hard. Birthdays are harder when they come with Halloween and you don't like Halloween. Since it is good to listen to your child and take his needs seriously, we kept everything very low key.

But I still made him donuts for his birthday breakfast and still made him his dinner of choice. He even unwrapped his gifts (which he had wrapped himself) and liked them. We didn't take pictures. We didn't sing. We saved the ice cream dessert he had chosen for tonight. We all survived and with limited drama. 

So, TM, my dear son, Happy Birthday. I love you, possibly more than you will ever be truly able to realize. You are bright and inventive and artistic. You can be so caring and thoughtful, it makes me a little bit weepy. You have changed me in ways that I could never have imagined before you joined our family. I so wish I could go back in time and save you from every hurt and loss. I cannot do that, but I can love you. And I do. Forever.