Happy pirates

The kids and I went shopping for Halloween costumes last night. Bubba has been fascinated by pirates for a couple of months, now. He'll pretend to be the captain, and we're all his crew. He'll march around the house saying, "Yeeargh! I pirate!" or "I'm a happy pirate" in a sing-song voice. He even closes one eye while holding sharp objects (the closed eye is his "eye patch"). So we kind of all decided that he should be a pirate for Halloween. It'll give him the opportunity to wear his pirate outfit whenever he wants to after the holiday, too.

Scooter originally wanted to be a fairy. This girl has been a fairy/queen/princess of some sort since she's been old enough to make her own decisions about such matters. Year 1 (infant), she was a cow. Then, tigger, a dog, Dora, witch (with a fairy wand and sparkles on her face), Snow White, Snow Princess, and last year was full on fairy. So when she said, "Oh, I don't know. A fairy." I put my foot down. No More Fairies! She decided she really wanted to be a pirate, too. That way, people would know that she and Bubba belonged together when they were trick or treating.

You see, Scooter and Bubba have never spent Halloween together. Mostly because Halloween has been the ex's holiday of choice. My theory is that the ex likes to show other people what a "great dad" he is without really having to spend a lot of one-on-one time with his daughter. He has always worked on Thanksgiving and Christmas, bailed on Easter, gotten babysitters for New Years (you get the idea), but rain or snow, he's taken her trick or treating. It's nice to hear strangers tell you how adorable your daughter is. Not that it's been a huge loss that the kids haven't spent Halloween together. This is only Bubba's 3rd time celebrating it. But it is the first year he will actually go door to door, and it's likely the first one he'll really remember. It's important for Scooter, too, this year.

Ever since she came back from her dad's this summer, she and Bubba have been inseperable. He LOVES following her around, and surprisingly enough, she loves having him follow her around. She feels extremely close and protective and proud of him, and he worships her. It was important to her that people know that they belong together, so I was happy to get them little pirate outfits, even if they don't exactly match. Scooter's is below. We couldn't find black tights, so she'll wear white with scars all over them. Bubba's is here, too. Can you tell who will be who?

The ex will be in town for "his" holiday, but Scooter and Bubba will still be trick or treating together. Whew! We'll see how all of this turns out.