Saturday, November 1, 2014

The Princess and the...Firefighter

Juniper is not a shy kid.  Never has been.  She'll sidle right up to a rough-looking carney at the fair and bombard him with questions.  She does, however, get star-struck.  Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, Firefighters...she'll blush, runaway, or hide her face.

Originally, our family Halloween costume was going to be Charlotte's Web-themed (the first chapter book we'd ever made it through as a family).  Juniper: Wilbur, Hazel: Charlotte, me: Fern, my man: John Arable.  But as we were headed to the fabric store, Hazel suddenly declared she would be nothing but a blue princess.  And Juniper waffled around, landing on "A big green monster."  In the end, I ran out of time and scrambled for the costumes we already had or could easily acquire.

My mom had given her a firefighter costume and accessories for her birthday.  Juniper had owned it for a full two weeks without trying it on.  Whenever we suggested it, she reverted to her third-person saying, "I think Juniper's too shy of that."  A few days before Halloween, we got her to try it on.  And oh, my.  Her face turned pink.  She was bashful, proud, shy, elated.  She gazed at herself in the mirror, star-struck by her own reflection.  She was nervous.  Hazel sidled right up to her, saying, "It's okay Jun-i-per.  It's okay sister."  The little ballerina-princess consoling a tough firefighter.  So damed cute.
 
:: And a few more from a month of Halloween and Dias de los Muertos activities: 
Hazel's just always doing that^, regardless of the holiday.  
This is "Little Brother."  He entered our lives the end of September.  He was found to be without a heartbeat, so the kids made him a heart and gave him a few vaccinations.  
Trip to the Pumpkin Patch: 
Hazel is now the camera shy kid.  Plus, she cut her own hair a while back.  
We met up with friends at the patch; the kids were leaping and diving over the straw maze, causing all kinds of mayhem.  
Train ride. 
Kittens in the barn.  
They drew up plans and went to work.  
Halloween's Eve, we sat around the pumpkins, telling "witch stories."  
Halloween!  Behold: Fire, Elsa, Firefighter, and Hans
(Despite the time-crunch, I did manage to make my and Hazel's wool felt crowns.)
We do "Trunk or Treat" in our little town.  It's good for little kids, but when they get bigger we'll hit the neighborhoods.  
For weeks Juniper had been afraid the firefighters would recruit her and she'd never come home again.  When he noticed her costume ("No way!  You're a firefighter!") and invited her to tour the fire engine, she backed away, stammering, "No, no, no!"