Trick or Rib-bit??

Fall had finally arrived in the great state of Florida- meaning it’s questionable whether you want to take a dip in the swimming pool or not. To Naomi’s delight a warm Florida Fall meant that our neighborly frog friends were still hopping about. Since moving to Florida, Naomi’s interest in frogs has morphed from non-existent to an all-out obsessed groupie.  If you ask her what her name is she’ll pause for a moment while the corners of her lips curl into playful smile and then answer, “Froggie.” Thus, it came as no surprise that she wanted to be a frog for Halloween. Luckily for me, I found an adorable frog costume on sale before I invested too much time and energy figuring out how to make one myself. Truthfully, it wouldn’t have mattered if the costume was on sale or not. The moment Naomi saw me pick the costume up she insisted on putting it on and refused to take it off for the rest of the day…and the next day…and the day after that.

Noah was a more difficult nut to crack. He played with a couple of different ideas before deciding on dressing up as King Peter from the Chronicles of Narnia movies. Together we studied different scenes from the movie till he found which outfit of King Peter he wanted to wear. Then we went to several different stores looking for a similar knight/king costume but we struck out everywhere we went. Apparently knights were not “in” this year. I finally gave in and did my best buying different fabrics from JoAnn’s and piecing them together to create the Noble King Peter. I was working on his costume till minutes before our ward Trunk or Treat when he informed me he only wanted to wear the basic red tunic, belt and carry around his sword for the night. I was crushed. Instead of a noble king I ended up with a scrawny squire. I begged him to wear the rest of his costume, but he insisted it was too “scratchy” and wouldn’t even wear the full costume for pictures!  I’m ok though. Yes I was angry. Yes I was hurt, but what goes around comes around, and all was made right in the end.

Apparently I did get Noah to wear another piece of his costume for this picture. He was still being a stinker!

Halloween fell on a Sunday this year so we limited our festivities to our ward Trunk or Treat and trick or treating in Alachua’s (a neighboring city) down town square the evening prior to Halloween. At both events Naomi would walk right up to the people handing out candy and say “Tank- U” as soon as she received candy.  Whoever was passing out candy would then comment on how cute she was, ask her if she was a Frog- to which her reply was a great big “Rib-bit!” and then they’d put more candy in her bag. Despite Noah’s efforts (or lack thereof) he just couldn’t compete with the adorable Frog standing beside him. By the end of the weekend Naomi had received twice as much candy as Noah. I know I shouldn’t gloat inside, but I did… and still do! Serves him right for not wearing his costume I worked so hard on. Going to bed that night, my soul was at peace, justice had been served!