Happy Halloween!

I have always enjoyed Halloween. I never put enough time into thinking ahead for my costume, and thus it always ends up thrown together at the end, and often the same happens with any type of planning as to what to do for Halloween. But I still love it. I love the costumes, the possibilities, seeing what others who are more creative and witty than I come up with.

So when our date to move back to the US changed from early November to mid-September, one of my first thoughts was "We'll be there in time for Halloween!!" Meaning we get to dress Donovan up in a costume. And then laugh at his ridiculous cuteness. And take a bazillion pictures. (Hey, parenting is a crapload of work, we've gotta take advantage of these moments when they come, right?!?)

The natural costume of choice, having just moved back from Switzerland, is a cow. And then it hit me-- he wouldn't just be any cow. He could be a Herens cow, the fighting kind from the Valais. This idea came just in time for me to buy a teeny little cow bell for his costume while in the Valais with my family the week before moving. I wasn't sure how I'd put together the rest of the costume-- it's easy to find black-and-white jersey cow costumes for babies, but an all-black cow or bull costume? Nowhere to be found.

So I resigned myself to possibly having to do with just being a "regular" cow and ordered a costume online, then realized that the headpiece is separate from the rest of the costume. And then I found a pair of black pants and a black turtleneck at Target (and for only $4 each, god I love that place). And everything just came together so nicely.

So, without further adieu... First, here's a reminder of the real, live cows, taken during the cow fight in our village:


And here is the Donovan version:

And there was even a mini cow fight simulation, courtesy of Zach a Spanish bull Cristina gave me acting as another Swiss cow:


Unfortunately I think Donovan lost.


We let him take a victory lap around the block anyway.


We didn't have any trick-or-treaters till we were getting D ready for bed so we didn't get to show off the outfit, but you bet your butt we're sending pictures to all our Swiss (and expat) friends. =P