The Halloween Costume Conundrum

So in case you haven't figured this out yet, I'm a girly girl.  I live by the three Ps (pink, ponies, princesses), love make-up and shoes, and would still play dress up if it weren't weird.  Of course someone like me would give birth to a low-maintenance daughter.  My little princess likes to look pretty, but she doesn't like to work at it. And she holds fast to the belief that Halloween costumes are supposed to be scary.

So for the past 2 months I've been all dreamy about the prospect of dressing her up as the Little Mermaid, my very favorite princess in the whole world.  With her red hair and general gorgeousness, my little four year old would make an absolutely perfect Ariel.  Time to go Halloween costume shopping.  And what does she tell me she wants to be?  A ghost.  No lie.  I begged.  I pleaded.  I threatened.  Nothing would change her mind.  I decide to be an adult and let her be a ghost.  We go to Wal-Mart, buy the $8 white bed sheet, I cut holes in it, and voila:

A ghost.  And a pretty cute one.  She was extremely proud.  I had hopes that letting her wear it around the house would wear her down and convince her to wear something else in public, but no luck.  Until today.  We had 3 Halloween carnivals to attend this afternoon:  school, church, and neighboring church that has their carnival in the Gardens.  First Halloween carnival:  We do the ghost thing, people smile patronizingly, I blush and say awkward things like "it's what she wanted!" and gaze longingly at all of the little girls dressed up like princesses.

And then Heaven smiles on me.  While decorating a goodie bag with stamps, she totally ruins the sheet - there are markers, stamps, and paint all over it.  She gets pretty upset and asks if we can go to the store and get her a new costume!  Joy!!  Of course we can.  Visions of princesses dance in my head.  The whole way there she thinks she is going to be a skeleton.  I cringe.  I beg.  I threaten.  I go in prepared to be an adult again.  Until we get there and she spies...

A Hannah Montana costume!  Oh happy day!!  Of COURSE we buy the costume, the wig, and the microphone and I do a little cartwheel in the parking lot.  Hannah Montana is definitely a Disney princess.  My baby looks adorable, and I didn't even twist her arm.  And no matter how different we can be, here's one thing we can both agree on:  ponies are the best!