Fall Festival

This Friday was the annual Fall Festival at Alli's school.  Alli lives for this event - she loves Halloween, she loves dressing up, and she loves candy.  I think on the 1-10 scale of Halloween carnivals I've ever attended, it gets a four.  But the eyes of a child see things differently and maybe more clearly.  So I grin, bear it, and act over the top excited about the bean bag toss, putt putt course, and the dreaded cake walk.

This year however things are a little different.  This year we have Riley, and this year we are a family of four.  Do you think it's coincidence that there are four Ninja Turtles and four members of our family?    Well, Alli didn't either.

So poor defenseless Riley became a pawn in Alli's master plan, spending her first Halloween not as a pumpkin, a cat, or a fairy but as Leonardo master of the katana swords.  She looks really torn up about it too.

Alli realized her dream of being a real life Michelangelo in public setting, complete with her hot nunchuck fury.

So off to the carnival we went, a motley crew of Turtles.  And we were asked three times by three different people if they could take our picture.  I was a little self-conscious at first.  I mean, events at Alli's school (including dances, field trips, and yes, the Fall Festival) are often opportunities for the moms to out style each other.  Heels, hair, and Louis Vuitton bags reign supreme.  And here I was in a t-shirt with a shell on it and a mask around my head.  But as the night went on I tuned out their superior smiles and their huge diamond rings, and that's when I started hearing the opinions that mattered most - "Wow, is Alli's whole family the Ninja Turtles?"  "Is that Alli's mom as Raphael?"  "Look at Alli's little sister - she's a baby Turtle!"  Alli was bursting with pride, and I think it was her best carnival yet.  Little Riley was an angel too - she could make or break the event, and she totally made it.  She even slept through some of it.  It's hard being the leader in blue.

I'm happy to report that Alli won the cake walk a few times, ring tossed herself a Sprite, and accurately guessed what the gross body parts were in the cans (guts, brains, eyeballs, a tongue).  She came home with a bucket full of candy and a smile on her face.  And the eight year old little girl from twenty years ago would have been really proud to know that she was still dressing up as Raphael.