We’re Off to See the Wizard!

We’re Off to See the Wizard!

Originally uploaded by Dineen.

Halloween 2007 took a lot of heart, courage and brains to prepare for, so we definitely had the right theme going on! We wanted to be able to use the lion costume that Alex wore in 2004, so this was the year to do the full-on Wizard of Oz theme. It’s not every family that gets to build their entire Halloween celebration around their pet, but when you have a dog like Tucker, you just have to do the Toto thing at some point.

Alex was so happy to be the tinwoodsman, especially after we read the chapter on the tinwoodsman from the original Wizard of Oz book. He was gleeful showing off his costume at school, telling everyone who would listen “my Mommy made it.” Boy, that does a mommy’s heart good! He was so thrilled, too, that I came back to day care to participate in the Halloween Parade and give out candy. His class was an adorable bunch of mostly superheros and pirates, and Alex stuck out like a silver thumb. But in the nicest possible way!

Nate was not quite so into being the cowardly lion — he fought the costume, both at day care (where it lasted all of 20 minutes) and at home (where we barely kept the headpiece on long enough to capture a few pictures for posterity).

Once we got on our way, though, Nate got the hang of trick or treating just fine, thankyouverymuch. He held out his bag and said “trickTREAT!” in the cutest voice, followed by his adorable “thank you!”s. He managed to not trip over his tail, even. They walked the whole yellow brick road, er, circle without complaint, as the neighbors oohed and aaahed (the most common reaction: is that a real dog in that basket!?!?!).