Pop Star and Pro Athlete. So Cliche, I Know.

The costume catalogs started coming in late August.  Elena and Eli pored over them, the possibilities endless.  In typical big sister fashion, Elena decided that they should dress in costumes that went together.  The list of possibilities went like this:

Mario & Luigi

Angel & Devil

Gladiator & Ninja(?)

Miranda Cosgrove & Justin Bieber

Ke$ha & DJ

This last combination was all her doing.  At some point she decided she wanted to be Ke$ha for Halloween and, logically, Eli should be her DJ.  Never mind that Eli had absolutely no interest in being a DJ, or even the faintest idea what a DJ is.  Never mind that Elena ditches her brother 3 houses into trick-or-treating because he’s too slow.  They were going to be a pair.  Sometime between late August and Halloween, I persuaded her to drop it.  Ke$ha was fine, Eli could choose for himself.

I got a big kick out of the various reactions she got when she told people what she was going to dress up as for Halloween.  There was the lady checking us out at Target who misheard “Ke$ha” as “cashier,” and thought Elena was being a smartass.  There was the most popular response: “You’re going as ketchup?”

And then there were the people who gave me the look.  The one that says what kind of mother lets her daughter dress up as a trashy, somewhat (fine – totally) questionable pop star?  Well, this mother does.  Really, all she wanted was the freedom to douse herself in glitter and wear blue eyeshadow.  I’m pretty strict with her 364 days a year, so if she wants to spend 3 hours of 1 day looking like something the cat dragged in? Let me rip up some stockings for ya and pour some glitter on your hair, girlfriend.

And in the immortal words of Ke$ha, yes.  “There’s (still!) glitter on the floor.”  Seriously.  It’s everywhere.

After weeks of insisting he was going to be a knight, Eli changed his mind at the last minute and decided to go as a football player.  Specifically, a Colts player.  Which is funny, because he doesn’t even like the Colts (Steelers fan. I know).  Leave it to the kid who doesn’t root for the team when they’re in the playoffs to champion them when they’re 0-8.  With the woes my beloved Colts are facing these days, Eli gives new meaning to the possibility of “Next Man Up.”  I do believe he has a chance.

I’ll leave you with this – my favorite photo I’ve ever taken of my dad and Elena.  There’s a knee-slapper of a caption in there somewhere, I’ve just yet to figure it out.  If you have one, please share.  The reader with the best caption wins a lifetime supply of glitter and blue eyeshadow.