At the beginning of October, Marisa had a great idea for costumes for Sabrina and herself. She wanted to be the moon and Sabrina to be the stars. They don't actually sell that costume anywhere and when I mentioned it to Josh I got a very pessimistic "yeah, right...you could make that face." I had a feeling that the moon would probably look more like a pancake. So, was trying to come up with a better plan for the girls.
Then, I found the greatest bargain at a garage sale. It was the cutest costume for only $5 - who could pass that one up. So, this is what Sabrina was going to be!
I have to say she was the cutest Nemo EVER!!! And, now I was at a loss for what Marisa would be. Poor Marisa had high hopes for being the moon and Sabrina's Nemo costume put a kabosh on that idea. So, now we were on a hunt for Marisa's costume. We had a friend with a Sully Monster costume from Monsters, Inc. but Marisa didn't want to be Sully. She wanted to match Sabrina and wanted to be Dory. BUT...Dory was a minimum of $55 on Ebay, so that wasn't happening.
Plan B - One of Marisa's FAVORITE Disney stories is the story of Mulan. If you have a daughter and have never heard of Mulan or seen it, it's truly a MUST see. The story is about a Chinese girl who's told that she can only bring honor to her family by being a good wife but she knows that she isn't your traditional young girl. The Chinese Emperor then calls for one man from each family to join the Imperial Army to fight the Huns. Mulan decides that her father can not fight for the Army because he sustained a war wound when he was younger and leaves to impersonate a boy and be the soldier her father cannot be. I won't give the rest away...if you haven't seen it, but it is a great movie. Anyways, from the time Marisa was 3, we would watch Mulan for days on end and she would even go through phases of being called Mulan instead of Marisa.
And, of course, she'd NEVER want to be the girly, princess version of Mulan in her beautiful Kimono (the costume that is readily available in the Disney Store). She would have to be the Warrior Mulan. Ebay searches found a couple of Mulan Warrior costumes that would fit Marisa at a reasonable price...but of course I wanted the new one. It went for $23+shipping and I wasn't about to pay that much for it. So, I'd promised her Mulan and had to provide...I had convinced myself that it wouldn't be hard to do. After all, I am an engineer. Envisioning the costume and how it's put together was the easy part for me. The challenge was sewing. But, I did it last year, so by golly, I was going to do it again. Josh kept saying that I had set a precedence from last year. Oh well....do what you have to do, right.
So, enough with the background (yes, I know, I'm too wordy)...here is the final product and Marisa LOVED it!
Funny story -
Before, the costume was done, I had her try it on for everyone. Josh got in the habit of referring to her as Mulan and not Marisa. Telling her that she missed Marisa and that we didn't know where Marisa was. She needed to come back and see Marisa because Marisa would love to meet her. Even little Sabrina would call her Mulan. Well, one night before bed Marisa says to me, "Mom, did you see Mulan? Dad said that Mulan was here." And I said, "Yes, I saw her, she's very well behaved." So, Marisa looks at me with a big smile and says, "Well, I have a secret and it's just between you and me, (winking at me) but I AM Mulan. Don't tell anyone because everyone thinks that Mulan has been coming by." HA! And, last night while dressed as Mulan, she says..."Thanks, Mom, I mean, Rom Tom, or someone I don't know..." So, I had to correct her and say, "You mean Mrs. Holding."
Here is a picture of our 2 trick or treaters together -
After our trick or treating was done, this is how Marisa ended her night. She is her father's daughter!
And the master imitator following suit -
Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween!
