The best darn “elly” in all the land.
Remington Arnow!
aka “Memy Aahhhno”
As a mom, there are a few things that I look forward to being able to experience with Remy, that I never really had the opportunity to enjoy when I was a kid. Halloween is probably the biggest one.
I was raised in a VERY conservative home, with parents who chose to have “Glory to God parties” instead of celebrating halloween. Yes. We were the family who passed out bible tracts and popcorn (cuz you could do that in the 80’s) to all the neighborhood kids who were dressed up, celebrating “satan’s birthday”. Cool, right?
Regardless of my own personal beliefs, my parents did what they thought was right, and I can’t judge them for our differences of opinion, or practice. But, I can choose to do things however I please with my own kids.
The year I found out I was pregnant, I had JUST started working for Dailey. In October, I was just out of my first trimester and not too many people knew me, let alone knew I was pregnant then, so I dressed up as a bank robber. My belly was my bag o’ cash, and no one really “got it”. I thought I was hilarious.
YEAR ONE:
Belly Smuggling Bank Robber
The next Halloween, Remy was just 8 months of bubbling baby chub and I put some thought into our costumes once again. I found an amazing monkey costume and decided to become a banana tree… He was still nursing A LOT, so I had bananas in the appropriate place. Again, hilarious… to myself. I don’t have any great photos of my costume, but COME ON. Look at that face. A funny thing about this costume, was that my sister and our friend brought Remy to meet me in the office. With a BRIGHT GREEN WIG on, my baby still knew exactly who I was, from across the room. Mama baby bonds are pretty incredible.
YEAR TWO:
Baby Monkey in his Banana Tree
This year, I decided to look for costumes in line with Remy’s favorite animals and liked the elephant costume best. Originally, Grant and I were both going to be elephant trainers, and he would be a baby elephant, but on Sunday, I changed my mind. He would be the trainer and I, once again, would be a food item… maybe it’s time to wean.
Here we are as a baby elephant and a bucket of peanuts.
YEAR THREE:
Baby “Elly” and his big ol’ bucket of peanuts.
I plan to continue this habit of mine for as long as he can stand it, or stand me. Halloween is becoming one of my absolute favorite days of the year.
***Thank you, Don Lupo, for the great pictures!
Hi! My name is Stephanie. I'm married to a great guy named Grant and am mom to two beautiful little boys, Remington and Desmond, and two pugs, Stella and Cioppino. We live in Los Angeles, and my husband has recently transitioned from full-time touring musician, to law student. I work full-time to support us, while also taking care of our sons as if it were the only thing in the world that mattered, because really, it is.
Being Mrs. Arnow 
“Glory to God parties” vs. “Satan’s birthday.” I can’t even. Basically, that’s the best explanation of Halloween ever. Thanks for the laugh today!
Right?!?! We made turkeys out of apples and raisins, sang hymns and ate organic brown rice or something exciting like that, while all the other kids collected candy… Because that’s how we celebrate the devil. Candy.
And by visiting the neighbors. Best not to knock on the door, really. They just might be the devil. Sign me up for apple-raisin turkeys, please! #bettersafethansorry
i love the monkey tree costume! Where did you get your tree costume from??
hi!! thank you so much! I made it out of felt and stuffing. :joy: It was a really fun project, but every year, these costumes get harder and harder to come up with. Only 2 weeks left to figure out how to make a “pteradactylus”…