Every day is Halloween ’round here . . .

. . . meaning every day is a day for dress up. As evidenced here and here, and over there, and right here. Yep, Jack's a dresser-upper. And if you've been following along, you know that superheroes have been what his dress-up is all about. But Jack shocked me this year when I asked him what he wanted to be for Halloween. Batman? Superman? The Green Goblin?

Nope. This year he wanted to be a sheriff. And so he was.

Ready to walk out the door for trick or treating. (Yep, that's already a smudge of chocolate on his chin.)

Now, mind you, this wasn't any old sheriff. After many, many questions about the purposes, personalities, and whereabouts of bandits throughout the month of October ("Mom, are there bandits living in Kaysville?"), Jack decided to be a BANDIT sheriff.

The bandit and the sheriff. The good guy and the bad guy, melded together as one. The lawmaker and the lawbreaker, one and the same. Two of Jack's favorite fantasy worlds colliding, one swallowing the other and vice versa.

Strange, I thought. At first. But with so, so many costumes to choose from–with so, so many roles he might play–why wouldn't he choose to be the best AND the baddest? He found a way to include the full spectrum of his imagination and play. Just couldn't choose between hero and villian.

Don't we all feel that way sometimes?

So I give you Jack the bandit AND Jack the sheriff. And no sheriff or bandit would be complete without a sidekick. So I give you Charlie the cow:

Earlier in the week, at another costumed event.

Charlie's been saying "ma, ma, ma" a lot these days. I thought that sounded a bit like "moo," so the cow costume was chosen. During trick or treating, however, Charlie sang "ba, ba, ba" around the neighborhood. Sounded much more like a sheep than a cow. Sorry, little Charlie. We'll choose your costume together next year, huh?

Happy belated Halloween, everyone!