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Happy Halloween, my lovelies!


Photo #80: America's Seven Dwarves

If there was one Halloween Eadlyn wishes she could forget, it would be this one. Every other Halloween was full of cute, colorful, and creative costumes. Don't get her wrong, this Halloween had those factors as well. It just wasn't up to par with Eadlyn's factors.

Beneficial to her at the time, she ate a lot of candy to sugarcoat that memory into the far corners of her mind and make it seem kind of pleasant. Looking at this photo just brought back the absolute bitter truth of it. But the longer Eadlyn looks at the picture, the more she realizes that she wasn't the only miserable one.

The only happy ones in this photo were her parents.

-o-

America looks at her reflection in the mirror. Her look for the night is almost complete. All she needs is another toss of her curls and another coat of lip gloss. Once that's completed, she sees herself with shining lips that match her curls. From the corner of the mirror, she sees Maxon walking in from the ensuite as she starts humming a tune to match her costume (and even his for that matter).

"I know that song," Maxon says.

"You do?" America questions, looking at Maxon through his reflection in the mirror.

"Snow White sings that tune when she's telling the dwarves about her prince who will soon come for her."

America nods, appreciating her husband's knowledge for fairytales and their cinematic counterparts. She starts humming the tune louder as she turns around to get a good look of her handsome husband walking in and wearing the prince costume that compliments her Snow White costume.

"That looks better on you than it did on the display," America says, lightly tugging on the collar.

Maxon smirks proudly. "What kind of husband would I be if I didn't dress to impress?"

"A terrible one, but thankfully you make a really handsome prince - fairytale or not."

"I'd tell you to quit humming that song because your prince is here, but I always want to hear your voice even if it's just humming."

America smiles. Maxon puts his hands on her hips and steals a quick kiss from her. Their kiss would've gone for longer if they didn't hear their kids complaining in the hallway. To think that kids would be rejoicing on Halloween but not the Schreave kids this year. The kids know why they're complaining but Maxon and America don't (they might but either don't care or see their problems as petty).

The two of them step outside their bedroom, into the hallway and see their children all standing there. All of their costumes are the same - purposely-looking oversized and tattered rags, tight black pants, chunky belts around their waists with oversized buckles, and khaki-colored beanies sitting on their heads. Considering that America is dressed up as Snow White and Maxon is her Prince, their kids are dressed as the dwarves (four of the seven).

"Why do we have to be dwarves?" Eadlyn complains.

"My costume is itchy," Ahren adds.

"Mine is hot," Kaden follows.

Maxon and America look at Osten, expecting him to say something about how much he hates his costume but since Osten is a little baby who's just learning to crawl and talk, he's just looking up at his parents with a smile and chewing on the end of the beanie. America and Maxon look at one another, unsure of how to respond because they did the matching costumes for their own benefit but they thought that their kids would like it as well.

"Just eat some candy at the party," Maxon says, ruffling the head of his boys.

He picks up Osten and puts the beanie on properly. Osten doesn't react much until he starts to gnaw on Maxon's prince costume's collar.

Maxon sighs. "I'm going to find something more fitting for Osten to chew on."

As he excuses himself, America squares her hands on her hips and looks down at her three remaining children. She loves her costume and theirs as well, they disagree.

"Miss. Marlee's family got to dress up as Alice in Wonderland," Eadlyn says to her mom with a hint of resentment and envy in her voice. "She's Alice, Mr. Woodwork is The Mad Hatter, Kile's the White Rabbit, and Josie is the Cheshire Cat."

"Mhmm," America says, nodding her head with crossed arms as she taps her heel. "And if you were a Woodwork, you could be the Red Queen."

Eadlyn narrows her eyes at her mother as America kisses her daughter's cheek. America knows that her daughter is probably yelling 'off with her head!' at her in her head.

"I thought that you were gonna make us sing the working song," Kaden says.

Eadlyn and Ahren groan at Kaden's mention of that. If there was anything worse than the costumes, it was the song that came with it. And for a moment, they thought that their mother forgot about it.

"Sing the working song!" America exclaims.

The three kids sing nothing. America encourages them, starting the song for them through a hum.

"Heigh-ho..." The kids sing lethargically. "Heigh-ho..."

America crosses her arms, disappointed in her children. A part of her was sad that her children weren't musical like she is. Maxon comes walking back with Osten in his arms who has returned to chewing on his beanie.

"It's all he likes," Maxon says, passing Osten to America.

As America coddles her baby, the three kids think their off the hook from singing that song since their mother is currently distracted by the only Schreave kid who didn't have to sing since he couldn't even talk yet.

"Weren't you three singing?" Maxon asks his three kids.

They spoke too soon. The three of them just look up at their father with pleading eyes that beg him not to make them sing this song (because they didn't want their mother to hear any verbal pleads), but Maxon just encourages them to sing. As the kids continue to sing with the fakest sounding enthusiasm. America hums along, bouncing baby Osten along to the beat until she stops because she realizes something is missing.

"I had two more dwarves," America says.

And her two dwarves are approaching. To the kids' surprise and America's delight, Lucy and Aspen were two more of the seven dwarves. They don't look as miserable as the kids do, mostly because they probably got something really, really good out of it in terms of favors since Aspen is slightly taller than all of them and he's supposed to be a dwarf.

"More like Heigh no!" Aspen jokes, putting his hands on Ahren and Kaden's shoulders.

"I kinda like this costume," Lucy says, standing behind Eadlyn. She puts her hands on Eadlyn's shoulders and starts rocking her back and forth. "The dwarves lived such a cute little life - literally - and they mined for diamonds. That in itself is rewarding."

The adults laugh even though the kids didn't really get it. They thought that the adults would be the ones more miserable but apparently not.

America does a headcount to make sure everyone a part of this costume recreation. As the numbers get higher, she becomes more thrilled. That is until she stops at six dwarves and not seven.

"I had one more dwarf," America says.

As they all wait, they hear footsteps coming up the stairs. They all look over, they see the final dwarf who turns out to be Lady Brice. This is the only one the kids laugh at since Lady Brice was the last person they would think it to be. Then again, only Lady Brice could make nice-looking rags seem regal and presentable.

"I'm only here for an extended vacation," Brice tells Maxon.

"I know," Maxon replies. He looks at Brice for a bit longer before grinning. "Maybe I'll make this a part of the dress code."

Brice smirks. "Do that and I'm resigning."

Maxon laughs as Ahren runs up to him.

"Why can't we get a vacation for doing this?" Ahren asks.

Maxon sighs. "You and your siblings get candy."

That thought stays in the Schreave kids' minds for a bit. What's a better reward out of being dressed as a dwarf just to please their parents - candy or a vacation?


Not gonna lie, if I had kids and a great husband then I would so do this type of thing on Halloween.

Stay Tuned - Nine different photos with the same pose that just have one little big difference...