No Tricks, All Treats

Recommendation: If you are going to have a baby right before Halloween, try to do it 8 days before Halloween, instead of 4. I actually had fun this year, unlike two years ago when I was up all night about to cry. So, about the fun year . . .

 It was a gorgeous day, the kids were excited out of their minds, and I actually put on makeup and dried my hair to go to the store earlier in the day, so I went out trick or treating for a little bit. Dressed! (Not in a costume, but for a week post-baby getting dressed is like a costume.) I love watching the kids be excited, and seeing neighbors while we are out and about. As a bonus we had a cute little kitty that was sleeping cozily in our arms we got to introduce to a few people. Josh was determined to be the turbo-trick-or-treater, so we had to remind him often to wait for us, which he was willing to do when he realized what he was doing. He was really in the Halloween zone. Andrew was really hard to get out the door. He was having a tantrum/meltdown, so getting him a costume was a battle, getting shoes on him was almost a whole war, getting him outside required bribery . . . and then he realized what he got to do. Happiness came quickly. I went home after a block and a half, and Gary stayed with the boys a little longer. In the end Andrew was trying to get Gary to hit a few more houses. So cute. This is the Halloween I love, the Halloween that is for kids. Some little boys that dream for months about being ninjas and getting candy. Simple. Awesome.

This year we got our pumpkins from Farmer Grandpa. The kids got to see the pumpkins grow whenever they visited, but then got a bunch to have at our house. Here they are carving them. Gary let the kids tell him what they wanted, and they got to approve the design on a drawing before the actual carving.

Where was Andrew during the pumpkin carving? Right here on the couch, and since this was his only nap, that explains the hard time he had later. Poor kid, when he turned his head it was drenched in sweat from having his face shoved into a leather couch.

The kitten was cute, but tired. Couldn't get the perfect photo.

The binkie saved the day.

The kids were so excited about their Jack O' Lanterns, we had to get a photo of how they looked all lit up. By the way, putting up the spider web is a great memory. It was about a week before Lissy was born, and I was miserable. I decided I'd clean the fridge that day. But then Noah started asking to decorate for Halloween. I almost said no, because of the fridge, and then I thought, "What am I doing?" And got out the decorations. It was a beautiful day, my boys were hilarious, and it was just perfect. As we put in the spiders they said things like, "Ah, one of them bit me, now I have spider sense!" Andrew put on a dinosaur costume and walked around roaring at us. Fridge, shmidge.