Our Halloween

Halloween this year was so much fun! It was the first year that Audrey was more aware and interested in the whole thing. In fact, she picked out her costume. We were at the store and Adam and I had narrowed it down to a blue princess dress or a bumblebee. We asked Audrey which one she wanted but she pointed to both of them. Finally, we decided on the bumblebee - so we gave her the bee costume and put the blue dress on the rack and started to walk away. But then Audrey started to panic saying "Bat! Bat! Bat!" I was confused and told her they didn't have a bat costume. Then I figured out that she wasn't saying "Bat!" She was saying "Back!" (Some words in toddler speak are still confusing.) She was upset that I'd put the dress back on the rack. So we gave her the dress and put the bee costume back to see if she'd have the same reaction... not a peep. She was happily stroking the pretty blue fabric of the princess dress, so we just went with it. When we got home she started chanting "Dress. Dress. Dress. Dress!" and trying to take her clothes off. So I put it on her and she posed in the mirror and pranced around the room for an hour or so. It was adorable...

until I told her it was time to take the dress off... then it was Tantrum City for about a half hour after I put the dress away. On the bright side - at least I knew she liked it, right?!

As for Lucas - we weren't sure what we were going to do for him, we were trying to decide if it was worth it to get a costume when he's so little and not really an active participant. Then I found a cute lion costume on sale and I couldn't pass it up.

I think it was money (only $6!!) well-spent.



Totally worth it.



Are you kidding me?! So cute.

And if you think he's cute - just wait for Audrey in her "Rella" costume (that's what she called her costume because Cinderella wears a blue dress just like her's).

Here she is in her dress and her fine jewels - all ready for the ball (...or trick or treating, whatever!):



Unfortunately, she's playing her favorite game of not looking at the camera - but you get the idea. In her defense, it maybe wasn't so much that she was playing the avoid-the-camera game as much as it was getting distracted by some trick-or-treaters across the street...




Here's a better look at all of her royal jewels. She loved these so much - you could tell she felt very special with them on - there was a certain tilt to her head and gleam in her eye.



The kids across the street must have had some pretty amazing costumes - she couldn't keep her eyes off of them! Or maybe it wasn't their costumes, it was the pull of wanting to be a part of all of the excitement. We had explained what Halloween was and the whole trick or treating process. We could tell she was excited about the treat part but she was still a little hesitant as we walked to the first house.



I think some of Audrey's nervousness was rubbing off on Luke. He looked a little anxious.



As we knocked on the door of the first house, she was mostly curious with a little excitement. Then the door opened and she got nervous... wanting Adam to pick her up and hold her... then the man at the door held out a big bowl filled with candy and there was a glint of wonder in her eye... followed by excitement as she was told to pick one... then glee as she literally clapped her hands and said "Yay!" after Adam helped her put the candy into her pumpkin pail and she realized she could keep it! It was very cute!

We took her to a total of six houses - people in our neighborhood that she is familiar with and who we thought would like to see her dressed in her costume. After the first house she definitely loosened up and was more excited with each door we approached.

There were a few times she would look back to the sidewalk where Luke, Me, and Grammy were waiting - but for the most part she had a lot of fun trick or treating with her dad.



There were a few times when Luke had to encouragingly wave her on: "Go ahead! Go get the candy!"



It was a good night. It was so fun to see how excited Audrey was to show off her pretty dress and tiara and necklace and earrings. She made a lovely "Rella". And Luke was a very cute lion.

It wasn't long, though, before all of the Halloween excitement turned into Halloween exhaustion.



It was definitely a great night.