Halloween was so fun this year with both kids dressing up and enjoying it. Lilly was Ella Barbie Princess and the Diamond Castle (I still haven't figured out the Diamond Castle part yet, but it's what she wanted from day one) and Andy was Nemo. His costume was by far the cutest I think we've had. He still is wearing it around the house and I just laugh every time he wants to put it on. Michael and I got it out a week early so he could get used to it. I wasn't sure he'd wear the hat, and he proved me wrong the first day I tried to put it on him. He put the hat on, but didn't want anything to do with the body part...until Michael walked through the door. Then he put it on with no trouble at all! I think kids have an uncanny knack of proving their parents wrong at a very young age. So Andy wore his costume on and off all week long for small periods of time and he never once fought us while putting it on.
Once Friday came around, I thought, "here's our real test". We were going to make several stops and he was going to have to take it off and on each time, as it wouldn't fit in his car seat with him. It really does look like a big marshmallow. Our first stop was here in town at Susan's shop. She's the lady that pays me at the church and is Andy's "Grandma" in the mornings when I'm there when I'm being the mean mom and letting him cry it out trying to get him to go to sleep. Michael got him out and had him dressed before I could even get Lilly around to the other side of the van to help him. She had entire boxes of fruit snacks for each of the kids. One for Lilly that was all Barbie snacks and one for Andy that is all Nemo snacks. She lives here by herself and her kids aren't too far away, but I don't think she sees them a lot, so I'm glad she enjoys ours!
Then we went to Papa K's house. Neither one of the kids had had a nap that day, so Lilly fell asleep in the car on the way over and Andy just looked like he was in a daze. But he hoped out of his chair and let Michael dress him, no fuss at all! I thought, this is too good to be true.
Papa always gives the kids apples and both of them ate one while we were there. They love them and what a good snack before we get started with all the candy!
After Papa's we went to the Methodist Church there in McLouth where they had Trunk of Treat. We love that they do this. It's a safe environment where we can let the kids walk around and not worry about cars! We also saw the Weissenbach clan and that was one of the highlights of the evening! The kids had fun running around while we chatted. Cara, Denise, Josey, Manda, Kymani, Jamari, Little Kathel, Kerry, and Levi all joined us there too. Which is also why we love that the church does it. When the kids had collected all the candy from there, Kathel invited us back to the house for lasagna. It was great. We got to eat with the family and see everyone for more than a couple minutes that night.
You're never too old for Halloween!
That was our last stop and Andy had to put the costume on one more time. We went to Aunt Nita and Uncle Deak's house and I just kept waiting for the melt down, but I have to say, it never came. I don't know who to give the credit to, my husband or Andy, but they both did it all night long and not once was there screaming, resisting, or crying. (From either one!) I know part of it is just Daddy's touch, as it seems with both my kids, anything that they can do with Daddy is always better. I'm so thankful for that, as it makes my life much easier. All in all, we had a fabulous night! Both the kids were soundly asleep when we got home that night and we were exhausted too. Here are some additional pictures of Andy in the costume. It's just so cute, I can't say it enough!
That's my girl!
He was getting the hang of it... in between putting the pumpkin seeds and goo into his mouth!
Andy only lasted about half an hour and then he had to go to bed. For all our sakes! Daddy and Lilly finished the pumpkins and then scared themselves with them. What a great night we had.
