The GREAT Pumpkin

Last year for Halloween I was a ghost. Not that I dressed as one, but that my kid spent the morning in the OR and I was as white as one due to the stress. This year I am happy to report that I was my normal color this year and all smiles getting to spend the day with our little fam. Mark took the day off since he was flying out to the east coast on a red-eye right after trick-or-treating wrapped up, so we spent the day at the park, carving pumpkins and just doing generally scary things.

The only criteria for the costume this year was that it be something she liked and knew what it was which would up our chances of her keeping it on all night. I usually start plotting and working on my homemade costumes unseasonally early each year so getting a store bought costume was a bit of a hit to me, but there are years to come for that unnecessary stress.

As for trick-or-treating, she loved it. She hopped in and out of the wagon, knocked on doors, received the candy, said 'thank you' (sometimes) and tried to pet every fat, furry Halloween spider decoration she saw. Ick. I can assure this is NOT a trait she picked up from me. And aside from the jelly bean she snuck into her mouth last Easter, she has, to date not had any candy so we were curious to see what she would think of it.  And all she thought was that they were little, colorful toys and she spent hours sorting and re-sorting them naming out their colors and laying them on the carpet. She was pretty stoked to add the word 'sucker' to her vocabulary and has successfully learned to take candy from strangers. All in all a very happy Halloween for everyone!