Trick or Treat!

 This was by far the most fun Halloween I've had since Andrew was born.  He was finally at the age where he knew what was going on (sort of!) and he was so much more enjoyable to take trick or treating.  He has never been one to like wearing costumes, though.

Can you believe this picture?  This was him on his first Halloween with his little friend, Norah.  This just cracks me up.  It has always been one of my favorite pictures.  He just looks so pitiful!  I was making him wear his hat and earring (and tried the eye patch too) and he was just fed up.

Then this was him last year with his friend Lilly.  Upset again!  He wasn't too excited about this costume either, and certainly didn't want to sit still for a picture! lol!  Lilly just looks so adorable and motherly here.  Wondering what in the world his problem was!  Ha!

So this year was a welcome change.  I was a little nervous about busting out another costume, and I have to say, he wasn't thrilled the night I bought it and tried it on him.  But, thankfully it has grown on him!  Good thing, since he had to wear it 4 different times this weekend!  He started with a Halloween party at school on Friday.

Can you imagine being one of the teacher's in this room??  I couldn't do it.  No way!

They had neat activities for the kids.  They ate snacks and decorated sugar cookies.  Then they went on a parade around the school.  They also played in tubs of spaghetti noodles and olives ("brains and eyeballs!")  He had a great day.

 

When we got home that night, it was time to get his costume on again and head over to Lilly's house for our annual picture.  This was them on his first Halloween.

 

It just makes me sad (but happy!) to see how much he's grown up.  He couldn't even sit up here so we had him in the Bumbo chair! Ha!

 

This is them now.  He is now the age that Lilly was on his first Halloween.  Amazing.  These two have grown up together and it is so fun for him to have Lilly in the neighborhood and at his school too.  Lilly takes good care of him at school and always gives me updates on how he's doing! Ha!

After we left Lilly's house we headed over to Craig's brother's house to go trick or treating with Andrew's cousins Evelyn and Jayden.  They used to live in Ames, but we are so glad they moved so close to us now.  We brought a pizza over and ate before we headed out in the rain to trick or treat!

 

I have to take a trip down memory lane again.  We used to go to Ames every year and trick or treat at Evie's house.  This was them on their first Halloween.  They are 4 days apart.

 

This is them last year.  Jayden was born that May.

 

This picture just makes me laugh, too.  I love how Jayden is slumped over and Andrew is holding his hand.  Andrew loves Evie and Jayden so much.  We are blessed to have such great family in town and for Andrew to get to grow up with his cousins.

 

This is them this year.  Getting them to all sit still for a picture was no small task! Ha!

After pizza we took the kids out to go to a few houses.  It had started to sprinkle a little bit, but we went out to a few houses anyway.  Craig had a huge umbrella so we made it work!  Once Andrew figured out that he was going to get a treat at every house, he was on a mission!

 

He would walk right up to the next house, right up the stairs and knock on the door like "give me more candy!"  It was so sweet though, he always said "Thank you" after he got candy.

 

I loved how he wasn't shy at all.  He just made himself right at home!  He knew what to do!

 

This picture makes me laugh.  He's like "Hello!?  Where is everybody!?"  I love how his treat bucket got too heavy so he just plopped it down on the step!  We just had the problem that he wanted to eat the candy he got after each house!

 

 

I had so much fun this year.  Andrew enjoyed himself so much and I loved how he just understood what was going on.  He is at such a fun age right now.

 

I love this- looking inside his pumpkin.

 

The funniest part of this picture is Craig's reflection in the door!  Now you can see what we have to do to get him to smile...and even sometimes that doesn't work!  Ha!

After trick or treating on Friday night, on Saturday afternoon we headed to my grandma's so she could see him in his costume.  Then we headed to my mom's for their trick or treat night (it was on Saturday).  I didn't take as many pictures, since Andrew had about had his fill of trick or treating by this time.

 

 

We drove around to some friends' houses and also my brother and sister in law's so they could see him.  We ended the night as we usually do, at our friend's house, the Klocke's.  Their daughter, Norah is a special friend of Andrew's (the little "bee" from the picture above).  We didn't get their picture last year, because by the time we got to their house Norah had taken her costume off, and this year I was determined to get one, but since it was the end of the night again, both kids were tired of pictures!  We did get one of them playing, so you can see Norah's adorable little pumpkin outfit!

 

I love her beautiful, curly hair!  She is such a sweet little girl.  She shared all her toys with Andrew and when she wanted to play with something that he had, she said, "I can just play with it when he leaves!"  Ha!  That cracked me up because I'm sure she was wondering when that would be!  We love hanging out with our friends.  Norah's mommy and I have known each other since kindergarten!

This was just my favorite Halloween yet.  I can only imagine them getting better and better.  Now our problem is Andrew's little Elmo bucket full of treats catches his eye now and then and he's addicted to the candy!  We have to tell him only one treat- but he doesn't want to accept that answer!  He is such a funny kid.

I hope you all had a great Halloween!  Now it's time to put away the fall and bring on the Christmas decorations!  I can't wait!