Halloween Fun

 

While Grammy was still visiting in mid-October, we headed to the pumpkin patch.  Last year, we had such a nice time picking out pumpkins and going for a hayride at Joann's Farm in Livermore, that we decided to head back there again this year.  Unfortunately, going a few weeks later than the year before meant there were a ton of people.  It seemed like every picture we tried to take had a ton of people in the background.  The day we went was also very hot and uncomfortable, so this year the experience just didn't live up to our memories from 2012.   I still managed to get a few good pictures though... hope you enjoy them!

 

After picking our pumpkins (and a week or two later), it was time to paint and carve!  Andrew loved painting his pumpkin and still asks to paint pumpkins when he sees the paintbrushes on my desk.  He still wasn't into cleaning out the insides of the carved pumpkins... maybe next year.

 

 

His finished masterpiece - painted and stickered up!

 

And our finished masterpieces.  I was in charge of drawing/painting the designs and Mike was in charge of carving.

The weekend before Halloween, there was a parade in Mountain House for all the kids to show off their costumes.  Firefighter Andrew, Thomas the Train Sebastian, and Minnie Mouse Piper had a great time walking around the fields at the elementary school, getting treats from local business people.
 

We didn't know to bring his pumpkin, so Andrew used his hat to collect candy!

Have you ever tried to get a picture of three kids under the age of 5 at once?

In preparation for Halloween night, we started taking Andrew on walks around the neighborhood to see the decorations and get used to walking with us in the dark.  As I have mentioned in previous posts, Andrew was developing "fear" just in time for skeletons, severed heads and spiders to pop up on neighbors lawns... so we wanted him to not be afraid of these new images on Halloween night.  Well, our plan worked.  It was an amazing night!  I was so proud of our little Trick-or-Treater.  He showed no fear - walking right up to strangers houses, knocking on doors and speaking to the bloody zombies or witches that answered.  It was like he'd been trick-or-treating for years. When our neighbors' son ran screaming from a blow up spider that moved as we walked up, Andrew just looked at him like, "Where's Bash going?"  (Bash is short for Sebastian) and climbed the steps to the front door.  He had seen that spider move before... :)  We literally only had to tell him what to do at the very first house, and after that he was leading the way, saying "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you, happy Halloween!" to everyone who gave him candy.  He barely noticed that Mommy and Daddy were watching from the sidewalk.  Having our neighbors' kids there certainly helped though, and the three of them were just pure entertainment to watch.  Luckily, it wasn't too cool of a night, so it didn't matter that "someone" had forgotten Andrew's firefighter jacket at school.  Also luckily, I just happened to sew suspenders onto Andrew's shirt to help "complete" the whole outfit while Mike was picking Andrew up from school... :)   Lesson learned - don't send your kid's Halloween costume into school when you live over 20 minutes away from said school.

On our walks around the neighborhood:

 

Heading out on Halloween night.

The suspenders worked, right?

 

Ringing the doorbell at Bash and Piper's house.

Right before Bash ran screaming away from the blow up spider.

Leading the way with lollipop in mouth...
Andrew thought he was supposed to immediately eat all the candy that he was getting.

This house was pretty scary (which my flash helped to eliminate in this picture). 
They had strobe lights, eerie music and gory decorations. 
Bash refused to go up, but with Mike coaxing Andrew a little, he didn't have a problem ringing the bell at all.

After making our way around the block, we headed home to give out candy from the front porch.  Although Andrew did not want to stop trick-or-treating initially, he soon started to get into the giving out part too.  He loved yelling at kids passing by, "Get your treat!" and wishing them "Happy Halloween" as they walked up.  I'm pretty sure we had people stop who may not have just because Andrew was yelling at them across the street and was too darn cute to pass by. 



 

 

 

I've never been a big fan of Halloween (shocking, I know), but after how much fun we had watching Andrew this year, I cannot wait for next year when we have too little Trick-or-Treaters getting in on the action!