All things Halloween

We did a lot of fun Halloween activities this year! I looked up what was going on around town and made a plan to go to as many as we could :) Even though we did a lot of festivals, I still feel a little let down that I didn't have the time/brain energy to get as into it as I usually do. Oh well, next year!

I had a bunch of costumes in James' closet for him that I bought at 90% (!) off at target last year. One morning we pulled them out and tried on different ones to see which one was the winner:

Showing me his muscles in a transformer costume:

 Then we tried on the batman costume. He liked it because of the mask and when we took it off, he insisted he keep the mask on for the rest of the day:

The batman costume was a little big, so I tried to steer him towards the transformer costume when we had a festival to go to. The first one was at the library. Last year I did the balloon animals for them and it was packed, so I made sure to get there early. For some reason there was barely anyone there this year! It turned out to be a good thing for James because they let him do his favorite games (like the fishing game) over and over and over :)

He would also go up to the popcorn machine and get a new bag of popcorn...then bring it to me and hand it to me and go back for more! This was one of the first outings that I had with just me and James since Rett was born. James was loving having me all to himself! He was so happy.

The next festival was a fundraiser at a local saddle club. We spent wayyy too much money on tickets. We overestimated how many we would need and ended up giving over $5 away to other people coming in as we were leaving. We got there really early so avoid the lines and the first thing James wanted to do was the hay ride of course! We thought he would be scared, but he loved every minute of it.

Here he is waving at us:

 He decided to go with a superman costume this time, since he can fly with his cape! :)

 We decided to see if he would go on a pony ride. The last time I tried to put him on one, he cried and screamed and I had to get my money back, so I wasn't sure. He loved the helmet, so that was a good sign!

 When it was his turn, they started to take him over to a small, miniature horse that they had for littler kids. James immediately protested and pointed to the other horses and said, "No, big one!". We were so proud of him! He wasn't scared at all:

 Waving at us:

 Then we went into the petting zoo area:

 His absolute favorite of all the animals were these baby chicks and ducklings. He kept going back there over and over:

 Petting a chicken:

 Of course, we had to do another train ride!

The next day was our ward's Halloween party and trunk and treat. Once again, the hayride was the favorite! They also had a bouncy house that James loved. Anthony and I took turns holding Rett in the sling while I took care of some primary stuff for the sacrament program the next day. Everywhere we went, as long as Rett was being carried in the sling, he was a happy baby, no tears at all! James was a little overwhelmed by all the people once the trick or treating started but he loved getting all the candy. On the way home, he had a lollipop in his hand and got it all over him. Anthony was so grossed out! :)

Before we knew it, it was Halloween day! Anthony dressed up for work. Every year they do a theme and this year they had the doctors and nurse practitioners dress up as prison guards, and the support staff as prisoners. I got Anthony's shirt from goodwill and his police accessories from the dollar tree. The fake glasses came in the policeman package...I guess policemen wear nerdy glasses? I didn't get it :)

While Anthony was at work I took some pictures of Rett in his Halloween onesie that I got at my baby shower. He is starting to look so cute!!

After Anthony got home from work, we got ready to go trick or treating downtown. We did it last year and had a blast! They block off the main road and the kids can trick or treat up and down the street at the different stores. Anthony didn't dress up, but a friend lent us a monkey costume for Rett, so I dressed up as the (wo)Man in the Yellow Hat and Rett was Curious George (James is obsessed with Curious George right now). James was a transformer again :)

The trick or treating was fun, but was over pretty quickly. Since it was about time for Rett to eat again once we were finished, we decided to head home. After we got home, James pretty much forgot about his Halloween candy until right before bedtime. I suggested that as a special treat he get to eat a popsicle (sugar-free) in the bathtub. He was so excited!! Man I love it when you can find ways to trick them into not eating/doing something that isn't as good for them.

All in all, we had a great Halloween. Hopefully next year we will have the energy to go all out and have matching costumes and everything!