Happy Halloween!!

After my sister(inlaw) Megan died just before last Christmas, putting together a holiday for Solei was pretty much impossible on my end, and I was grateful she was too young to know the difference. I thought I had more time before I had to step up and make holidays and birthdays awesome, but nope, she KNEW this year. She talked about her birthday for months even though I hadn't said anything about it (I think Elmo told her) and she WANTED Halloween, so mom had to deliver! She was so excited, that every person who has come to our house in the last few weeks has been dragged by her to the family room and told very loudly "MOMMY DECORATED!" Just a few Halloween-y things here and there, but she was into it and she wanted more!

And people, I did AWESOME.

First off was Trick-or-Treating at Jared's work the day before Halloween. I got her all gussied up and thought I'd just be putting her on parade around the office. Nope, she KNEW there was candy involved and she was there to WORK.

See that lollipop?? She wanted MORE.

Off we go!

She learned super fast that if you say "Trick or Treat" to someone, they give you CANDY. She was like a bloodhound, running from room to room screaming "TRICK OR TREAT!" at people and taking full advantage when they said "oo, take some more!"

I even dressed her in another costume to go another round and get MORE candy... (for me!)

The next morning I realized how much she was into Halloween how important it was I find something to do that day to support that. On the web I went, and I discovered a free carnival from 10-12 at the Smyrna community center! Games, treats, it was perfect! And as I rushed to get dressed and out the door - saw my pair of orange and black witch socks and thought - if I'm going to get all Halloween-y on Solei and make her dress up and try to show her how fun holidays can be, I'd better put my money where my mouth is and dress up too. So, I went as a witch. Not inventive, but I was the only parent dressed up and we had a ball playing together!

There was even a hayride, which she loved. I know this because as all the other kids sat there silently, she kept laughing and yelling "HAHA! I love it!!!"

I thought she'd like siting on the police motorcycle, but she surprised me with being the most uninterested little girl I've ever seen.

This was not the case later... I'm figuring it was because she'd been thinking "Hey! This isn't my daddy's scooter!"

We went trick or treating in Nana and Papa's neighborhood and it was positively wonderful. It was so great to share a holiday with family, and Solei loved every minute of it.

Nana even look her out later to trick or treat more while Jared and I went out to dinner with a friend and everyone had a fabulous time. When we came back, we found Papa dancing disco out on the front steps because he wanted in on all the action while he handed out candy.

All in all, it was a wonderful holiday and I'm so blasted happy. My mom always made every holiday like an event and went all out to make the days special, and I feel like I acheived it so far. Now, only about another 985 to go! (or more? I am SO not doing the math on that one).

I'll leave you with our family at Halloween last year. I love how far we've come and where we're headed!