Ghosts of Halloween's Past.

Halloween is hands-down my favorite holiday! Who doesn't love the opportunity to "be" somebody they're not for a day? I vividly recall Halloween in the past - from bobbing for apples as a young child (or for potatoes when we were in college ... apparently apples were too expensive?), waltzing through the grade school halls in our costumes, trick-or-treating and winding up at my Uncle Joe and Aunt Lina's house, to one year being so proud of my sister and her friend Melissa for their unique M&M costumes. Halloween has always been a memorable holiday and this year has proven to be the same.
After putting Kailer down for the evening on the 30th Dan and I got out our carving and scraping tools and got elbow deep in pumpkin "goop" (yes that is an "official" Halloween term for the inside of pumpkin). After debating what we would carve into each of our pumpkins (I chose a bat with a pumpkin and Dan chose a spider), we finally decided and got right to work ..... two hours later we were done! The only thing left to do was bake the seed - YUM!!

On the morning of the 31st I hear Kailer waking up and usually it's with a stretch and a whine of "mom come and get me," but on this Fall morning I hear him wake up with a laugh! Not joking. I go to get him and when he sees me he smiles and coos; I am 100% positive that he knows it's Halloween and he's excited as his mother. I had been wanting to put his costume on him for days - okay, maybe more like weeks if you ask Dan - but I have held off until this morning. Dan kept telling me that I was worse than a kid on Christmas morning. That's quite possibly the truth too. Finally, my anticipation has gotten the best of me and I tell Dan that I "must' try on Kailer's costume before we go to the mall this afternoon, in case I needs to "tweak" it in any way.
After getting my little guy dressed, I laugh out loud, he is the cutest little boy I have ever seen on Halloween day!! Now I am super anxious to head to the mall, to meet up with friends, and show off our baby.

We arrived at the mall just in time to meet up with our friends for the start of the Trick-or-Treat parade. There were a TON of kids there and Kailer sat in our arms and took it all in. I think he really enjoyed being out and about and seeing everybody all dressed up! We got home around 6, took more pictures of Kailer and then answered our door for all of the spooky little ghosts and goblins that came for their treats. Finally around 9 p.m. the crowds outside were dwindling down, as was our candy bowl, so we shut off the lights and settled in to watch the new Friday the 13th.

All in all it was a wonderful holiday and I can't wait for next year to make more memories with Kailer. I hope everyone had a very Happy Halloween!!