Trick-or-Treat: Rescheduled

Due to the hurricane, Halloween was reschedule from Wednesday to Saturday. It worked out really well because the rain had stopped, Jeremy had the day off and while it was still chilly, Saturday made for a much better day to trick-or-treat.

This was the first year that Owen really understood what was going on. We practiced saying Trick-or-Treat and Thank-You and off we went with Gillen in the carrier.

We live in a Jewish community that doesn't celebrate Halloween so the main drag of businesses opens their doors for little beggars and hand out candy. This is the perfect situation for parents with little kids because there is no walking up to doors. Just up and down the street. We live two blocks away so we put on our costumes and walked up to the main street.

We got TONS of compliments on our family costume and lots of the store owners were dressed up. Owen was so excited to go to each place his little hand was wriggling out of Jeremy's hand before we even got to the door.

(I took these pictures with my phone so they are a little blurry but you get the idea)

Incredible Banking

 Robin Hood

 Ran into our friend Sam who was also a superhero!

Clifford the big red dog (who apparently works at a mattress store now?)

 Such a happy boy!

After Owen's treat bag was full we stopped and picked up Chinese take out. 

Superhero families need to eat!

When we got home we ate our dinner and then helped Owen sort and count his candy. We let him choose a few pieces. The first piece he chose was a weird chocolate coin wrapped in foil which he tried to eat with the paper on. Two houses down they were giving out FULL candy bars and instead of picking a Butterfinger or Snickers -- Owen picked a bag of peanut M&Ms. Jeremy and I both looked at him dumbfounded. Granted, the M&Ms were the only candy that was recognizable to him since he's never eaten a candy bar. And yes, we live down the street from a dunkin donuts and they handed out a small bag full of doughnut holes. It was awesome.

Jeremy and I ate most of Owen's candy after he went to bed. And other than Owen asking for a piece of candy the next morning he'd all but forgotten about it by Monday ;)

Halloween 2012: Our Family is INCREDIBLE!

Jeremy bought this Mr. Incredible costume in 2008 when he rotated at Children's Hospital as a medical student. He later found a toddler costume on clearance and we've held onto it until we had a kiddo that would fit in it. This was the year and while Owen has never seen a movie, let alone the Incredibles, we told him we were all "superheros" and he was thrilled. I used my highly untrained sewing skills to make a costume for Gillen and one for myself - they weren't perfect but I think we looked pretty cute. We all had several layers of sweatpants on so we kept warm.

Someone commented that they can't wait to see what we are next year. I think I set the bar too high for family costumes. I wish we all wore trash bags, that way there would be lots of room for improvement.

Happy Halloween!

Owen and Gillen's Halloween Party

Because of the hurricane, which thankfully proved to be inconsequential for us, Halloween was postponed. When you are counting down the days until Trick-or-Treat with your toddler, this presents quite the problem. Owen wanted to wear his "superhero" costume so badly so I decided to host playgroup at our apartment for an impromptu Halloween party.

The great thing was that many of the preschools were also cancelled that day so some of our friends who are usually at preschool on Tuesday morning were able to come to our party - nine friends in all made for a great party.

I cut out some pumpkins/ghosts and set out some eye ball stickers and makers for them to decorate. Then we tapped them onto tongue depressors (having a doctor husband does come in handy sometimes!) and used them as puppets.

I grabbed some light up bracelets out of the Target dollar bin last time I was there and Halloween stuff was on clearance a week early at JoAnn for 75% off so I bought a ton of sprinkles and some mini candy necklace kits (fine motor skills and a treat!)

The night before I baked some cupcakes so with a little Mama help on the icing the kids went to town decorating. Here is Owen's masterpiece (which he proceeded to eat only the top off of and then ask for more icing which he wiped all over his costume. AWESOME.)

I made some yummy pumpkin bread and vegetable soup for the Mamas and also whipped up a batch of Candy Corn popcorn last weekend. -- because no matter how many times I tell myself not to cook with candy... I always do it. And this stuff was SO GOOD!

We tried to take a group picture at the end of the party when all of the kids were ready for nap and hyped up on sugar. It went like this...

and then this...

and baby Gil was there too - he dressed up like a surgeon ate his fists for lunch ;)

Overall the party was a huge success. Owen was so happy to have his friends over and share his toys and all of the Mamas were happy not to disappoint a cute little bunch of kiddos on Halloween.

Pirate Pumpkin Carving

Happy Halloween!

The past week was filled with Halloween fun for Owen and I. Last Monday we went to the library for the kid's Halloween party. It was absolutely PACKED with children dressed in costumes. They had a story time, songs, puppet show and then broke into stations for activities. Owen was very overwhelmed, as were most of the kids. One child even came up to him and tapped his lion face a little bit, when Owen didn't budge, he kissed him right on the mouth and walked away! Owen looked over at me like, "Um...what was that?"

Owen did most of the stations backwards. He had a fun time "digging" in the sand for shells.

 and then you were supposed to go "fishing" in a little pool full of balls for a ghost and then take it over to the table to decorate it with markers...

Owen decided to find a ghost on the floor, put one mark on it and then color ALL OVER his hands with the markers.

He then proceeded to sit in the ball pit for TEN MINUTES while other children "fished" around him :)

Tuesday we went back to the pumpkin patch with playgroup to explore the pumpkins and the petting zoo and to have a yummy lunch (no pictures because I forgot my camera...)

Owen and I met up with some friends at the Children's Museum on Saturday for the Halloween party there too, forgot my camera again but he wore his dragon costume from last year b/c it still fit and was easier (and cooler) than his lion outfit. He had a blast!

Somewhere along the way he picked up a nasty bug and vomited on Saturday and Sunday night, running a fever with snotty nose both days. He did pretty well on Monday though so he and I went out trick-or-treating just for a little bit. It was cold and raining and VERY crowded (we trick-or-treat in the business district on the main street b/c the houses here don't give out candy).  This was our tired little lion cub

I dressed as Anne Boleyn and we only got one quick picture when we stopped at the library.

(my face had white make-up on it. You know, because I was dead.)

Owen's belly still wasn't right but he insisted on "treats" so I gave him 5 M&Ms which he happily ate saying, "Tr-treat! Lion! Hi-o-win!" which was totally adorable.

Jeremy had to work so he missed trick-or-treat but there is one perk to having a surgeon for a Daddy

Our perfect pumpkin, carved just for Mr. Owen

Zoo BOO!

Jeremy has to work during trick-or-treat next week so we skipped Owen's nap today and went to the Zoo BOO after Jeremy came home from the hospital so that we could spend a little Halloween together. Jeremy chose Owen's costume this year and I've gotta say, we have one adorable lion cub!

 tired lion cub on a 1,200lb pumpkin

 Owen was VERY interested in his "treats"