Trick or Treat!

I suppose my trick is that I am actually writing a post. It's been longer than a week, and for me, that's way too long. But I have lots of treats, in the form of Halloween pictures from our Trick or Treating this evening.

The costumes this year were as follows: Nick was the Itsy-Bitsy Spider, and Henry was the Very Hungry Caterpillar. Yes, Nick is chewing on one of his eight legs. Both boys loved going outside to demand candy from all of our generous neighbors.

Nicholas insisted he was a scary spider, so we had him give us his scary look. This is what he did.  :)

Nick loved his scary costume, but he loved the candy more. We let him eat more than usual. Honestly, we don't keep it in the house, so when it's around it is a huge temptation for all of us. Nick is still sticky.

Henry wasn't into the candy, but he loved watching all of the kids running around in the brightly colored costumes.

After we got home, Henry hung around a little bit, reveling in his alter ego. He ate like a hungry caterpillar, too, and had his first taste of pears.

Today I read an awesome book with my students. It's called Night of the Gargoyles, by Eve Bunting and David Wiesner. I read it to my 1st and 3rd graders, with different purposes. There are so many awesome words in this book. So I brought it home to share with Nick. Grandma Toni read it twice to the boys.

Although I think I prefer Halloween on a weekend, this one turned out pretty nice. Greg got the chance to go with us (he got off work early) and we all went out together as a family.

Trick or Treat!

On Sunday, Nick dressed up as a little monster. He really, really enjoyed running from house to house and ringing doorbells. I'm afraid now that whenever we go on a walk, he's going to want to ring doorbells. I don't blame him. Some days I wish the whole "ring the doorbell, get some candy" thing worked all year.

Just like last year, Nick went trick-or-treating with an entourage. Nick's Grandma Toni, Grandma Linda, and Aunt Mandy went with Greg and I on our candy-seeking adventure. We took turns taking him to the doors. He kept trying to climb on the porches the back way. Front walks do not appeal to Nick.

This year, Nick was able to say, "Trick or Treat!" However, he never once said it at the door. He would say it while running down the sidewalk, or walking on someone's lawn, but whenever we got to a door he'd clam up and just grin. That's okay, though. His grin was enough to earn him the candy.

Nick wasn't sure what to think when he saw himself in his costume. But he didn't seem to mind wearing it, and at least it was pretty warm.

Well, Nick sure tired himself out trick-or-treating. He also tired out his whole entourage. But it was a great Halloween. Nick's daddy has already eaten most of the candy.  ;)

More Costumed Fun!

Lately Nick has been cruising around holding on to everything in sight. He especially loved my mom's dishwasher. We have one at home, but it is white and doesn't show a reflection like this one. He was really excited about seeing himself.

The first picture is me at my first Halloween, and the second is Nick at his first Halloween. I do see some resemblance, but boy, I was a chunky baby. I think I was nearly 10 pounds at birth, and I obviously wasn't missing any meals. I think I was only about four or five months old when this picture was taken. How did THAT baby end up with a son this cute? I have no idea.

This is the first of the Halloween Posse Pictures. Everyone got to take a turn going up to doors with Nick and Trick-or-Treating. Nick didn't mind being passed off. First was my grandmother, and then my mom. Candy all around!

Nick's grandpa enjoyed holding him and walking up to the doors, where some folks commented, "All of you are going along for this one baby?" Yup. It was quite a crowd: me plus my mom, stepdad, grandmother, sister, and husband. Oh, plus the actual trick-or-treater: Nick.

Finally, here's the photographer: my sister, Mandy. She uses Nick as her model, and she takes pictures that are 100% better than mine. In most of her pictures, the lighting and color work, he is smiling, nothing is blurry, and no heads are cut off.

I had a few requests to post all the Halloween pictures, so I'm just going to put them all in this post. Poor Nick ended up wearing his costume quite a bit on Saturday, then again on Sunday for his other Grandma (Greg's Mom). He took it all in stride.

Tigger always likes to play with Nick, and I think the costume only helped. Usually Tigger goes to lick Nick on the face, and he gets made and crawls away. The puffy cat head helped as a buffer.

Tonight Nick was having a lot of trouble calming down. We think it's the adjustment to no more daylight savings time. One great thing about our boy is that he is generally out like a light at 8 p.m. He makes the sign for sleep and wants to go down. But since the time change, we're feeding him later (according to his body clock) and he gets overtired. He was screaming and clawing and buzzing. He wouldn't even take his binky. Greg finally laid him down in his bed at exactly 8, and he was out like a light.

Trick or Treat!

Yes, this was Nick's first Halloween, and he really loved seeing all of the people. And candy? Well, he sure liked that, too, although we didn't let him have too much.

We went trick-or-treating with my father and stepmother out in Rosemont. Everyone was so nice, even though Nick had an entourage of adults with him. We were asked a few times, "All of you guys for this one little baby?" Yup, he had a posse.

The cheetah costume didn't bother him too much, and the padding on his head even saved his head from getting bonked a few times.

This was just the first part of Nick's Halloween Adventure. We ended up going to my mom and stepdad's house for more trick-or-treating. I will have to post more later this week, when I get the pictures from my sister. It was a really fun day, though. I think Nick loved the whole Halloween thing. We sure got a kick out of watching him enjoy it.

Nick's First Pony Ride

Yesterday was such a spectacular day, and I think there will be enough pictures to last a week of posts. The pumpkin farm was definitely a hit, based on the huge smiles and shrieks of joy I got from my son the whole time we were there. However, my sister took most of the pictures, and I haven't received copies yet, so I'm going to post the cute ones I do have. I took two small video clips while Nick was having his first pony ride. Watch his face and judge for yourself whether he'll be interested in horseback riding.

Of course, I'm not sure the pony was enjoying all of the mane-pulling and back slapping Nick was involved in. It must be a pony's nightmare to be chosen for festival duty. But for Nick, it was an exciting experience. I believe Greg enjoyed himself, too. I would say that the pony ride was one of the highlights of his first pumpkin farm visit.