Halloween 2012

Welcome back - thanks to Facebook my readers are multiplying and that excites me!  I love for others to see how the Lord is blessing our family and to read my thoughts as I grow with the Lord.  

Halloween 2012 was awesome - better than I expected.  

Luke began his Halloween celebration at school on October 30th. All the toddlers put on their Halloween costumes and had a party.  Luke kept his costume on for only about 10 minutes - just long enough for me to get a few pictures. The rest of the time - me and Landis and the other parents sat around and watched the toddlers eat snacks and cupcakes. Their little orange faces were adorable and some of the costumes that his friends wore were AWESOME! Kuddos to you Mommies who are so creative - there were several hand sewn costumes - and Luke's wasn't one of them.  I thank the Disney store for Luke's super cute Mickey costume!  

Check out his school party pics!

This is a super sweet picture! As a reading teacher, I almost cried when I turned around and saw Luke and Sophia reading books together on the mini-couch. After the party events were over - eating and pin the face on the Jack O' Lantern were all done - Luke's teachers let the kids play while the parents interacted with the kids and each other. This sweet girl, Sophia, became our little buddy.  She played Legos with me and Luke and then sat in my lap while I read them several books. I enjoyed my time playing with Luke and his friends - they are a sweet bunch!  And, thank you to Ms. Lisa and Ms. Rhonda for inviting us into your classroom for like 2 hours!!! :) That's brave!  :) 

Halloween night was super exciting too!  For the most part, we use Halloween as a time to visit family. So, we started our visits by stopping by the nursing home to see Granny Otelia.  She didn't know we were coming so she was super excited to see a little Mickey Mouse come around the corner.

Here's Mickey at the nursing home...

The hat came off within 5 minutes of visiting each place.

Our next stop was Mammaw Carolyn's house. Luke wanted us to hide him behind the car and then say, "Introducing Mickey Mouse" and he would run out from behind the car and show Mammaw his costume.  We did just that and it was adorable! Here he is....introducing Mickey Mouse....

Mammaw gave Luke a few other goodies besides candy for Halloween - she gave him a play doh set and some more pieces to his train set.  We stayed at her house and played with those new toys for a little while.  Here he is playing....

We made another stop at Papaw Donnie's house.  I didn't take any pictures there but Luke had a blast!  He went outside with papaw and rode the lawn mower and threw rocks in the pond.  

Our last stop was Memaw's house - because Luke can understand HOW to trick or treat this year, we thought we would let him trick or treat with Lexi in Memaw's neighborhood.  And, we did....it was great!  Luke rode his 4-wheeler from house to house....he would take off his mask, drive, park in the driveways, put his mask on, grab his bucket and then walk to the door.  At first, he was very shy, but before long, he had the hang of it.  He would ring the doorbell, say trick or treat, and then use good manners by saying thank you.  When asked who he was, he, at first, said, "I'm Luke" but then after some coaching, he began to tell everyone that he was "Mickey Mouse." I have a cute video of one of his trick or treat stops at the bottom.  

After we visited about 10 houses, Luke said, "Mommy, can I go eat some of my candies?"  I said, "Of course!"  We went back to Memaw's and ate some candy and then headed to McDonald's for a real dinner! LOL!  :)  At McDonald's (even after eating a ton of candy), Luke was so sweet and well behaved. He ate a lot of his dinner and talked to us about his trick or treating.  At one point while we were eating, he reached over and hugged me and said, "I love you sweet Mommy."  I melted like the chocolate candy that I had eaten too much of!  :) 

After dinner, we headed home - Luke played with his new train pieces and play doh and then we headed to bed. Last Halloween, Luke had a major meltdown after getting all of the candy but this year Luke was great! He never got wild or acted crazy! He did a few "jigs" around the house for us right before bed, but, he went to bed fairly easy.  We were very proud of him and made some memories that I will forever cherish.  

Here are our pictures...

And, the video of Luke trick or treating....