Happy Halloween!

Halloween this year was SO FUN! Nolan had an absolute blast, and seeing his joy was so fulfilling. It is the best to be able to re-live holidays again through the eyes of children.

The holiday started off with a 4pm costume parade at Nolan's daycare. Joe and I were both able to leave work early to be there. I had thought the parade would be overwhelming to Nolan and he'd act shy... boy was I wrong! He led the way of his class and was all smiles and proud of his costume. I hid about halfway around the parade route so I'd get to observe him without him being distracted by mommy. It was so fun to watch him march with his teacher and classmates. Predictably, once he saw me he ran from his class to me, but we were able to finish the parade together with me holding his hand :)

Nolan with Miss Jen and another one of his classmates (loved the Viking costume!)

There's MAMA!

Such a happy kid!

All focused with mommy on finishing the parade

Halloween was a beautiful and warm fall day and thankfully the rain held off until after trick or treating was over. We hung around a bit after the parade finished to take some photos of our little lion man. As you can see he was very energetic and excited about everything going on around him!

What's THAT?!

Time with Daddy

My handsome boys

Back to Mommy - more wonderment!

Love his clasped hands

Me and my lion cub

Cutie

Walking around to check out all the costumes

Clapping YAY!

After the parade, we headed home and enjoyed an early dinner before getting ready for Nolan's first trick or treating! Last year, we manned the door with him for a bit before his bedtime then hung out on our front porch to greet the rest of the trick or treaters while he was sleeping. This year, I headed out with Nolan around 6pm. I had planned to play it by ear to see how he liked it thinking we'd only go to a few houses. He LOVED it. Everything was fun for him from the climbing of the front steps to pressing the doorbell and grabbing the candy to put in his bucket. We made it to 4 houses, and could have done more, but he wasn't going to eat the candy and I wanted him to have fun manning our door so we called it a night. He must have his mom's same taste in candy though because he always selected Reese's Peanut Butter Cups whenever there was a choice (guess that bright orange packaging works for kids!) Of course, I had to give him a sample of what he was choosing when we got back - he loves peanut butter cups just like mama!

Ready to GO!

Nolan also loved opening the door to trick or treaters at our house. He would wave to the kids when we opened the door and yell out "Bye Bye!" when they were leaving. He'd get upset everytime a group would leave and we'd have to close the door. But there'd be another group closely following and the cycle would get to start again :)

I'd call this year's Halloween a huge success! It definitely makes me excited for future years as he understands the concept more and we can do more in depth trick or treating. I have such fond memories of halloween as a kid, and am excited to make new memories with my children.

The boys - Halloween 2013

And of course, a look back at just 1 year ago... I think Dean needs a new costume next year :)

Halloween 2012