Argh! Happy Halloween!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

We experienced our first full fledged family Halloween tonight! At the time of Collin's first Halloween he was about one month old and Doug was in North Dakota for work that whole week, incidentally leaving me as the single parent of a newborn. Collin's costume was "baby in diaper" (photo at the right) with pumpkin socks compliments of Trish Cooley, I believe. I was so tired that I did not even give out candy.

Last year we stepped it up a notch and gave out candy at home. Collin also had a Dalmatian costume (left) that he wore for his party at daycare. But, again, as a family we did not venture out.

So, this year we took the plunge. The Saturday before Halloween we went to a celebration in Maple Grove with the Bartsch and Not-Cooley families where Collin got to wear his pirate costume for the first time ever. He was shy at first (especially for a pirate!) but definitely found his groove toward the end.

Riley "Not Cooley" as an elephant and Zack Bartsch as a dragon (though he preferred dinosaur) and Collin, all enjoying the balloons! Kiley, Zack's infant sister was a dinosaur...so I guess he was inspired!

Today, actual Halloween, Collin again got to be "Captain Collin" the pirate and wore his costume to daycare and later tonight as we trick-or-treated. For as fidgety as kids his age can be, I am impressed that he typically wears the hat, sash and eye patch without trying to take them off...now, those same items may fall off because of his activity level...but still, I'm impressed!

Collin had a hard time understanding that we could not go into the houses at first. He wanted to see people's pets and tried more than once to walk right in. After a while he got the hang of it. Full of sugar, we went to his daycare center (Elim Christian Learning Center) in Anoka where they had a "pitstop" type of Halloween party, complete with hotdogs, cider, hot chocolate, games, etc. etc. We spent some time there, then as the sugar wore off we headed home.

Collin really enjoyed the dancing and singing turkey that was part of a large outdoor display.

And he also enjoyed "just hanging out". Pirating is hard work!

All in all a "Happy Halloween"!