halloween

i love halloween! something about little ones in their costumes...gets me every time! i remember going over to my brother's house every year for halloween and going with them and the kids trick-or-treating.  sometimes i took them by myself while mita stayed behind to pass out candy.  

i've been so excited to dress sophie in her first costume.  this whole month jake's been talking about ghosts, "gawbwins", spiders, things being "spooooky" and our halloween decorations that matt put up.  my mom and i took the kids around our neighborhood while matt and nava stayed behind to pass out candy scare people. they were in the spirit this year with scary masks, lights off, flashlights to the chin and spooky music.

we started early this year trying to let jake decide what he wanted to be.  after weeks of mind changing, we ended up last minute at target throwing a cowboy costume in the cart and rollin to the register like "whatever...it is what it is".  well, i had the cutest cowboy and ladybug on earth!

 forgot to take a picture of the house when he was done...best one on the street.

with grandma jeanene

 daddy in the spirit

 all he wanted was the lollipops

pumpkin carving

so i was really excited to see matt carve a jack-o-lantern with jake this year.  they went to pick out a pumpkin together (well really they went to lowe's, with sophie, too, since i was at work and according to matt it took him over an hour to get them out of the house) but hey...they went! i couldn't wait to get home from work to see the carving in action.  i made matt wait to start until i had my camera charged and ready to go.  so without further adieu...the first couple of photos are how i always pictured this time in my dreams mind.  the second set of photos are how it actually was.

 now the reality...jake lost interest after about 5 minutes but matt being the committed dad, kept at it. 

pa's pumpkin patch

we went to the same pumpkin patch we've been to since jake's 1st halloween.  matt wasn't busy building a fence this year, so he came with us and my mom came, too.  jake loved riding all of the rides, while sophie just chilled in the stroller with grandma.  he loved the petting zoo of course and kept calling it the animal circus because of the big tent.  he wasn't scared to feed the animals, like a few months ago at adventure city.  he loved the big jumbo slide and had no fear of going all the way to the top without us.  he was hesitant to ride the pony (he actually picked the horse to ride) but like a good mommy, i forced him to get on.  my mom and matt were going to let him pass but i'm determined to have a kid opposite of me (worrier, anxiety-ridden and fearful of the unknown...ok, a bit exaggerated but mostly true).  so we i forced him on even while he was saying " i want to get off", and you know what...he rode without crying and and afterwards, he said, "mommy, i did it!".  proud moment!