Halloween...part 2

I'm not sure if it's because Halloween fell on a Friday this year, but I feel like we were celebrating for a long, long time.  So here it is...our Halloween conclusion.

As both kiddos had a few Halloween "outfits" I had to snap a few pictures on Thursday.  I loved Oliver's Halloween tie shirt (I could make this - right?) and Eleanor's Halloween dress was right up her ally!  Of course it takes about 300 pictures to find that perfect one...but some of the "trial pictures" turn out just as cute!

Friday was finally Halloween and Eleanor had her Halloween party at school.  The kids were supposed to dress up as their favorite literary character....you know, so as not to offend anyone with Halloween.  I made Eleanor an "Anna" outfit, but when the day actually came, we agreed she could wear the witch costume.  It's not like she was a scary witch, there was no blood or gore...and tons of children's books have witches as cute as Eleanor!!

Anywho!  I ran up to school for her Halloween "parade".  Why?  Because I was on maternity leave and I could!  I was so surprised by the amount of cars at school!  It was packed!  Eleanor was pretty happy to see Oliver and I and seriously...that smile would get me to do anything!

When Eleanor got home that night we goofed around taking a few more Halloween pictures while Andy finished up work.  I really wanted to get a comparison shot of Oliver and this little ghost.

So of course we had to get a comparison of Eleanor and the little ghost.  Why does EVERYTHING make Eleanor seem so big and grown up? 

Once Andy was done working it was time for a great tradition - Pumpkin shaped pizza and "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown".  With Halloween being on a Friday this year we really debated what we should do.  A few cities in the area were having Trick or Treat on Friday night and we had a few offers to go out.  However, with the horrible weather (wind and freezing cold temperatures) we decided against any of those offers.  Eleanor only made it a short time in nice weather...I can't imagine she'd enjoy Trick or Treating in horrible weather - and I wasn't going to take Oliver out in the weather. 

Our school also had a Halloween Dance that I heard was pretty fun for the kids.  We thought about doing that, but Eleanor really never mentioned it once.  We figure there will be years that she REALLY wants to go and we'll HAVE to go.  So when we mentioned our evening, Eleanor latched on to it and got excited!

It really is a tradition I love and I'm SO glad we stuck to it one more year.  The older Eleanor gets and the more involved she becomes the less likely I am to have her enjoy sitting on a couch with me, in  her pajamas, eating pumpkin shaped pizza.  Oliver looks less than thrilled in this picture...but I assure you, he enjoyed the Charlie Brown special!  We had a great night, cuddled together, listening to the wind howl outside. 

I also needed to get one more holiday picture of Oliver.  I've seen several Pinterest posts of babies in pumpkins and I knew I'd just HAVE to take a picture of Oliver in a pumpkin this year...because I can.  I REALLY wanted a picture of him in a sea of candy...but I missed that one - so I wasn't giving up on the pumpkin. 

I mean...seriously!  My kid is cute to begin with...and then you put him in a pumpkin!  Bwahahaha!  Doesn't he look thrilled?

Pinterest fail?  I'm going to record it as a success!

Our final Halloween celebration was on Saturday night.  Every few months, Andy and I get together with a group of our friends to play Euchre.  Because this gathering was so close to Halloween, we decided to dress up!

So...of course...I turned to Pinterest and found these DIY Princess Anna and Elsa shirts.  Long story short: Eleanor told me she wanted to be Anna for her school Halloween party (because of the book character thing) so I made her a shirt.  It wasn't too hard so I text my friend Sara and asked if she wanted the Elsa to my Anna...

As you know, Eleanor was never Anna for school, so I made her out the shirt on for at least one picture with me!  I mean, I can't resist matching outfits!

Andy was going to be Olaf.  That is, until my sister told him about an Elvis costume she had.  Olaf was quickly forgotten about!  I must say...he makes a great Elvis!

And so Halloween is finally over and November 1 Christmas began (according to local retailers!).  I'm all about Christmas, but am going to soak in the last remaining days of fall and focus on Thanksgiving...a great holiday, especially when I have so much to be thankful for!