My Weak Attempt At Documenting Halloween

We didn't do much for Halloween this year.  There were no pumpkin patches, there was no pumpkin carving, I didn't decorate, heck, Holden even insisted on recycling his costume from last year despite many requests by his parents to be something else.   Add to that the fact that I was camera-less for almost the entire month of October and this makes for one sad excuse for a Halloween post.  But thanks to some mediocre pictures from Reo's phone, some photos taken by other people and a Halloween miracle of the arrival of my replacement camera I will do my best to piece together some sort of Halloween memories for 2011.

Not Pictured:  Holden making sugar cookies with his Aunt Emily and insisting on more hearts and Christmas bells than Halloween related shapes.  And eating so much of the dough that there were very few cookies to show for the event anyways.

Pictured:  Annual Halloween party with friends where the Manning Family costumes fail each year to measure up to everyone elses.  Could be because we aren't great costumers anyway, and we all tend to shed pieces throughout the night, so by the time photos are taken at the end of the shindig only traces of our costumes still exist.

Not pictured:  Any of the Halloween themed crafts/activities I thought about doing with Holden all month (sorry, sweetie, Mom's pregnant this year).

Pictured:  Holden's nursery leaders at church saving the day and giving him a pumpkin to decorate.

Not pictured:  Trick or Treating at Grandpa's office, where Holden was able to do a practice run for the big night.

Pictured:  Realizing that I have a marathon trick or treater on my hands.  The kind that in a couple of years will be mapping out lengthy routes and coming home with pillowcases full of candy.  This kid was in heaven.  He lasted about 25 houses longer than the 5 I expected him to last, and as soon as the candy hit his bucket he turned to us and asked "Are there more houses after this?!?"  Add to the fact that we caught up with my parent's next door neighbors who happily took Holden under their wing and let him tag along with them, and I firmly believe he could have gone all night if we had let him, despite the fact that by the end of the night his little bucket weighed as much as him.

Pictured:  Despite all the trick or treating fun, when we got back to my parent's house he was still hungry for more and insisted on helping pass out candy to the other kids.

Pictured:  Enjoying my favorite part of Halloween, sorting through all the loot you bring home.  Must be Holden's favorite part too, as he asks to "sort" his candy about 10 times more often than he actually asks to eat a piece.

Pictured:  And finally, refusing to let the Halloween spirit die and recycling trick or treating buckets into "slippers,"  where we have to dance to the song "This is Halloween"  over and over...and over.

Can I just tell you how much fun it is to be a mom of a 3 year old?  Because it is crazy fun.