Happy Halloween

I decided that I like Halloween a lot more as an adult experiencing it through my children than I did as a child. I guess I liked Halloween as a kid in the way all kids do, it's fun to dress up and get candy, sure. But was it ever my favorite holiday? No way. Probably because most of it was too scary. And I still don't like the scary parts of Halloween - just pumpkins and cute spiders (hi Aunt Allison!) but I loved everything we did for Halloween for Henry this year. Making Henry's costume, teaching him about Trick or Treat and then watching him, reading him his new favorite Halloween books, carving pumpkins and pumpkin crafts, and our new tradition of pumpkin soup on Halloween? You bet!

We had a really busy day yesterday. We saved our pumpkin carving to the afternoon, and while Gabe carved Henry's choice of a happy face, I did some pumpkin projects with Henry, to keep him entertained.

First, helping daddy see-saw-see on the pumpkin face

He made a spider!And he really loved Mr. Potato Head Frankenstein pumpkin, where we drilled a hole wherever he wanted to put the part, and then he helped push it in.
Admiring his monster creation. It came out pretty good, don't you think?
He painted a pumpkin too, but that didn't last too long. All of Henry's creations on the porch. And we got a bumpy pumpkin on sale for a quarter yesterday at a place we drive by everyday where they have a stationary wooden train, and we stopped by yesterday to ride it after church.
Then it was time for costumes! He loved putting on his "towboy" costume. Admiring it with his trust cow dog Paddy, who came trick-or-treating with us.
Henry could not wait to get out of the door for "My Halloween!" But first, a horsey ride from daddy!
We prepped a little about saying trick-or-treat and thank you. He was hesitant to say trick or treat, but was really great with the "thank yous!" and "bye!" and by the end of the night, "Happy Halloween!" We also talked about taking the treats home before we went, and every time Henry got one, he put it in his bucket, looked deeply in, and said, "these home." Pretty cute.
I'm pretty sure he's the cutest cowboy ever.
Admiring the loot at the end of the night.

I love making Henry's Halloween costume. The inspiration this year were his boots from an Oklahoma junk shop, the perfect fit this year. Last year, as I sewed on his tiger stripes by hand, I decided that for this year I wanted to try a pattern and sew the costume by machine. His vest was the perfect small project. This was the first time I cut out a pattern and pieced something together without my mom to help, who helped consult over the phone. I am pretty proud of how it turned out, and I'm ready to tackle a more intensive project next year, depending on what he wants to be - I know he'll have more of a say! We have a cowboy belt buckle from when Gabe was little, so even though I forgot, yesterday I quickly made a belt out of the same material while Henry napped - love the iron and glue gun!

Hurray for discovering new things through the eyes of your children.

PS - new baby is pretty excited for all the Halloween candy. It's harder to say no to the unborn than it is to a two year old. :)