Halloween 2014

Halloween is by far Jake's favorite holiday (Christmas a very close second). All through October, he chats away about pumpkins and ghosts and "The Nightmare Before Christmas." He discovered a song on YouTube that goes, "Walking down the street on Halloween Night, lots of scary monsters and other strange sights!" He sings it daily, and pretty much all year round. He has also LOVED a new Curious George movie called "Halloween Boofest." I think we watched it at least twice every day. And he would talk about No-Noggin incessantly. Every person he came into contact with learned about No-Noggin and all about how he kicks people's hats off on Halloween Night! It was super cute. Because he was very, very serious about it.

Jake dressed up as a pirate, Ruby was a strawberry and Benjamin was a pumpkin. Jake LOVED it when the twins got dressed up too. He already calls them his friends and loves to play and do things with them. The twins are at a fun age and Jake plays with them all day long. It's wonderful.

Halloween night we came to Grandma Heidi and Grandpa Martin's house for dinner. (Jake loves their house because it fully decorated with lit up pumpkins and all kinds of decor. Jake asked daily to go to Grandma's house and see her "Halloween stuff.") Mom had chocolate cupcakes topped with skeletons and spiders and poison bottles and Jake thought it was simply amazing. 

(Something I've really learned about decorating for holidays is how ESSENTIAL it is for kids. You could have the saddest display, the cheesiest decor and it wouldn't matter. Decorations make holidays special and magical for kids. It's truly amazing and I love seeing the light and excitement in Jake's eyes as he takes it all in.)

The weather forecast predicted rain, so as soon as Scott got to Mom's from work, we ate quickly, chatted with family and the sister missionaries who had come for dinner, and headed out to trick-or-treat around the neighborhood. We had the twins in the double stroller and Jake was so grown up this year, walking on his own, not scared, going up to houses all by himself at times. He still didn't say "trick-or-treat" very loudly. haha. He would just stand there until someone gave him candy. And if he did say it after prompting from us, it was very, very soft-spoken.  It was adorable and we had so much fun.

When it started to rain we dashed to get through a few more houses and then came back to Grandma's. We trick-or-treated just long enough to get a good amount of candy for Jake and he was content. He's still not at the age to have the desire to fill bags bags with Halloween candy. Thank Heavens! But he was the cutest 3 year old Pirate I ever did see! Everyone oohed and ahhed over how cute and sweet he was. And Benjamin and Ruby received lots of compliments too.

I love my family. I love that we make traditions together and can share in the magic of holidays. Happy Halloween to the cutest little pirate, strawberry and pumpkin that I know!