Halloween

This past Halloween was full of occassions to dress up and have fun. Besides trick-or-treat, there was a party at Hope's preschool, and a family Halloween/birthday party. Fun!

Hope was an Indian (I gave up trying to call her a Native American - she thought that was weird). She loves her costume, and wears it whenever she can. I think it'll live in the dress-up clothes forevermore!

Her preschool party was pretty cute. The kids from all the classes sat in a big circle and sang their Halloween songs, then modeled their costumes, then went on a parade through the church to trick-or-treat in the office.

The family party was in WV, which ought to be only 6 hours away. But between the potty breaks and pit stops and dinner, it was close to 8 hours to get there this time. Gah! It probably wouldn't have been such a hard drive, except we didn't leave until Daddy got off work, so we didn't get into town until 9:30 - two hours past bedtime. BUT it was so fun to see my family, Hope and Grant had a blast playing with their cousins, we got to celebrate birthdays we aren't usually around for, and the drive home was painless :)

Grant had a precious dinosaur costume, but he pretty much hated it. He was in it for such a short amount of time that this is the only picture we got of Dino-Grant.

He spent most of the party like this. More comfy, no?

My parents, aunt and uncle, sister, grandma, and cousins all had elaborate costumes. Daddy and I had only planned to wear silly hats, but we were peer pressured into coming up with something more festive at the last minute :)

This is Hope firmly planted on "Grandma Pickle," which is how she spent much of the weekend. She had such fun staying with her great-grandma, getting to know her more, and generally making herself right at home. And, yes, Grandma Pickle looks adorable in her pioneer lady outfit!

When October 31st finally rolled around, Hope was still excited about the notion of trick-or-treating. She waited all day for it to get dark, and couldn't wait to get her costume on and go door-to-door. But after we went to our first neighbor's house she decided she was finished. Done! No amount of talking it through would convince her that it would be fun to go to a few more houses.

I guess I should be glad that candy doesn't motivate her ... ?