Halloween Fun

My Dynamic Duo!

Halloween proved to be the best one yet as parents and was the biggest deal. I don't know if it's just because Dominic was so into it or what but I feel like Halloween has become almost as big as Christmas in a lot of ways. The yard displays were crazy and so much fun. There were also a lot of fun events leading up to Halloween night. The main factor was the fact that Dominic was very into all of the scary stuff - decorations, imagery, costumes, books, and movies. Blake was into it too. 

Batman and Robin

MOMS Club Halloween Parade

My wild and crazy kids running around after the parade

The first Halloween event was the MOMS Club Halloween Parade. The boys dressed up as Batman (Dominic) and Robin (Blake). If you remember (or not), two years ago Dominic was Robin to Brian's Batman. Dominic has been into his Batman cape since we got it in early September, but he wasn't into wearing the body suit until recently. Blake despised his Robin costume (we didn't even attempt to put the mask on) but after a couple of minutes of crying, he forgot he was wearing it and was fine. For whatever reason, Dominic thought that wearing the Batman cape and mask made him scary, so he greatly enjoyed running around saying, "I'm The Batman!" and trying to scare people. Thankfully, Brian came along to the event and helped with the boys as I was absolutely exhausted from not sleeping well the last few nights before. 

Next came Dunwoody's "Haunted Barn" at the historical farm house around the corner from our neighborhood. It wasn't actually inside the house or scary for that matter, and Dominic kept asking throughout the tour and afterward when we were going to go into the scary house, but I do think he had fun looking at all of the scary decorations, and Blake seemed to like the ghosts and spiders too. I don't think Dominic is ready for a true haunted house, but hopefully next year we can find another kid-friendly haunted house that's a little scarier. 

Just a typical day driving around...with Batman in his cape.

Pumpkin Carving!

Although we didn't get to carve all of our pumpkins - such is life when you have 2 kids, another on the way, and your husband is busier than ever at work, but Brian did carve one lovely pumpkin as the best Halloween movie ever, "Hocus Pocus," ceremoniously played in the background. Blake enjoyed the cat in the movie and Dominic loved the witches. Blake was pretty into watching Brian carving, but Dominic's attention span was much shorter. 

My contribution to Dominic's class Halloween party: Banana Ghosts. Thanks, Pinterest! 

Class Halloween Party with D. 

In his Pirate costume. Almost as cute as Batman.

On Halloween Day, the boys had school. Blake, whose parents' morning out program is run through the church, didn't have a Halloween party or dress up since they're not too into wearing costumes at this age, but Dominic, who's class is part of the preschool, had a class party which I helped with, and was able to dress up there in his costume. Unfortunately, there was a rule that they couldn't wear superhero costumes since the boys get too violent with them (boys!). So I bought a pirate dress up outfit for the boys since Dominic has become very into dressing up recently. He wasn't quite as into that costume though and actually just wanted to wear his friend at school's fireman costume during the party. I probably should have brought his vampire teeth because Dominic had been talking about "Vampirates" (aka vampires), so I had given him some vampire teeth to wear with his vampire costume to live up to the name. 

Batman and Robin in the Batmobile-Wagon

When people didn't answer the door immediately, the boys would just try to open the door and get the candy themselves. 

trick or treat!

Trick or Treating, the highlight of Halloween of course, was even more fun than ever for Brian and me as well as for Dominic and Blake. Last year, Blake couldn't do much last year other than being carried up to each and every door. This year, he was walking himself up to the houses and actually saying "Trick or Treat!," getting candy...and eating the candy along the way (his favorite part I'm sure), and saying thank you for the candy. One great thing about Halloween is that it helped him really perfect pronouncing "thank you" correctly. He had been saying more of just the "you" but he was actually saying the thank pretty clearly after a night's worth of practicing. 

Dominic also became quite the expert at ringing the doorbell and then saying, "Trick or Treat!" and was wonderful about thanking everyone for giving him candy. He, too, enjoyed eating candy along the way. He did get a little too excited a couple of times and tried to run to the next house ahead of us, but thankfully he stopped just at the end of the driveways instead of going into the street. When we got home from trick or treating, the boys enjoyed eating some of their candy (and then Brian and I ate most of the rest of course). It's funny, when Dominic was Blake's age we didn't let him eat any candy, but at this point, since Dominic eats candy, it's pretty much impossible to not let Blake have any. I would say that we don't usually allow either of them to eat much candy, but it's a very special occasion and they really didn't have very much. 

Post-Trick or Treating Candy Counting and Eating

Post-Trick or Treating Eating fun (and such a mess!)

Dominic had so much fun that even the next day or two afterward he would ask to go trick or treating. It was so sad having to tell him that we couldn't do that till next year. I'm not sure who is more excited now for next year, him or me. After all, the boys will be older and even more into the fun (and candy of course), and we'll have a third, little one to cart around in costume. I'm already thinking about what cute, little costume to dress our girl in next year! 

What a difference a year makes!
Halloween 2012 (top) and Halloween 2013 (bottom)