Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Smartie bribes make for extra cute pictures!

Heading out to the Longmont Halloween Parade this morning. 

With his good buddies John John and Baby Collin.

Watching the band go by with Steff.  She was my parade helper outer since Tim had to work.

Holland, Kris and Riley came up to the Mont to experience the awesomeness of the parade. We were so happy to have the company!  There were cute costumes galore!

And here is a bonus picture of our schnoodle looking extra defeated as a pink princess-James' choice.

Halloween this year has been SO much fun with James. He has loved the decorations, crafts, pumpkins, costumes, trick-or-treating, everything! He was beyond excited to have trick-or-treaters come to his house.  He kept a watch out starting at about 5 and everytime someone walked or drove by he would knock on the door and yell, "Come to James' house please!" Cute does not even begin to describe it.

Filling up on some pumpkin pasta before trick-or-treating.

James got to go trick-or-treating at 3 neighbor's houses. He was so cute saying, "Trick-or-Treat! Thank you!"

I will echo Jenny's sentiments and say holidays are so much more fun with James around. We are so excited to start all these holiday traditions with him. But bring on Thanksgiving, we are over Halloween!

Halloween Eve

Today we had a very festive Halloween Eve. After not leaving the house for 2 days, we were more than ready for some excitement today. We went to art class and made some awesome Halloween crafts this morning and then went to a Halloween party with friends this afternoon. Last week we got together with Anne and Michelle and George and Belle and dressed up the kids in their costumes. Here they are all looking at the camera-I am impressed!

And then here is the crew from today. Holland and Riley invited us to the Halloween party at Riley's gym class. It was so cute and James had a great time. Alec wins for most creative home made costume ever. He was a school bus!

James the dragon venturing into the ball pit for the first time.

Dancing to Thriller on the trampoline. He was really feeling the music.

Hanging out with Riley the chicken.

James and Alec getting some treats post party.

Whew! I am just about Halloween'd out. Good thing the actual holiday is tomorrow so we only have one more day of celebrating :-)

Thursday

Today was our second day not leaving the house (besides playing outside). BORING! I am over it. I am a better on the go stay at home mom than one who actually stays at home. I used up everything in my bag of tricks by lunch today and was b-o-r-e-d. James had a great couple of days being snowed in at home, so I guess that is all that really matters.  We did a diaper free day today and despite being successful in terms of no accidents, I have decided that I am far too lazy to potty train James right now. Taking him to the bathroom all the time, helping him on and off the toilet, washing his hands. Blah. It is easier to just change a diaper every few hours. This was James' outfit of choice for no diaper day. 

James also tried out his sled for the first time today. He was a big fan.

Look at our gross snowy/leafy lawn!

And look what soggy leaves are doing to our driveway. How weird is this? I wonder if it is permanent? We can pretend it is some fancy faux finish we paid for instead of the laziness of not cleaning up our leaves before it snowed.

Snow Day

Sorry to disappoint, but no costume pictures today. We woke up to a winter wonderland and it felt much more like Christmas time than Halloween time today. The appeal of snow days went out the window when I stopped teaching, but we still had a nice day. Thank goodness I bought James a snowsuit and boots last weekend. He has been dying to wear them, so he was ecstatic to play out in the snow today. We probably should have bagged up the leaves in our yard instead of just raking them into large piles the other day. When this snow melts it is going to be very messy. 

Warming up with his first mug of hot chocolate. It was really more like warm milk with a 1/2 teaspoon of chocolate syrup in it, but it was still a hit.

Tuesday

Today started out with Trick or Treat storytime at the library. There were so many adorable babies and toddlers in cute costumes. I loved it.

After hearing a few Halloween stories and singing some songs, we walked across to the City Center building for Trick-or-Treating. 

James said "Trick-or-Treat" and "thank you" at every station. I think he even squeezed in a "Smell my feet" from his favorite Halloween book.

Returning to the library with his bag of loot that we prompty took away from him. Don't worry, he got a banana and was quite happy with it.

Tonight we had dinner, pumpkin carving and costumes with the cousins. Here he is with Tay and Baby Chloe the bumble bees. How cute are they?!

Getting ready to decorate some pumpkins.

The finished products. (and another pair of Halloween jams)

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And here is the big reveal of the Best.2 year old.Costume.Ever.

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Hulk Hogan. And allow me to pat myself on the back about my free handed puff painted Hulkamania logo on the bandana. Apparently I am crazy talented at using puff paint. 

It started out fun enough for James. He really liked the idea of the costume. 

Getting serious.

And then the mustache and boa came out and he was not happy.

At all.

Not even a little bit. Uncle Steve busted out his own fake mustache and he still wasn't feeling it. But don't worry, that didn't stop us.

We then tried bribing him with his first ever (seriously-first ever) piece of candy. Note the green skittle in his mouth. Still not happening.

I say, what fun is having kids if you can't dress them up for your own enjoyment? Rest assured, James will not be tortured with the Hulk Hogan outfit ever again. It is the dragon only from here on out. But the pictures were enjoyable, right? And I am really good at puff painting, right?

Monday

I apologize in advance for boring anyone with the multitude of photos I am sure you will be seeing this week. But I'm not that sorry, because it is only Monday and I already took a bunch that are too cute to not share!

Our busy week started out with music class-costumes optional. James does not pass up on an opportunity to wear a costume, so here he is as a dragon at music today.  

When we got home he took part in some naked pumpkin painting. And James painting.

When Tim got home we took a walk to enjoy the nice fall weather. (I am so glad we bought this trike when we saw it for 75% off awhile ago since he still hates every second of the bike we got him for his birthday. He screams anytime he sees his Strider bike, but he loves his Kettler trike.)

Stopping to play in some leaves.

Helping Daddy rake leaves when we got home.

See, I told you there was a lot of cute pictures!