Halloween

Well, it's been over a month since I blogged, which means I haven't posted anything about Halloween!  We had a pretty good October and were able to do quite a few Halloween activities despite being insanely busy.  We didn't get to carve a pumpkin yet again this year (that is 2 years in a row now... eh!), but we did actually BUY a pumpkin, which is a step farther than we got last year!  :) 

We also made it to a pumpkin patch this year, which was a lot of fun, especially for Naomi.  They had a hayride around their little farm, and lots of different animals to look at and pet and even feed (like turkeys, chickens, goats, donkeys, bunnies, and some cute little puppies!).  They had a straw maze, which Jacob tried to take Naomi through, but she got too scared and turned around at the first bend.  I think she was afraid because it was really dark in the maze.  They also had a bunch of places around the farm to take pictures.  It was a bit colder than I had hoped for on the day we decided to go, but we had fun anyway!

Daddy & Aleta on the hayride

Cold little baby!

Mommy & Naomi on the hayride

straw maze

Naomi got scared and came right back out of the maze.

Goin' to jail!

GIANT pumpkin

Aleta was not happy to be put down.  She was cold and tired and just wanted to be held.

haha poor Aleta.

The Saturday before Halloween, we had our church Halloween party/chili cook-off/trunk-or-treat.  I was really excited for the party, because I love holidays and holiday parties and activities, but it ended up being a pretty awful night.  I wasn't able to finish Jacob's costume, because I had been so busy with work and other stuff at home, so instead of being a "man in a cauldron" we just taped a sign to Jacob's sweatshirt that said, "Costume Under Construction... Coming October 2013."  But the costume thing wasn't a huge deal...  The big problem of the night was Aleta.  She was TERRIBLE, so Jacob and I spent the entire time trying to deal with her and make her happy.  The only time Aleta was happy was near the end of the night when she was crawling around and found another little baby to play with.  Aleta LOVED playing with the other baby.  When I picked her up so that we could go outside for the trunk-or-treating, she freaked out and started screaming and crying.  It was cute how much she wanted to play with the other little girl! 

They did a costume parade after dinner for all the kids, and I wasn't going to make Naomi walk in it (I didn't think she'd want to), but when they came around to our table, Naomi hopped in line without us!  She looked adorable walking in the parade in her costume, but it made me sad in a way--she didn't give a single thought to leaving us behind!  She's not my little baby anymore. :(  The last part of the evening was trunk-or-treating in the parking lot.  I don't think Naomi reallly understood what was happening when we took her around to all the cars, but it was a madhouse with all of the people trying to walk around in the parking lot.  After only going to half the cars, Naomi wanted to come home, so we gave up and left.  Once we got home, however, and Naomi discovered that there were now treats in her little cauldron, she was SO excited!  The first thing she would do after waking up every morning after trick-or-treating was to ask for her "back-is" (that's how she says, "basket", which is what she called her little trick-or-treat cauldron).



Me & my girls!

Aleta & Daddy

crawling around on the floor...

Naomi walking in the costume parade

My girlies, at home after the party.

Then the night before Halloween, Mizzou's sorority houses held a trick-or-treat thing for the kids.  So we got the kids all dressed up again and went around to all of the sorority houses on campus.  Usually I have to drag Jacob, kicking and screaming, to any kind of holiday activity.  But for some reason, when I suggested taking the girls to the sorority trick-or-treating, he actually seemed excited! haha  Honestly though, I think the sorority house trick-or-treating was my favorite activity this year for Halloween.  It was a lot of fun, and the girls got SO much attention.  Most of the kids that we saw were a little older--probably at least 4 or 5 and most were school-aged.  Since our girls were younger (and let's be honest--they're indredibly adorable), the sorority girls were exclaiming over their cuteness before we'd even get to the door.  It was also more fun because Naomi understood what was happening this time, and she was SO excited to run around and get lots of candy.  So that made the activity more enjoyable for Jacob & me as well.

My cute kitty, home from trick-or-treating!

On Halloween, I took Naomi to one of the Hyvee grocery stores here in Columbia to trick-or-treat around the store.  They had a bunch of stations set up around the store, with employees dressed up in their Halloween costumes to hand out candy.  They even gave you a cute trick-or-treat bag at the door.  They didn't only hand out candy--Naomi got a bunch of different things from them, like an apple, a can of root beer, a pudding cup... stuff like that.  At the end, they even took a picture that we could pick up later. (I forgot to pick ours up... but I'm sure my photos of Naomi were cuter.)  I took a bunch of photos of the girls on Halloween, but there are a TON so I will post them another time.

I'd say we had a pretty good Halloween/October!  I hope you all did as well!