Happy Halloween!

She wouldn't stick her hand inside to clean out the seeds. Notice the 6" knife sitting precariously close to the 2-year-old?

The cutest baby ladybug ever.

Two little ladybugs and a fighter pilot.

Trick or treat, smelly feet, give me something good to eat.

This has been Kate's mantra over the past few days. We watched The Great Pumpkin this afternoon to prepare for tricks or treats, and we practiced saying "trick or treat!" all day long so as to be ready. Then we got to the first house tonight, and she said: "Daddy, pit ee up!" (Daddy, pick me up.) It was very cute.

This morning she tried on her ladybug costume and roared. She planned to be a scary ladybug. She ended up being a shy ladybug, daintily picking just one piece of candy from each bucket she dipped her hands into. She even gave her Nerds back to one of the kind ladies to gave her 2 candies, much to my dismay...mmm, Nerds.

When Tim got home, he carved the pumpkin, and Kate thought that was the best thing in the world. We lit it up and put it out on the driveway looking back at us, so we could see it from the door. Kate was also able to see it from her toy room and, after she got dressed in jammies for the night, spied it from the window and screamed Hi Pumpkin! Nigh nigh pumpkin! in her adorable outdoor voice that was sure to wake the neighbors. Then she put her shoes on all by herself and took Daddy outside to say good night to it in person. She laid down next to it, and seemed to want to sleep there on the driveway. Tim quickly picked her up, lest any of those pirate or Cinderella scorpions come hunting for Halloween treats.

Our Halloween adventure lasted about 40 minutes, from getting dressed to arriving back at home after visiting all of 3 houses. Kate did a great job, though, and wasn't too scared of anyone. We also didn't run into many people. That probably helped. Claire was snug as a bug (pun intended) in my arms, although she was a little warm. It was like 75* outside. I should enjoy this, and do for the most part; I grew up having to create Halloween costumes that carried umbrellas as part of their get-up.

Hope you had a spooky Halloween! Happy Birthday, Mom!