Happy Halloween!

This is my favorite holiday. I have loved Halloween since I can remember. Because we live in Montana, it's usually cold. Growing up, we always had to have our costumes fit over our winter coats. I can remember the first time (5th grade) my mom let me trick or treat with my friends. SO COOL. I remember the Halloween fun night/school dances in junior high. I remember when I "graduated" from trick or treating to being the chaperone taking my younger brothers door to door. I remember my first Halloween at Cornell, carving pumpkins with my BFF Jaime in the Bowman-Carter kitchen. Every Halloween at Cornell had some highlights, but I won't bore you with the details. I had some pretty spectacular costumes as an adult, too. Going incognito with my BFF Amie the first year we were roommates. Several group costumes were the results of some creative nights with my girlfriends.

Now, I'm a mom and I get to live each Halloween through the eyes of my kids. The first Halloween as a parent was fun for the novelty of dressing up my infant daughter. But the following year was really amazing. That's when my little girl figured out what trick-or-treating really was. Seeing her light up and RUN from house to house is something I'll never forget. This year my youngest is old enough to figure out what trick-or-treating is. I really can't wait to see their grins.

We put out the Halloween decorations right before the 1st of October. We've made Halloween crafts all month long. We've chosen costumes. We carved pumpkins. We went to a Halloween costume party. We've even eaten a little Halloween candy early. It makes me a little sad to think about putting all this festive-ness away tomorrow. :(

In celebration of this AWESOME holiday, I'm going to share some photos from Halloweens past. Enjoy. I hope you have a fun night. I hope you get as much joy from your children as I do. And pray this darn rain stops. Trick or Treat!!

Carlee's 1st Halloween

Carlee's 2nd Halloween

Lia's 1st Halloween

Carlee's 3rd Halloween

 Carlee's 4th Halloween

Lia's 2nd Halloween