Trick Or Treat

More like Trick or Trick in our case seeing as we never made it out to get the treats.  Halloween 2013 has been one for the history books and one that we will look back on in 10 years with a laugh.  Our little buddy is going through that phase in childhood known as "terrible two's" but the word "terrible" doesn't really do it justice.  Life has been rough in the Mangiaracina household these days, but we are doing our best to get through it.  The ample bottles of Dogfish Head Black & Blue beer helps too.  But I digress...

For us, Halloween started on October 30th with a party at Willowcreek Academy.  All of the parents were invited to join the kids for a costume party at the school and boy was it festive!  I had been in New York the days prior so when James saw me arrive, he was the happiest kid in the room.  The unfortunate part of this was that he did not want to let go of me making his participation in the party a little tricky.  Luckily the view of cookies and cupcakes helped.

 He was a happy guy...

... until Mommy walked away to take a picture.

He did pull it together long enough for us to get 1 photo with him wearing his Clark Kent glasses.  Look really, really close and you will be able to see it!

The end result of the party was an extreme sugar high followed by an epic sugar crash when we got home.  It wasn't pretty, but lucky for us, bedtime was right around the corner.

Halloween brought about a new day that started with a James/Mommy photo shoot before school...

... and ended in tears.

Our little Clark Kent was just not in the Halloween mood - too many ghosts and goblins in the night I guess.  And once it started raining, we decided to call it.  We did manage to get a few photos in before the meltdown of all meltdowns commenced.

Aww well...there will be plenty more Halloween's in our future.  Hopefully our little Superman won't be taken down by kryptonite next year and Daddy he can get some candy!

Baby's First Halloween

I've never really been a huge fan of Halloween.  I mean, when I was a kid I loved it - who wouldn't?!   Getting dressed up and collecting candy all night long?  When you are little, that is the dream!  But as I got older, the excitement waned.  Not only was it frowned upon to trick or treat after a certain age, I started to feel pressure to come up with a costume that wasn't lame.  There were a few good years here and there, but overall, I would rather stay holed up in the house and pass out candy to the little ones dressed like Batman and Tinkerbell.

This year, that all changed.  Having a little one brings back all the magic of Halloween - even if your little one is only 8 months old!  James' first Halloween began last week at the party Willowcreek Academy threw.  All the kids were dressed up and even some of the staff joined in on the fun.  James dressed as Sheriff Woody from Toy Story and he could not have been cuter.  Too bad he fell asleep and missed most of the party!

On the actual day, James had more Halloween fun.  He dressed as a skeleton during the day and got LOTS of compliments on his oh-so-scary costume.  :)

Due to some unforeseen circumstances (aka spit up), James changed into his Sheriff Woody costume for trick-or-treating.  This time he was bibbed as to not ruin this costume.  We did a little photo shoot before hitting the streets - he was more interested in eating the camera case than smiling for the camera. :)

Because we have the greatest neighbors in the world, they invited us to join them as they walked the neighborhood for candy.  We bundled Sheriff Woody up in his carriage, tucked in his trusty steed Bulls Eye and hit the road.  

The neighborhood kids had some AMAZING costumes this year.  Nate was the powerful Voltron, Connor was an adorable Thomas the Tank and Ariana was a beautiful princess.

Everyone had a great time walking around, collecting candy.  Thomas the Tank needed some assistance up and down the stairs, but luckily there were many adults around to assist!  The men of the street may have had more fun than the kids this year - they had their own kind of candy to make it through the night!

Ed was his usual self and showed more interest in collecting candy than the kids did.  He carried James' pumpkin around and made his way to each door to get his coveted treats.  I think he may have knocked over a kid to get a full sized Hershey bar!  :)

Some of our neighbors went ALL OUT and decked our their houses.  We saw ghosts hanging from trees, a HUGE Grim Reeper, a smoke machine and a clap-activated demon.  Well done Little Rocky Run residents!!

We had a great time trick-or-treating and I think James' really enjoyed himself.  The best part for him was that we were outside in the dark and he got to stay up later than normal.  Ed and I already dove into his candy loot - it's not like he can enjoy it for a few more months!

Happy Halloween!!!