Hallie was a little less than thrilled to wake up on Halloween morning.....
"Halloween Schmalloween....let's go back to bed!"
It was one of those rare mornings where I woke her up. Very rare around our house as I'm sure it is most houses with a one-year-old. She must've been preparing for her character later that evening. I dropped her off at Miss Paula's, walked out the door and immediately couldn't wait until 5:00 already. Hal was a tired, unimpressed Halloweener but her dad was like a kid on Christmas morning putting his costume on that morning. He rounded out the group of Village People as the carpenter. He made a very handsome and striking handy man if I do say so myself. I just had to see him a second time in his get up so I stopped by to visit his office....
I was in a cloud of hurry and excitement the whole work day wondering if Hallie would be in a good mood, if she would like wearing her costume and if I would get off work in time to get her and myself ready on time. Luckily I made it home in time to put my tights and wig on and grab Hallie's Halloween gear. I decided to suit her up at Miss Paula's house just to cut down on the driving. I figured I'd have an angry, hot monster in the backseat. No, literally......
"ME WANT CANDY NOW!"
Yep, there she is. My Hallie Monster. It's a rare breed. So rare that there is only one in existence. She has a speckled belly, loves to eat bananas and has a mean growl when she's hungry for candy. After she had transformed into the blue creature, Miss Paula gave her a special bag of treats. Thank goodness because I ended up using the bag to collect her candy. Dummy me forgot about the whole needing a candy basket thing. I'm new at this, ok?! ;) So now we had one hungry monster, one sweaty mom in a long black-haired wig and a small but usable sack to hold her goodies.
Our first stop along our trick-or-treating route was Providence Place. I have a few former patients and now friends at the assisted living facility and I've been promising them that I would bring Hallie on Halloween to meet them. She was a good sport and kept her horns on to pose for a few pictures while we waited for Riley to pull up.....
"I don't have a mean monster bone in my body"
Monster chatting with one of my friends who's been waiting to meet this lil gal I talk all about
She also met my uncle's mother, Margie, for the first time while wandering the dining room. It was here that she collected a sucker that would soon turn into a monster-sized meltdown. We left with a screaming, kicking big blue baby who just wanted that darned sucker! So we gave her a bigger brown sucker to lick on while we drove downtown. This was a very stupid idea....not only was she so sticky that her bottom lip was stuck to her chin, but she now had brown slobbery speckles on her costume and threw an even bigger fit when I took it away to wash her hands off. We stuck it out though and soon forgot about the sucker while waiting for Luke, Katie and Carmen to meet us downtown.
"I thought you said tonight was about eating candy!!!!!!!"
Two scary girls
Somebody's still not over the sucker
"ME. WANT. SUCKER!!!!"
Our monster finally calmed down and kept her monster horns on while we walked. A little pink and orange owl landed shortly and was looking mighty cute in her tutu made by Nanny and her hat from Aunt Kylie....
"Whooooo, whooooo"
Our two little families made our way up and down Main Street amongst a crowd of costumed kiddos. I'm biased in saying this but I think we were holding the two cutest girls around.....
It took the big-eyed, horned gal awhile to figure out what was going on. She was a lot more content in dada's arms than she was set free into the wild...
"I'm not gonna lie dad, I'm a bit overwhelmed"
Carmen did great and the girls collected a whole four pieces of candy along our journey. Lol! We weren't so much into the candy business as we were in the showing off our cute babies business.....
Hallie finally figured out the fun of running free. My favorite part of our time downtown was when a little boy was scared to walk by her and insisted on clinging to his mom. I really hadn't thought about her possibly scaring kiddos!
"RAAARRRRRRRR!!!!!"
Carmen's costume was perfect for her sweet personality. No scaring from her, she only spread smiles.....
I was sort of regretting my dressing up idea while we walked around. The wig I'd purchased was driving me crazy and was wishing Riley would've kept his carpenter attire on. Lesson learned....dress normal next year!
Look at that monster mug
Shy Hallie was gone and a monster was on the loose! Hide your candy, hide your candy!!! She's COMING!
"Monster's eat a lot!"
She walked alongside us down the sidewalk and every now and then took off in a run and shouting loudly. I'm convinced that she does this because she likes how it sounds when your voice vibrates while she runs. Silly monster!!
"Aunt Katie, take me to the candy please!"
After our stroll along the street we headed to trick-or-treat Nanny at work. She was loving her little animals and had special treats for them. Hal got an extra special "nana" for her candy bag.
"I'll just stay here mom.Why don't you and dad can do the rest of the walking without me k?"
Who knew that monsters loved bananas so much!?
"We monsters can't control what we crave"
Our next stop was Kim and BJ's house. While we were walking up to the door we happened to run into the Moore family and their two cuties, Miss 50's girl and Woody....
Woody and his monster friend hit up Kim and BJs candy stash....
Little Sam was dressed in his Halloween pjs and looking oh so cute!
Across town went the monster mobile to Matt and Heather's house. She sniffed out every last inch of their living room and kitchen in search of monster food. She settled for my popcorn ball and carried around a pumpkin gummy sucker for awhile but couldn't master how to eat it. Thanks Matt and Heather for the treat bag. :)
I'm not sure if this is common knowledge but monster bedtimes are much later than regular one-year-old bedtimes. This allowed us to spend some extra time at Papa's house. The whole way there she kept repeating "papa" over and over....until we saw him and she froze up. Silly silly monster!!
"Too much pressure!"
She helped Papa and dada pass out candy to the flocks of kiddos ringing the doorbell. Actually it was more like she chased them to their cars.....
Here is a picture I just had to take of the disturbing doll on Nanny and Papa's porch. Is this thing creepy or what?!?!
It was getting late and I was sad to say that the wicked witch was about dead......
Tired trick-or-treating feet right here
The night was just perfect. One of those nights that forces you to stop for a moment and contemplate just how blessed you are. It just so turns out that we are blessed beyond contemplation. :) So what better way to top off a perfect family night that with Halloween JELLO JIGGLERS!? I had prepared the pan of jello the night before and it was waiting for Hallie to get her grubby hands on it....
Getting the hang of it. Well that was until she stuck her feet in the pan. These jigglers are exclusively for Hal now...
"All part of my evil plan"
"Happy Halloween to me!"
Candy and cracker coated jello fiend
I'm fairly certain that she fell asleep dreaming of candy and everything sugary. Her first trick-or-treating experience was a success! I can't help but look forward to next Halloween....mainly because I already have her costume waiting for her in the closet. Remember the giant angry lamb.......
HAPPY HALLOWEEN HALLIE!!!!
