Halloween

My Mother in law takes the kids

(not Marshall- by my choice, maybe next year)

out to the pumpkin patch each year

to pick a pumpkin and to get apples for candied apples.

This year it was slim pickin's in the field so

the girls brought home one large pumpkin for

the whole family to share,

and then 5 mini ones.

Same as last year, Marshall was NOT interested

in helping to clean out the pumpkin.

"Yuck" he kept saying when i

was showing him to put his hand in and pull out the insides.

Lately, Marshall is also saying a lot of "No! Ok." lol.

His 'ok' is being said on our behalf of acknowledging

his 'no'. haha.

Instead of helping with the cleaning and carving,

we decided to give Marshall all 5 mini pumpkins

and a sharpie and let him do his thing.

He was really into this.

He took each pumpkin and drew what

he called "happy" on each one :) He had a hard time with the bumpy Cinderella

pumpkin. lol.

He was so proud of himself and even put them

on the mantel. We are a family of 5 so it was

very fitting to have these five displayed in our

livingroom over Thanksgiving :)

This year, we decided to take Marshall

trick or treating for the first time.

Last year, i considererd taking him out,

but he was still a huge flight risk,

so the stroller was the only safe option.

Then on Halloween he developed a bad cold and i thought it

was best to keep him home with Daddy.

But this year, with all this amazing progress

we've been seeing, i was confident that Marshall would

love trick or treating...

well, 80% confident. lol.

In order to go trick or treating, a costume was in order.

And not just any costume, the perfect costume.

A costume that Marshall would be excited about wearing,

that would keep him warm, that M would choose to keep on.

Well, i thought about it a month or two in advance

and was super on the ball

(unlike last year when his sisters costume was bought

on the day of).

I knew he wouldn't wear those furry animal suits that

go over your head as we tried that with an

old costume and he was not a fan.

Then it came to me... a pirate. Perfect!!

So i went to Superstore and i couldn't believe that i

actually found one, and it was in his size,

and it was only $10!! Score!

So i brought it home and showed it to him.

He got excited and was saying, "pira" "arrr". lol.

He was all eager to put on the outfit

and he went to the mirror to see right aways.

I thought i'd hit the jackpot!

Then we tried to put on the foam hat...

and the fun was over.

It wouldn't fit on his head properly and he was getting

really mad about that. Then he started

pawing at his outfit and wanting everything OFF.

I tried days later and he would run away screaming.

The costume was returned.

I was still planning to take him

trick or treating though,

costume or no costume.

Halloween afternoon we started to get ready to head out.

I thought i'd try to get Marshall to put on

a play tool belt and construction hat that

he does where at home from time to time,

but he wasn't having it.

D was Princess Ariel.

We started to put her dress on and Marshall lost it.

Screaming and pulling and getting really mad...

not because he didn't want her wearing it,

but because he wanted to wear it. lol.

He kept shouting "mine!"

Well, that wasn't an option.

I had a spare princess dress in the closet so i

showed it to Marshall and his face lit up, "on" he said.

So i gave it to him and he happily pulled it on.

Then he ran over to the toy box and

grabbed a pair of dress up heals,

and then one of D's crowns to complete the outfit.

LOL.

Now what?

Do i let him go out like that?

Look how happy he is!!

Well, he didn't want to keep the crown on cause i think

it was hurting his head,

and there's no way he could walk in those heals

on the street, so to wear just the dress with

a jacket over seemed lame.

So we took the whole outfit off

(after a picture of course ;))

and Marshall went as Marshall.

No one said a word about him not being dressed up.

We headed up to 'Ritz-Ville' which in my town

is known as Eagle Mountain...

their firehydrants look like gold. lol.

Anyways, Marshall listened wonderfully

and held Daddy's hand whenever he asked him to.

We went with my nieces so there was 4 kids in our

group. Marshall was right in there

at the front of the pack knocking and saying/yelling

"tick a tee!" at every door.

It was adorable.

It only took about 5 houses before Marshall caught

on to the idea that when the door opens,

you wait for candy,

you don't run into their entryways. lol.

Everyone was very friendly about

Marshall's friendliness. :)

It was a great night, clear and dry, and all the kids

did great, including Marshall.

It was the perfect vision i had for him...

and i don't usually let myself go there anymore,

i generally think the worst

and hope for the best, or some form of normal. lol.

I was happy to see Marshall in and

amongst all of the other kids,

looking like he belonged

with a huge smile on his face.

It doesn't get better than that.