I loved that Dave made both of our kids train costumes to play with, but I debated whether or not I would actually use Hadley's diesel engine box or end up going with her peacock suit after all on Halloween day. I didn't want her just to be Caleb's sidekick and to have to be a train by default because that's what he was interested in. But, the more I thought about it, Hadley really does love playing trains with Caleb (or grabbing and chewing on them at least), and she has no idea what a peacock is. The Mavis costume really was a better fit. Rather than dealing with the fluffy frills of the peacock suit all day, I was able to just dress her in some comfy overalls and throw a conductor hat on her that we'd gotten from the twins a few weeks ago.
We started the day at Granny's, and Grandma Nora Ann and Granddaddy stopped in while we were there to see the kids' costumes too. As soon as I put Hadley in her engine though, she started unwrapping her box; I wasn't sure it was going to make it until later that evening. (She'll be ready at Christmas time I guess!)
There were tons of treats from all the grandparents. I think they got confused and thought it was Christmas! My mom stopped by too before we left with even more Halloween loot. I was impressed with the creative ideas all of them had to give the kids things aside from candy - such as a pacifier, a teether, and small baby hand-sized toys for Hadley and books, a juice box, and flashlights for Caleb.
After we went home, my dad showed up with even more surprises. Who needs to go trick-or-treating when you have so many grandparents wrapped around your finger, right? Caleb and Hadley modeled their costumes for Pop while he was visiting too. Caleb actually fell over on his back before we left like a turtle kicking because he couldn't get up. I missed it but Dave recounted the scene to me.
We had originally planned to trick-or-treat with the Daniel and Anabella in their neighborhood so that Caleb could get the real experience since we've never gone door-to-door before. Our plans were foiled though when Stacey got hit with some type of flu-like bug. We considered checking out all the festivities the town was hosting on Main Street, but I was afraid it would be crowded and hard for Caleb to get around. Plus, like I said, I wanted him to know what real trick-or-treating was like. Mom suggested we try going out to my Aunt Susie's instead to go with my cousin Diane and her kids - so that's what we did! This was a great option because if the kids got tired or cold we had a quick place to run back to and get warm again.
Mom showed up as a cow and I am not sure what
Susie is supposed to be. (I don't think she knew either...haha)
Caleb trying to milk Grandma
Here is Hadley with her 2.5 month old cousin Celia
This train engineer looks ready to go!
Again, I thought about putting the peacock costume on Hadley since carrying her around the neighborhood in the box did not seem like the best option. But, when it came time to go out, it was so cold that we ended up just bundling her up. She stayed snuggled inside Daddy's coat or got in the car with him to get warm. I guess the peacock suit will have to be for baby number 3 or 4 or 15? :)
There were quite a few other kids at Aunt Susie's that were from her husband Randy's side of the family. We all started off together but our family quickly fell behind since Caleb couldn't move too fast in that box. He didn't mind though because he loved it!
At first he was shy about saying "trick-or-treat" when we'd get to the doors. He'd offer a quiet "thank you" at most places when they gave him some candy though, which was the most important thing. We got tickled a few times because he wasn't sure if he was supposed to say "please," "thank you," or "trick-or-treat." I was also really proud of him because he only would take one piece of candy if the person offered him the bowl unless he/she told him that he could have more. He's a pretty good boy.
I thought the night was going to end quickly since Caleb is so small and was toting such a big box around, especially when the first part of our adventure started out as an uphill climb. He walked for probably an hour or more though and didn't want to stop. Mom and I helped him up some of the steep driveways and steps, but for the most part he did it all himself. He even fell down a couple times because he was moving too fast down the hills, but he'd just get back up and keep chugging along. My legs, on the other hand, were aching when it was all said and done; I guess I don't have the toddler level endurance.
Probably the funniest part of the evening was that the little cowboy in this picture was following us and every time Caleb saw him he'd say, "There's another cowboy." And, often he'd follow it up by saying, "There's two cowboys!" I'm not exaggerating when I say that I bet he must have said this at ten different houses until that cowboy got ahead of us and went on down the street. The little boy's mother was cracking up with us each time we'd pass each other, listening in expectancy for what we knew was going to come out of Caleb's mouth.
The other joke that brought lots of laughs that night was that Dave had put one of Caleb's folded up diapers in Hadley's conductor hat to help keep it from falling down over her eyes. Whenever Caleb's hat would slide down, Mom would say, "I think YOU need a diaper in your hat." He would yell, "Nooooo!" and giggle uncontrollably.
We finally got Caleb in the car to go back to Susie's and then home. As we pulled in, we were pleasantly surprised to see Aunt Courtney pulling in behind us. She'd just gotten off work and wanted to check out the kids costumes on her way home.
At the end of the night, Caleb, who had been wanting to climb in the Mavis box earlier, was thrilled after trick-or-treating was over and he got his turn in the box. Though I think he still prefers being James! Now that Halloween has passed and the costumes are still in tact, I expect several more days of dress-up fun at home.
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