i've always been a holiday-lover. from the time i was little til now, and every year in between, i've always looked forward to valentine's day, easter, the fourth of july, halloween, thanksgiving and christmas (and any others i forgot in that list!). call it nostalgic. call it traditional. call it whatever you want, but had you told me 10 years ago that 10 years from then, holidays would mean even more to me, i wouldn't have believed it because i already loved all holidays so much.
well guess what? i do love holidays even more these days and you'll only need one guess to figure out why: kids! what is it about their sweet, innocent spirits, their spunk and enthusiasm for life that just makes everything better, even as an adult? seeing the world through their eyes is possibly one of my favorite things about being a mom and raising kids.
we practiced with finn for weeks leading up to halloween:
mom: "you knock on the door, then what do you say??"
finn: "yeah."
mom: "no, you say, 'trick-or-treat?!'"
finn: "trick-or-treat?!'"
mom: "then you grab a piece of candy, and what do you say after?"
finn: "yeah."
mom: "no, then you say, 'thank you!'"
finn (in the sweetest voice you'll ever hear): "thank you!"
lol, if only you could hear the way he says thank you. it would seriously melt your heart. okay maybe not, but it melted mine. every time. i really thought he had the whole thing down pat, but come time to trick-or-treat, finn completely froze. he's a little bit a lot a bit shy around people he doesn't know, so he was very hesitant to take any candy in the first place, let alone say "trick-or-treat" and "thank you."
we started the afternoon off at smith's marketplace, which was sort of lame, then headed to main street in bountiful. we were with my mom, chelsey, locke and mccoy and let me just say - finn and sam were both total nightmares. go figure, neither one of them took a nap today. why, of all days, do they pick today?! so both of them were tired, grumpy and extra shy. locke was so excited, friendly and polite. it was the cutest thing ever, listening to him say "hi" to everyone, and he'd always add a "thank you" after grabbing some candy. finn, on the other hand, had to be reminded constantly. it was actually sort of frustrating for me to watch, because finn has always been so polite. like to the point that we didn't think it was normal just how polite he is. we'll just chalk it up to stranger danger, eh? ;) he sort of got the hang of things by the time we were done, though. main street was basically just a disaster. finn wouldn't even stand by locke to take a picture. and when i finally talked bribed him into it, locke wasn't having it! two-year-olds, need i say more?!
after we finished on main street, i decided to go for a little drive, because i was certain one of the boys would fall asleep in the car. it took finn a whole two minutes after we got going haha, like i said, the kid was tired! thankfully he slept for 30-40 minutes, and let me tell you, every second counted.
grandpa jimbob stopped by to say hi and see the boys in their costumes. we had to wake finn up to see him, and he surprisingly warmed right up.
the mcconnel's joined us on main street, and then met us again at our house for some neighborhood trick-or-treating. it was so fun to see them and to see miss madi in her butterfly costume - prettiest little butterfly ever! the clark's also joined us. it was so much fun trick-or-treating with friends. there aren't many things cuter than watching your toddlers relationships develop. krew and finn have always gotten along so well, so i love seeing them together. krew was hilarious trick-or-treating. he knew exactly what to say, and after grabbing a piece of candy, he'd say, "i need one more." hahaha we were seriously dying. he also encouraged finn to knock on doors, by gently placing his hand on finn's back and saying, "knock on the door finn. say trick-or-treat." melt! kids are too funny.
one of my favorite parts of the evening was watching finn trick-or-treat. he sort of caught on to the whole process (still needed some prompting and encouraging to say what he was supposed to) but without fail, every time after he grabbed a piece of candy, he would enthusiastically turn around and say, "WHOA MOM, wook at dis!!!!" and almost every time, it was the same kind of candy (a whopper or a sucker).
we left sam home with grandma, who handed out the candy to the trick-or-treaters that came to our house. let me just say, our grandma is the best! she brought both the kids a halloween present - a book for both of them, and a jellycat lion for sam, and a jellycat giraffe for finn (to match their costumes). finn hasn't parted with the giraffe since (except when he went trick-or-treating). lance has been out of town all week (he's actually on his way home now), so i don't know what i would have done without my mom - definitely couldn't have handled the kids alone today, with the sleep-deprived state we were all in. ;)
by the end of the night, finn had a lot of suckers, whoppers, and plenty of other kinds of candy to last him for the next few weeks. we'll see if it really does last that long, eh? ;) and despite my ornery disposition for much of the day, i would still consider it a really fun day. if only those darn kids would have taken their naps! would have solved all the days problems. ;)
happy halloween!!
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