Halloween 2012

Harper was Scooby-Doo this year for Halloween.  Her first choice was to be Velma, but the costume was just not warm enough for the cool Iowa fall nights.  She happily settled for Scooby as soon as she tried the costume on at the store.  In fact, Harper was so thrilled with the costume that she refused to take it off and crawled around the store on all fours barking like a dog. (she even wore it in the car seat on the way home!)  This is SO unlike her character since she is so shy, but it's nice to see her starting to come out of her shell.  Harper also had a Scooby Doo candy pail to accompany her get-up, compliments of McDonalds.  I love that McDonalds still gives out Halloween pails in place of the traditions Happy Meals packaging for the holiday.  I remember getting one as a kid, so it was neat for me to do this with Harper as well.

Harper did a great job this year saying "trick-or-treat" at every house except for two.  Last year she didn't say a peep.  I really think that preschool has helped her with her social skills.  We walked around the neighborhood for about 30-40 minutes before we headed back home to hand out our own candy.  Harper had just as much fun handing out candy to everyone and even handed it out "by herself" towards the end.  

My little Scooby-Doo

I was caught off guard this year when I found out on Tuesday (10/30) that trick-or-treating was to start in 3 hours.  We were planning on carving pumpkins on Tuesday and then trick-or-treating on Wednesday.  So when I picked Harper up from preschool on Tuesday, I had 2 hours to carve a pumpkin and get her ready.  Adam was not at home so I had the pleasure of carving a pumpkin on my own with a 3-year-old.  We had every intention on carving a Cinderella pumpkin, but settled for a simple design because of the limited time.

Helping mommy carve our pumpkin

Isn't it cute?!

It was Harper's turn to bring treats to preschool last week.  The "teacher" in me came out and I wanted to bring something fun for the kids.  Thanks to an idea I saw on pinterest, I drew jack-o-lantern faces on mandarin orange cups.  Harper's teacher and the kids loved them.

Lastly, I tried making a fun Halloween supper, so we had mummy dogs and dirt cups.  Harper really didn't make the connection, so we'll try again next year.  I want to create as many memories and traditions with my family as possible.  It's the little things in life that mean the greatest!  

Previous Halloween posts below:

2011

2010

2009