I’m determined to be caught up with blogging about all our fall holidays before Christmas arrives in less than a WEEK! Time is going by so fast; it’s crazy!

Halloween was a day long-anticipated by Kaya and Kaelyn, mostly because we always shop for our costumes quite early. Our local kids’ consignment shop puts Halloween attire out right at the beginning of September, and we try to get there as soon as we can so that they still have a decent selection of costumes available.

The girls were really lucky to find character costumes that they truly love. Everyone was so excited to go trick-or-treating! The sweetest little “Blue” from Blue’s Clues! Kaya has loved all her costumes, and this one was no exception- she snuggled with it and cared for it just like a stuffed animal in the days leading up to Halloween.“Bow bow!” (as Blue says)! We went around saying it all night long. Kaya is good at sounding like Blue, but she was shy about doing it in front of anyone other than just us. Kaelyn… oh sweet Kaelyn. This was her favorite costume to date. There’s nothing this girl loves more than Minnie Mouse, Paw Patrol, and Dalmatians, so to actually be Minnie was a dream come true for her. She was glowing with joy each time she wore it.Kaelyn and Minnie Mouse aren’t so different- both are caring, kind, adorable, and have the sweetest voices. Maybe that’s why this seemed to fit her so very well.Nella reused Kaelyn’s old poodle costume, which is still just as adorable as ever. Nella looked like a walking stuffed animal, and I wish I could have squeezed and hugged her all evening because she was just so FLUFFY!Puppies are her thing right now, so this was completely perfect for her.Happy first Halloween to Eve! She was a zebra because it was just too cute (and cheap) to pass up. Plus, she was nice and warm!She got to stay with Daddy and hand out Halloween candy at our house.Evie didn’t really love her costume… but she sure looked adorable.Kaya, Kaelyn, and I painted pumpkins earlier in the afternoon while Nella napped. This has become a fun tradition, and I love seeing what they come up with!Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc., Minnie Mouse, and Steve with Blue!This pumpkin was HUGE, but I’m really happy with how it turned out!Kaelyn made Minnie on one side of hers……and Mickey on the other!I took all the big kids out trick-or-treating. We tried to use the stroller, but it ended up being more of a hassle than a help, so we brought it back home and I just carried Nella while the oldest two girls walked. We went around our neighborhood collecting candy, but it wasn’t long before Kaelyn’s feet started hurting, and she wanted to go home to help Daddy hand out candy. Kaya wanted to keep going, so we kept ringing doorbells until it was too late to do any more. It was so sweet to hold my first baby’s hand and have that time together, just the two of us. She walked about 3 miles that night, and she never once complained. We ended the festivities with homemade chili, lots of candy, and everyone feeling completely exhausted, but contented.

I’m going to spare you my whole “trick-or-treating-was-a-whole-month-ago-and-I’m-just-blogging-about-it-now” spiel and just jump right into it. After this post, I think I’m mostly caught up to the present… The key word being “mostly”, ha!

Our two “big” little girls were beyond excited for Halloween. Kaya asked me nearly every day for over a month when she would get to wear her kitty costume, so when the day finally came, she was ecstatic!

We kicked off our Halloween festivities on Friday with Daddy at his work. His office put on a whole trick-or-treating activity for the employees’ kids, so we went from cubicle to cubicle collecting treats. Everyone (and really, I mean everyone) commented on how adorable Kaya and Kaelyn looked and how Nella looks like a little doll. The kids were feeling pretty shy, so I don’t think they said a single word to anyone, but they still came out with a bucketful of candy!
From there, we headed straight to our church’s trunk-or-treat. Right up until that morning, we couldn’t decide what we wanted to be, so in true last-minute fashion, we chose “raining cats and dogs”. I made Michael a thunderbolt and myself a rain cloud shirt (which is somewhat difficult to see in this picture). Little Nella wore candy corn jammies and a pumpkin hat, so she didn’t quite fit the theme, but it was the perfect costume for our “Pumpkin”.We walked around with the girls to collect even more treats!Later, we went inside for some fun activities. Kaya loved doing this donut-on-a-string game with Michael. Somehow, I think she looks even more like a real kitty here (if only cats loved donuts)!
Halloween day was on Monday, so a couple of days after all those shenanigans, we finally took these crazy cuties out for their first-ever real trick or treating! It was so exciting to be able to go door to door in our own neighborhood. We really only went down our street, but it was far enough for our little girls on a chilly night. Michael said that they’re going to look back at these costumes one day and be embarrassed (the pink poodle costume reminds him of the pink bunny suit in A Christmas Story), but they chose these themselves, and as two and four-year-old girls, they absolutely loved them. Sometimes I can’t believe that all three of these fantastic girls are ours.