Halloween & Mike's Birthday

No better time to put up the Halloween blog post than on the very day that my daughter finishes the last of her Halloween candy, no?

This year, Natalie declared she wanted to be Tinker Bell. I am not really sure that Natalie knows very much about Tinker Bell, to be honest. I don't think she's seen the movie version of Peter Pan. While we do have a beautifully illustrated version of the book, the language is not pitched at her level. So, by Tinker Bell, I assumed she just meant "fairy." Which, um, was perfect since we already had a purple fairy costume. So I convinced her she could be TCU Tinker Bell (spoiler alert: this was a big hit at the TCU Halloween festival).  

(Astute observes may say to themselves, "Hmm, that looks like the luggage tag that was the TCU annual giving thank you gift a few years ago." Astute observers would be wrong.)

Jacob was a dinosaur. He had the noise down! If I were a different sort of crafty mom, I'd totally have made a costume from a hoodie. I am the kind of mom that went to eBay and bought a used dinosaur costume. Which was AWE.SOME.

We had lots of Halloween events this year. Lots of use out of those costumes!

First, we met Natalie's friend from school for Boo at the Zoo. For the uninitiated, Boo at the Zoo is where the kids (and some adults) wear their Halloween costumes to the zoo, look at the animals, visit craft tables where they can make Halloween-themed animal crafts (tiger masks, etc.), and fill their provided tote bags with candy. It's quite a scene. Also, possibly the only day where the people-watching FAR exceeds the animal-watching at the zoo.

Here we are at home before leaving for the zoo.

Can't see the dinosaur very well? Here:

This picture also marks the only time this Halloween that Jacob would wear the head portion of his costume.

Here are some pictures of the zoo.

Next up, Halloween party. This is the same event we've been attending for several years. We totally love seeing how much everyone has grown each year.

Halloween party snacks. Take that, Pinterest.

And then it was time for the TCU Halloween evening. 

As we approached the lawn, Natalie caught sight of the monster bounce house and needed to be reassured that, no, it wasn't a real monster. By the end of the night, she actually went in the monster and loved it.

The other big draw was a real fire truck where the kids could pose for pictures.

By the time actual Halloween rolled around, it wasn't too hard to convince Natalie that it was our turn to stay home and hand out candy. And so we did.

Continuing the fun, it was Mike's birthday.

Aunt Jenny came to town to help use celebrate (but we were too busy having fun to take any pictures, apparently! We'll do better at Thanksgiving!).

Mike requested chocolate cream pie.

Wait, Daddy is HOW OLD?!

The mind, it boggles.