Way back in August I was already thinking about pumpkin everything. I was so excited to decorate, to take Braxton to pumpkin patches, and about everything Fall related. I’ve always been a Christmas lover, but this was the first year I was truly over the top excited for Halloween. I started decorating all our chalkboards with Fall decorations in August, made my husband get out our Halloween decorations in September, and by October had already bought all our pumpkins. I think it’s partly because, as a Teacher, Fall always meant school had started and there isn’t a real break until Thanksgiving. So to me, it always just meant lots of work. And now that Braxton is at an age where he can enjoy and participate in the activities, it just made me even more excited.
Last year I wrote about how Halloween also has a special meaning for my husband and I, (see post here), and this year I wanted to share all Braxton’s Fall Adventures!
We started off by going to a pumpkin patch we had never been to before with one of Braxton’s new friends. The boys had so much fun together! We went so early in the month, and during a weekday, so they pretty much had the run of the place. We stayed for almost an hour letting them explore. His friend pushed him around in a wagon, and we picked out some little pumpkins to take home.
(Photos courtesy of W’s beautiful mama, Lacy)
We then went to another pumpkin patch with the in-laws. This is one we went to last year as well, so it was fun to see side by side comparison photos of how much he has changed!
We went to one more pumpkin patch that we had also been to last year to take family photos. We realized how much easier it was to take photos of him as a baby, then as a toddler who doesn’t want to pose anymore. He loves running around and exploring instead of taking cute photos with mom and dad. We picked out another large pumpkin to carve. (Which never actually got carved this year…)
Before I get into our last few activities, let me explain about his costume. Last year Braxton was an Ewok. If you read last year’s post, it explains how we made it. He was SUPER cute, but he was also SUPER hot in his costume. He was sweating and we had to take him out of his costume at some events because it was way too hot. So this year we didn’t want to make that mistake again. So we purposely looked at outfits that he wouldn’t get hot in. We thought about making him Bam Bam because it’s basically a diaper and there’s no way he could get hot in it, plus he loves hitting things with a bat. (Thank goodness we didn’t chose this…) We decided on him being a Minion because he LOVES the movie. I wasn’t a huge fan of the costumes I saw in stores, so we “made” it ourselves. Plus I knew he could re-use the overalls for an everyday look. When buying the yellow shirt, I again purposely bought a short sleeve instead of a long sleeve thinking I didn’t want him to get hot. So then fast foward to the week before Halloween. Last year it was 90 degrees out. This year it was 40-50 degrees out. Another lesson learned. You can never actually plan for the weather…
Last year we had heard about Boo at the Zoo, but were too late in trying to buy tickets. So this year I bought our tickets super early. We went the weekend before Halloween. So like I said before, his costume wasn’t made for the cold weather, and it was supposed to get down to 40 degrees that night. (Boo at the Zoo was from 6:30-9:30pm.) So I had to raid his closet to find the warmest clothes. We hadn’t gone winter shopping yet since Winter in Texas usually doesn’t happen until January. So he wore last years fleece lined jeans (which were too tight so when he fell, he couldn’t get back up), a onsie underneath all this clothes, a skeleton shirt (which luckily was long sleeved), and last year’s winter jacket (which is a little small too so he couldn’t really move his arms). He ended up looking like the kid from A Christmas Story. We had so much fun though and he got to explore the Zoo for the first time with one of his friends!
A local bar close to our house was having a family Halloween Event the Sunday before Halloween so of course we had to go to that too. Luckily it was during the day and it had warmed up some, so he got to wear his costume!
And then of course Halloween!! It rained, and was about 50 degrees, but we still got some trick or treating in. He didn’t want to wear his Minion goggles, and we had to put clothes on underneath his costume, but it still worked. And he pretty much got the hang of going up to doors and waiting with his pumpkin bag. (For everyone asking, my sister got it from Pottery Barn kids! I love it, and it’s embroidered with his name!) The only problem was that he would take the candy from his bag and give it to the person trying to give him candy. So he had it a little backwards, but it was cute. He was just trying to share his candy, or I guess he thought mom and dad had enough candy. But he had a blast walking around the neighborhood and going up to doors.
It was the best Halloween yet! I know our time is limited in the amount of years he’ll let us go trick or treating with him, so I’m going to enjoy every moment I can!
Now to get started decorating for CHRISTMAS!!!