Ever since I stopped dressing up and trick-or-treating, I have never been that super crazy about Halloween….until I had a child. Now I think that Halloween is even more fun with a child than when I was a child! Kinsie got really into Halloween this year, as soon as costumes and decorations started being sold in stores. I wanted her to pick what she would be for Halloween, so we thought about the things that she was into at the time and gave her a choice. She chose a dalmatian puppy. We found lots of opportunities throughout the month for her to wear her costume. We went to Zoo Boo, then we went to a kids Halloween party at Heritage Lake, we went trick-or-treating on Halloween night, and then finally went to a costume cookout at my sister’s. Kinsie was always such a happy puppy. I may have to take her puppy costume with us everywhere we go just in case she is in a bad mood…it would perk her right up!

Like I mentioned in my last post, Kinsie was quite the little pumpkin picker. We let her decide what she wanted on her pumpkin, and, to no surprise at all, she wanted Olaf. We also let her help us pick out what we would put on our pumpkins, so we went with Shrek and a dinosaur. We let her help clean out her pumpkin and collect the seeds so I could bake them. We weren’t sure what she would think of the slimy pumpkin guts, but she didn’t mind at all! She was really excited about her Olaf pumpkin when we finished carving it. Then later that night after she went to bed, we carved Shrek and the dinosaur (while watching Hocus Pocus of course). When Kinsie woke up the next morning, she was super excited about all three of her pumpkins!

The week before Halloween, Heritage Lake was hosting a kids Halloween party. We got Kinsie suited up and took her, and it was a lot of fun and perfect for her age. They had crafts, snacks, carnival games, a cake walk, and dinner. She did that cake walk for a good 30 minutes and every other kid around her would win, but not her. She was determined to stay until she won. Finally, with us and the people in charge of the walk rooting for her, she won! She was pumped about her cupcake prize! Another one of the highlights of the night was the tattoo station. Kinsie got to pick out which tattoo she wanted, and of course she picked the dinosaur. She was so proud of her tattoo, she would show everyone and even talk about it in her sleep!

Halloween fell on a Saturday, so Kinsie had soccer that morning. The kids were encouraged to wear their costumes, so of course Kinsie was down for that. She has soccer class with her cousin Kerigan, and her third cousin, Emery…so the girls (and Briggs) had fun running around playing soccer in their costumes. Kinsie loves playing soccer, but she is often anti-following directions in class. Not this week…I swear, that puppy costume works wonders!

For Halloween night, we went to my parents’ neighborhood, and Ryan’s parents and brother joined us. We just trick-or-treated around their cul-de-sac, and as soon as we got back around to my parents, it started raining…but by that time, Kinsie’s little puppy legs were getting tired anyway. She was so cute trick-or-treating, and she thought it was so much fun! She has never really had much candy in her life, but she was excited about all the candy she was getting. When we got back to my parents, she enjoyed helping pass out candy to other trick-or-treaters. I let her have a couple pieces of candy, which kept her occupied most of the evening while we watched Hocus Pocus (yes, again…there is no limit as to how many times I can watch it during the Halloween season). Kinsie had such a fun night, and, a week later, she is still carrying around her pumpkin full of candy everywhere she goes!

The next evening, my sister had a little costume cookout for our family and some close friends. The kids had one more opportunity to wear their costumes, so they were ready to party. We had food, sat around the fire, and let the kids run around and make forts in their costumes. It was a lot of fun!

Once Halloween was officially over, Kinsie got pretty upset, especially when our neighbor put away his big inflatable black cat and gargoyle (she loved looking at them through the window every night). But we had to remind her, that now Christmas will be coming soon, and we can celebrate that. She is already talking about Santa Claus and Christmas trees! Like I said before, holidays are so much more fun with a child!