Halloween 2013

We had a very happy Halloween this year. In fact, I think it was one of my favorite Halloween holidays to date. Celebrating any special day through the eyes of our little girl is just THE BEST.

As I mentioned previously, I wanted Tory to be a sheep for Halloween. At two-years-old, I thought I could get away with dictating her costume for one more year and she loves sheep, so I thought it'd be a big hit. Plus, it was both warm and adorably cute; perfect in every way. 

Tory's trilled to wear this ... can't you tell?

Silly, Mommy. I was able to convince Tory to try on the sheep costume one afternoon earlier in the week (by bribing her with M&Ms, of course), but on Halloween night she was insistent on being Minnie Mouse. My mom sent her this dress-up outfit at the beginning of October and Tory's been wearing it near daily ever since. "Minnie Mouse. Beautiful dress!" she insisted on Halloween and how could I say no to this sweet little face?

We invited Andi's parents, sister Lindsay, and her boyfriend, Kyle, over for dinner and an evening of trick-or-treating at our house. Bless my mother-in-law Janie's heart, she volunteered to prepare dinner so I didn't have to the cooking or clean-up at 38 weeks pregnant. She found a festive recipe for Dinner in a Pumpkin which was perfect for Halloween night. Janie served the warm hot dish casserole inside small pie pumpkins and individual winter squashes. The dinner presentation and casserole itself were fantastic! I'm definitely adding this recipe (minus the pumpkin shell) to our winter menu repertoire.

After dinner, we snapped a few photos with our #1 pun'kin, then headed out for an evening of trick-or-treating. Having six grown adults following one two-year-old trick-or-treating isn't overkill, is it? Our girlie had quite the posse behind her. Tory seemed to really understand trick-or-treating this year and had no problem marching right up to our neighbor's houses, knocking on the doors and saying "trick-or-treat" for candy. We only trick-or-treated on our street since it was chilly outside and Tory didn't really know the difference. She had a ball visiting the eight or so houses with lights on and it was a good chance for Andi and I to re-acquaint ourselves with some of the neighbors.

Dressing up my little Minnie 

Tory and Grandma Janie

Kyle, Lindsay, me, Tory and Andi before trick-or-treating

Ringing a doorbell with Lindsay

Trick-or-treating with Daddy

We were back home by 7:45pm and ended our night with freshly baked apple crisp and vanilla ice cream. As soon as dessert was finished, Tory waved to everyone, tugged on my hand and said "Nite nite. Read books, Mommy." Girlfriend was TIRED after the day's excitement.

I hope celebrating Halloween this way becomes a new tradition for our Minnesota family (at least until Lindsay has kiddos of her own and then we'll have to swap houses each year or something). It's the closest I've felt to the Halloweens at my grandma's house when I was a little girl. There's something about family coming together, little kiddo(s) in costume and trick-or-treating together which makes Halloween so much fun. I'm already looking forward to 2014 when we'll have a new little man to add to the mix.