Halloween 2011

We had a wonderful Halloween this year. It started in the morning when Liliana performed her "Boogie Woogie Pumpkin Man" tap number. She was SO excited that Adam swung by to see her dance. She told everyone that he was coming and when he walked in her face lit up and she yelled, "Daddy! You're here! I love you!!" She didn't have a stitch of stage fright and she enjoyed every minute of performing for all of the parents.

Lining up with her dance bag

Being introduced by Ms. Sharon
Cheesing it up. She had the best "facials" of the group! So dramatic.
Here is a video of her dance.

That evening we went to a Halloween party at the Gale's. Liliana L-O-V-E-S Gianna and was so excited to see her. The two of them pranced around in their Halloween dresses, twirling every chance they got and singing and performing for people. Adam got his 2nd gold star of the day from Liliana because he was one of the only dads dressed up and he dressed as Mary Poppins' "Bert". Liliana was thrilled and so proud of him. I was supposed to dress as a chimney sweep also, but Liliana had a meltdown about it as we were getting ready to leave for the party. Leading up to Halloween she liked the idea, but when the time came for us to get dressed she changed her mind. I told her that I would be sad if I couldn't dress up with our family for Halloween. She retorted, "I will be so sad if you dress like a MAN!" The holidays are all about her, so I went as myself.

Bert and Mary

The girls
Playing "stage"
Cat and G: The 2 Dorothys
Roe as Buzz
Adam was the only guy dressed up. What a dad!
Cannon and Hudson as dinosaurs...of course!

We left their party pretty early and came back to trick or treat in our neighborhood. This was our first time cruising our 'hood and it was really fun. We live in an older neighborhood so there are no street lights. A lot of houses go all out and do Haunted Houses. The fact that the streets are dark made it that much spookier. On the really scary looking ones I would walk in first so that no ghouls would jump out and freak Liliana out, but she was surprisingly brave about it. "That one looks spooky Dad! Let's go to that one!" She freaked out at the idea of going in the Gale's haunted house, so maybe the candy aspect of trick-or-treating motivated her and helped her overcome her fears.

Last year we switched out the candy in her basket for other goodies, so this was the first year of real trick-or-treating. She was excited to gather and collect as much as she could, but wasn't that into actually eating it. While walking around our neighborhood we kept offering her some but she said that she wanted to wait until she got home to decide. I think most of the fun for her is to dump it all out and ask about it and sort it. She really hasn't gone that crazy. She chose 1 piece a day this week and now that it is Friday, we said Halloween is over and we threw it away. She is totally okay with it. She is already talking about what she wants to be next year. She also keeps asking, "is it really going to be Halloween again next year??? YAY!!!"

When we were walking home from the park the other day she asked me when people would take down their Halloween decorations and put up their Christmas decorations. I explained that they would probably wait until after Thanksgiving. She didn't remember that holiday from last year (we were in Costa Rica and I think the beach memories clouded the turkey dinner memories) so I explained what it was about. I told her that I was SO thankful for her and Daddy and asked her what she was thankful for. "Hmmm...I am really thankful for Layla Patricia. She is my best sister."