Halloween!

Samuel thoroughly enjoying his ice cream

Noah was more into the cookie


Chuck caught in the act of stealing a bite of corndog

Me and the boys after the hayride

The pirate loving trio

My poor attempt of getting a pic of the family

while on the hayride. Tristan got left out :(

I guess he'll be traing for a while

Happy doctor!

No pacifier!

Our pirates

Arrrg! Showing off their "hooks"

Chuck's pumpkin creation

The twins picked the dragon... it was not easy

Noah & Samuel jumped on the trampoline for a

loooooong time while Daddy carved the pumpkin

Pumpkin guts!

We were so excited for Halloween this year. Last year the boys had only been home for 8 weeks and were afraid of EVERYTHING. I am not exaggerating. We bought them pumpkin face orange shirts and called it good. We put them to bed at 7 and handed out candy to the few trick or treaters that came. Tristan was only 11 weeks old so he wore a Halloween sleeper and hung out with Chuck on the porch waiting for trick or treaters. I remember feeling very overwhelmed that night and wondering if we would ever get to a "normal" place.

Well, this year was TOTALLY different. The boys didn't really know exactly what was coming. They thoroughly enjoyed carving a pumpkin with Daddy in early October. We brought them to various stores to aquaint them with costumes and masks, etc. They were pretty freaked out by the scary costumes, but were okay with regular costumes. I was not a good planner, so I didn't get them costumes until the day before Halloween. And no, I didn't have them pick them out. I probably could have spent more time preparing them so that they could pick out a costume, but I think they will be able to do that next year and for years to come, so I'm not too ashamed that I picked their costumes for them. It's still a step up from last year!

So, I got the boys Pirate costumes. Chuck has made sure that they are into pirates. And recently a friend's son gave them a cool pirate ship hull that they love. Chuck was in his GLORY dressing them up as Pirates. He added bandana's to their costumes and we also had one eye patch and one pirate hat... but the boys weren't too into keeping those on.

Tristan had a few costume options - a bear or a doctor. Since it was so warm and muggy, we went with the doctor costume since it was lighter weight. We have toy doctor kits so he had some props, too.

We decided to go to a local church's Trunk or Treat. It ended up being a full-on harvest festival. Noah and Samuel were leery as we entered... they were just kind of taking in all the sights, sounds, and smells. We had only one freakout... Noah did not like the man-sized Yo Gabba Gabba character handing out candy from his trunk. Probably the neatest part of the night was a quick hayride. Chuck and I had never been on one!

After the festival we went for ice cream. We wanted to create a special Halloween tradition, and we decided on going for ice cream after. I know, it doesn't make much sense... but we wanted something special that no one else does. And since the ice cream shop was empty, I'm guessing we chose right!

I did not expect to have so much fun (remember, taking all three out to new experiences isn't always easy), but I really did have a blast. It was so fun to watch the boys have a new experience, all the while acting as pirates. Tristan was perfect - he just chilled in his stroller all night.

I'm sure next year will be even more fun!