Now for the long-awaited Halloween post. Okay, so maybe it hasn't actually been "awaited" by anyone but Claire's grandmas but I think that still counts. Kyle and I look forward to Halloween every year, (even pre-kiddo) but as with most things, Halloween with a child that is old enough to hit the trick-or-treat circuit, made this the best Halloween yet.
I love the spooky decorations, the candy, the pumpkin carving but let's get one thing straight, for me, Halloween is all about the costume. For both of the Halloween's that our little pumpkin has experienced, I have spent a ridiculous amount of brain power trying to come up with the perfect costume idea. I have a specific criteria. It must be: somewhat unique, homemade (I get this from my own mother), and for now, it has to fit into a redhead theme (until she turns blonde!). Last year, we did this:

I'm biased but I'm pretty sure this is the cutest vegetable in the history of vegetables.

This year, fate intervened and I didn't have to stew (no carrot pun intended) over this years' costume. One of Claire's sweet little cousins is nicknamed "Bam" and the combination of this and my little red-head, made Pebbles and Bam Bam costumes a no-brainer.

It was oddly warm on Halloween, so although it looks a bit neglectful to have my kiddo half naked outside, it was only half as bad as it looks :) I desparately wanted get some pictures of her in her costume before it got dark and luckily, Aunt Jin was visiting and helped me wrangle Pebbles.

First, she danced.

 Then she "sang".

Then she cheesed.

Then everyone came over and Claire literally ran around the house and randomly yelled/screamed at the top of her lungs. She loves to throw a party. It's a family trait. Since it was a beautiful evening, the three little girls got their trick-or-treat on in our neighborhood. Although all three girls had a blast, Alabama (aka Bam) was basically a professional trick-or-treater after the first house. She literally walked up to the house, said "hi" in her sweetest voice, collected her candy, then would turn around and head for the next house. It was pretty funny to watch.

 By the time her cousins came over, it was too dark for outdoor pictures (my big fancy camera has no flash and I'm sort of anti-flash anyway). So the weekend after Halloween, we got Pebbles and Bam Bam together. They were NOT feeling the photoshoot (Halloween was over, after all!) but we eek-ed out one good one.

Here's hoping that Claire is still young enough for me to pick out her costume next year! I'm predicting that we have many years of  princess variations in our future once she's heading up costume think-tank.