Happy Halloween!

Amelia's first Halloween was a success.  She was a lady bug, the symbol of Chinese adoption.  Three years ago, Poppy found this costume for her and just had to buy it.  She bought an 18-24 month size not knowing how big Amelia would be or when she would ever get to wear it.  God knew that it would be perfect for Amelia!  She is in an 18 month size and loves lady bugs!  Although it was a warm night, Amelia loved wearing her costume (minus the hood that she was not loving so much).

I realized tonight that I love our new neighborhood more than I thought I did.  It is such a family friendly place to be, and Halloween was truly the experience that I hoped it would be here.  Our Halloween events began with a neighborhood parade followed by trick-or-treating.  Neighbors sat on their front porches to hand out candy and watch the parade.  We arrived at the parade just as it was beginning and joined the excited trick-or-treaters to walk down the street.  Poppy and Paw Paw's arrival made it even better, and we headed towards our first houses.  Amelia wasn't sure about what to do at first, but she quickly got the hang of it and began running to houses with her best neighbor friend, Aidan.  The children were so cute!  Aidan kept telling Amelia to come on, and Amelia kept checking her basket (held by Poppy) to make sure that all of her candy was still there.  We laughed at her keeping tabs on her inventory!  By the time we finished the first long street, the Huang family arrived.  We quickly went down one more street (and actually ran into two of my work friends at a party), but it began to rain.  We rushed home for dinner, but my little lady bug was not ready to end her Halloween trick-or-treating.  Poppy, Paw Paw, and I took her to two more neighbor houses in our cul-de-sac and then called it quits.  We came home to eat dinner (red beans and rice that I had cooked all day and pear crisp) and visited with our friends.  Amelia and Ella played for a bit in the playroom with the daddies.  It was a nice time for the ladies to actually clean the kitchen and chat for a bit.  We had such a wonderful time and are so blessed to have such great friends and family.

Back of lady bug costume

Front of lady bug costume

Poppy and Paw Paw arrive as we are walking to the parade

Amelia and Aidan

Amelia's first Halloween candy from a neighbor

Paw Paw pushed Amelia in her car during the parade

Amelia wanted to see her basket that I was holding to make sure that her candy was still there.  This is her first official inventory check of the night.

Amelia decided that she wanted to walk a bit

Amelia and Poppy

Parade and trick or treating in progress

Amelia and Ella in the wagon

Aunt Sue and Elijah

Amelia was so tired that by the time we got to this house, she sat down to look through the bowl to pick her candy.

Amelia decided she wanted to pull the wagon instead of ride in it...

and Ella decided to ride in Amelia's car.

Back at the house, the girls were able to have a piece of their hard earned candy

They are all smiles!