An “Angry” Halloween

Riley’s second Halloween morning started off with a visit from our neighbor, Ms. Rosemary. She brought him a little bucket of Halloween goodies, including a really cute stuffed puppy dog, which Riley took a liking to right away. Thanks so much, Ms. Rosemary!

The rest of our day was a fairly ordinary one, until late in the afternoon, when I started getting Riley ready for trick-or-treating. As you probably saw at the end of yesterday’s post, Riley was dressed as an angry bird for Halloween. It was his Uncle Jeff that actually came up with the idea, but Kenny and I made it a reality, with some help from Grandma.

  

Remember KooKoo bird? We ended up buying another one and making his costume out of it. It took a few nights of work, but it turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. Although, I must give Kenny most of the credit; he did practically all of the work.

Once Kenny and Nopsi got home from work, we were ready to head over to Kelli and Steve’s for their party and trick-or-treating. It’s become a tradition to exchange little treat bags with our friends’ kids (which I found out about when we arrived at the party last year), so I put together my first one for the seven other kiddos who would be there. I also made cute little candy corn-shaped cookies to bring. It may not seem like much, but I was quite proud of myself.

As usual, there was a crowd at Kelli and Steve’s, who were nice enough to let my parents, Kenny’s mom, and Jeff and Erin tag along this year as well. Lots of people, lots of great food, and lots of excited kids running around.

Riley was quite a busy little angry bird that evening. He did some dancin’ in the kitchen for everyone…..

…..made a new best friend in Kelli’s sister Kristi…..

…..and then got loaded into his wagon for trick-or-treating. I didn’t have to carry him this year, and he stayed awake the entire time. Score on both counts.

However, when we got Riley out of his wagon to go up to the first house, look at the face he made:

Not a happy camper. Not even swinging him up the front walk helped, although we tried it.

But then Jack gave him a little bag of peanut M&Ms and all was suddenly better. This kid just loves to have something in his hands!

We had quite the wagon train going on throughout our trick-or-treating excursion, with some kids riding, some kids walking (or running), and some doing a little bit of both. Hayden, however, stayed put the whole time. He looked mighty comfy in his ride.

 

About halfway through our trick-or-treating route, we finally coerced Riley into walking up to a couple of houses. As long as he had those M&Ms firmly clenched in his little hand (later replaced by a KitKat), he was fine. And we got many compliments, from adults and kids alike, on how great his costume looked. It wasn’t the most unique idea ever, but he sure did look cute. 

 

Once we were all back at Kelli and Steve’s house, I attempted to gather all of the kids on the couch for a picture, like we did last year. It is so very hard to corral 8 kids (minus the youngest, Hayden, who fell asleep right after we got back) into one small spot and have them sit still(ish) while their parents snap pictures.

We did manage to get one halfway decent shot, but only by the hardest. And I love the way that Riley, from a mostly prone position, is looking at Nathan. He’s either thinking, “What are you doing so close to me?” or “Please help me escape.”

After our pipsqueak photo shoot, we stayed for a little while longer so Riley could play with his friends. We finally arrived back home just before 9pm. Riley was in such a silly mood: he kept pretending to sneeze (“achoo!”) while he drank his milk and kept cracking himself up. He may have had a taste of a cookie (or two), but I promise I didn’t give him any candy, so who knows what wound him up. I think he was just expressing how much he enjoyed his second Halloween.

And what a night it was. I always love spending time with our friends, and this occasion was no exception. As always, thanks so very much for hosting a fabulous party, Kelli and Steve. We had such a fun time!