Halloween Fun Fun Fun!

We made a stop at Michael's among the many we made to prepare for our fun Halloween, and there we found many fun things to see! Aubin ran around the store, grabbing this and that, and stopping here and there. There were all sorts of colors, there were all sorts of themes, and many a witch and bat wing! There were candles to smell, and signs to read, Christmas decor and frilly things! Okay, sorry, I'm done. On a more serious note, Chris and I haven't been in a craft store for a while. We had lots of fun looking around and watching Aubin fly from aisle to aisle in delight. It made us long for Utah and family when we saw all the Christmas stock. But it also made us feel excited and happy to be the three of us together instead of apart.

Even though Aubin thought this guy was pretty funny and cool, he wasn't taking any chances on getting too close! Haha!

Aubin had tons of fun playing with all the different hats. Should he be an explorer?

How about a pirate?

I have a hard time, especially during the holidays, keeping my treat-making under control. The holidays just make me want to cook and bake up a storm! Our house has been full of fun sweet things pretty much ever since we got here, and when I saw these cute, kid-sized apples in the store, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them!

Caramel apples!!! I was going to make them all super yummy with chocolate and nuts, etc... but then I decided that sometimes simple is the yummiest way ;)

After finally deciding on a costume for Aubin, I wanted to be super creative and make him a costume again like last year but sometimes I just can't make my brain work the way I want it to, we decided to have Aubin try it on. The whole scenario was quite different in my head. It didn't quite play out like I'd hoped.

This is exactly how much Aubin liked his costume the first time he wore it. He loves it right? To his credit, it was too small and we went and exchanged it for a larger one. We had him try that one on too, but with clothing underneath, and I stuffed candy in his hands right away in hopes that he would develop a positive experience in the costume. And anyone who knows Aubin, knows that food motivation is pretty much all there is with him!

Finally we decided to carve our pumpkins on Halloween. I didn't want them to rot before the big night! Notice Aubin colored his. Aubin calls these delightfully orange globes "pump-a-gin" or "pum-hm", just depending on what he's in the mood for.

Aubin got a bath to get ready to dress up, and I had some fun with his hair.

And I'm sorry, but I love every inch of this cute little guy, especially his legs! I had to buy him some girls leggings to fit underneath his costume so that it wasn't scratchy. Chris just made a face every time Aubs was in them, kind of like "I'm sorry son, but it's your mom." I love him in these though!!!! You can see every roll! Okay, I'm going to try to control myself.

Dad found these upstairs and decided to try them on Aubin. He LOVED them!

If we had known he would keep the teeth in this long, we would have made him into a vampire!

All dressed and ready to go. Much to my delight, there was absolutely no screaming, kicking, or squirming of any kind when I dressed him. Guess the candy trick worked!

"I'm ready to go-oh...."

Quick pic outside the church before heading in for a chili dinner before the trunk-or-treat.

Off he goes! I didn't think to get a picture of our trunk, next year!

Happy trunk-or-treater. Notice the popcorn ball in his hand. I gave him that exact kind of popcorn ball a week ago for being a good boy while I was running us around one day, and he loved it. Obviously he remembered, because as soon as he got this goody he didn't let it go. He wouldn't put it in the bucket either. That baby was staying where he could see it!

Aubin's pail of candy got pretty heavy, and I noticed him starting to have a little bit of trouble carrying it, but every time I tried to help him at all he would pull it away. He has always been a do it yourself kid. Once all the trunks were closed up, we finally opened up the popcorn ball and let him have it. We all laughed a little bit though because once it was open, he just wanted to carry it around for a while and admire it, then once he was fully satisfied with that, he demolished it.

We decided to take him to do so more trick-or-treating around the neighborhood since he was having so much fun, and the trunk-or-treat ended early enough to go do more. Plus, hello, it's Halloween! You gotta milk it for all it's worth! When we were in the car, and I asked Aubin if he wanted to do more trick-or-treating, he replied with his classic tight "o" shaped lips and an enthusiastic grunt. In Aubin language, this means yes. Don't ask us how or why, we're still trying to figure that out ourselves!

Unfortunately, we still don't know the area very well so when various people suggested good spots to go take Aubin, we had no idea where they were talking about. Instead we decided to try our luck just around our own neighborhood. Monterey isn't a very big "kid" community. There seem to be many people either just starting out, or settling down for retirement, but not a whole lot in between. This said, we hardly saw any other children out, but kept on anyways. It was easy to tell which houses were welcoming the candy seeking crowd, as they had their porch lights on and their gates open. We kept trying to get Aubin to say "thank you" after a candy offering was placed in his pumpkin bucket, but he would not. He would, however, say "bye-bye", and with that hearts melted everywhere around the bay. Including mine 50 times over.

After 45 minutes of walking around, we were able to collect from a whipping 4 more houses. But it was worth it, because we could tell Aubin had loads of fun. And to Monterey's credit, one house was completely decked out with a cemetery yard, fog machines, bats, skeletons, orange spot lights, and other creepy things. We even had to hold on to Aubin in order to keep him out of their house, as he apperently decided he would like to live with them. Special effects and all, they still weren't as scary as us!

On the walk back to the car, Chris decided to pick Aubin up since he was gradually beginning to drag. As we fell in to a ghoulish pace, Aubin quietly laid his head on Daddy's shoulder. Taking this as a sign he was too tired to hold his bucket of goodies, I gently placed my hand under Aubin's grasp so he could let the bucket fall into my ready and waiting palm. But "no!" was the response I got, and a quick jerk as the bucket swung forcefully away from me. Oops. Never assume anything with that kid.

We got home, and since Aubin had collected several glow sticks, we had an impromptu glow in the dark party right in our front room. That was one of my favorite parts of the whole night! We had "sword fights" and twirled colors together, we spelled in mid air. We all had a great time playing around. Finally we decided to lay out the loot on the floor, and Chris and I went through to pick out the pieces of candy that would not be suitable for Aubin to eat. Either because they were to hard, chewy, or sour. But don't worry, there was plenty left for him! We let him have his fill before he went to bed. After all, that's what we always did as a kid ;) And then Chris and I nestled in with some hot, spiced cider and watched a creepy movie.

It was definitely a spookerrific day!