Halloween 2011

I'm a lion, hear me roar!! Griffin was a lion for halloween this year, and made a pretty cute one at that! We started the halloween fun the week before the big day, with our neighborhood kids halloween party. When they were looking for volunteers a couple of months ago, I went ahead and responded. One thing I've learned from moving so often, is that there are two great ways to start meeting people. One is to invite people over (like, anyone you know, even people you've just met...), and the other is to volunteer for stuff. So that's how I ended up chair of the games committee for the party. A party which, I quickly learned, often has something like 150+ kids attend it! Did I mention we live in a very family-friendly neighborhood? Despite being right downtown, you can't toss a stone without hitting a stroller or a dog. Which is why we like it. So here I am, in charge of party games, when I've never been to this party before, and my son is barely old enough to even play games. Oh, and I don't really know anyone in the neighborhood, and was traveling to the Philippines for the main party planning meeting. But of course, I am a former student government president and sorority girl after all, so I dug deep and did my best in my new mom role as neighborhood kids party planner! On the day of the party, I wore an old M&Ms costume my mom made when I was a kid, that still fit (more or less), and I actually won a prize for the adult costume. (although....not many adults dressed up!)

I love this picture because you can see Griffin's top two teeth here, which he finally has- totalling four! But at 16 1/2 months, he still only has 4 teeth! They're funny looking too, because at least at this point, there's a big gap between them!

On the actual night of halloween, we walked over to our friends house, who has a son the same age as Griffin, and a couple other friends came with their toddlers. Griffin walked up the front steps to a house along the way, but didn't really get the trick or treating thing. So we tried a few more times and it was cute, but we felt funny taking candy for Griffin when he didn't really understand what to do when they held it out for him. After we put him to bed, we sat out front and handed out candy to tons and tons of kids that came by. Steve and I figure we gave out over 500 pieces of candy, before we finally threw in the towel at about 8:30pm, even though there were still some kids around! Wow!

He was walking down the street, holding my hand, just at the beginning of the evening. This woman opened her door with her candy bowl and thought Griffin was adorable. So he climbed up her steps, but when she tried to give him a piece of candy, he just looked at her, a little confused! But I guess it was his first official trick or treating.