Happy Halloween! {and carving pumpkins too}

Yesterday, after much anticipation, we decided to carve pumpkins. One from our garden and one from the pumpkin patch we'd visited on Saturday (blog post to come).

I was so excited, it's been almost ten years since I've carved a pumpkin. I could not wait to see how James would react. Plus, these types of holiday traditions are one of the things that makes being a parent so fun. Re-living your childhood through your own children. :)

He was excited at first, then a little unsure (what is all this stuff?) and then excited again once we started carving. He's really into transferring things from container to container, so as E and I scooped the pumpkin innards out, he's happily scoop them back into the pumpkin. And as I fished out all the seed for roasting, he'd happily scoop those back into the pumpkin too.

Black cat was not posed for this. Rumpus was quite interested in what we were up to.

Scooping.
We asked him if he wanted to put his hand into the pumpkin. No way, the spoon was as far as he'd go.
Some of the seeds for roasting.
Halloween day started with an entirely too early of a wake-up, a majorly grumpy toddler, and Gymboree class that ended in tears for both Mama and boy (yea for pregnancy hormones and a fitting toddler!).

Luckily the weather was splendid, so I didn't stay sad for long. Also, a long nap for the boy, and reading Harry Potter in the living room sun for the Mama fixed things up. This afternoon we visited E's work and were delighted to see all the other kids of co-workers there for trick-or-treating. James got a wonderful haul but was mostly thrilled with the three "suckers!".

This evening it went perfectly, just as I'd always hoped. We gave James dinner and waited until dusk. Then E and James wandered hand in hand out into the night (with me following behind for a couple of houses with the camera). E said he was a pro. Used his little fist to knock on the door, said "treat treat" in his sweet little voice, picked out a candy, and stowed it into his bucket before moving on.

Heaven.

I was sad to miss it, but our house was getting quite a crowd, and I knew E has dreamed of taking James trick-or-treating since the moment I said "I'm pregnant", so I thought it fitting for Dada to take up the task.

James came home with his tiny bucket full of candy a half an hour later. E and James poured the loot onto the floor to examine (very important, right?) and James chose a sucker to take into the bath with him. Only on Halloween. ;)

What a wonderful night.

Our porch with our proud pumpkins and our cute-as-heck train engineer. He insisted on holding that pumpkin for the picture. Wouldn't hear of putting it down.
He loved being a "cho cho driver".
Off to the first house. Most the time on the sidewalk James will pull his hand away from ours. But he happily held E's hand the entire time.
Headed up the street.
Moon.
Our little Halloween display.
Blurry but adorable. He had the biggest grin when he got home. And look at all that loot!
Sucker! Yummy! He was in heaven. Never in his life has he had this much candy in one day.
Beautiful beautiful candy.
And I wore my pregnancy skeleton shirt again! I wore it when I was pregnant with James as well, only two Halloweens ago.
A lot has changed since a year ago when James celebrated his first Halloween. Check it out here.