Getting in the Halloween Spirit

I changed up my layout to acknowledge the coming holiday. I know it is only the beginning of September, but around here we have been looking forward to Halloween since November 1st, 2008. That was the day that Calli declared "I'm going to be a witch for Halloween next year!" It seems like so long ago she was saying that, but now here we are nearing October again and I have just received her witch costume in the mail.

It's hard for me to choose a favorite holiday (it is probably Christmas!) and Halloween is certainly right up there with my favorites. It is a day that I can pretend to be a kid again, or at least live vicariously through my kids while trick-or-treating with them. I love love LOVE dressing them up. And, if I do say so myself, they are always some of the cutest little trick-or-treaters out there. I probably make way too big a deal and spend a little too much money on their costumes, but it's fun. They love it and will appreciate it when they get older and have these great memories and fabulous photos of their costumes to look back on. I refuse to just go to Target and spend $10 on the cheapest thing I can find. Sorry, but there's just no fun in that!

So in honor of the upcoming holiday, here is a look back at Calli's first four Halloweens (she's grown just a little don't you think?)

Calli's first Halloween! She was four months old and a black kitty. This costume was supposed to be used for the rest of our babies too, but just hasn't. Serena was a bigger baby and seven months old when Halloween rolled around so the costume didn't fit. Besides that, I wanted the girls to match :). And Jameson won't be wearing it this year because, well frankly, he is huge and it wouldn't fit.

Calli's second Halloween when she was sixteen months old. She was the cutest pumpkin ever!!! It was the first year we took her out trick-or-treating and she was adorable. This year Serena gets to put this costume on.
Calli's third Halloween when she was two years old. I decided on Tinkerbell for her costume.

Calli's fourth Halloween last year. She had a ladybug themed birthday in June and wanted to be a ladybug for Halloween as well. This was the first year she got to choose her costume and I found this adorable ladybug costume online. The photo is terrible quality because OF COURSE our camera broke right before Halloween so we were forced to use our video camera to capture any photos. At least we have something though!