Halloween Festivities!

Holidays are so much more fun with kids...except for the whole maneuvering around nap times and bedtimes, but the pros far outweigh the cons. Rudy's first Halloween engagement was a cousins' party with Jason's side of the family. Uncle Don's daughter and her family were going to be in town so we had a party for the cousins to meet and have fun together. I had a blast, and Rudy seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself, too. I think he actually clued into the idea that something special was going on. Maybe all the costumes tipped him off. :)

Here's Rudy with Uncle Don.

The babies of the family playing together...or at least next to each other.

Next, we had our ward play group Halloween Party. It was great to see all the kids in their Halloween duds. A few moms dressed up too. Heather read a halloween book to the kids and we sang Halloweeny songs. Then the older kids decorated cupcakes and did other such coolness while the younger kids mouthed each other's toys.
Jason happened to be available during the party, so he came along. He enjoyed being able to watch Rudy play with the other kids etc., but I think he was a bit overwhelmed at the quantity of conversations going on in one room, all while over 15 kids scrambled around. Hey, why go to playgroup if not to get your weekly fix of adult conversation?

Lastly, came Halloween day. I fed Rudy puried peas for lunch and told him it was "Monster Mash", not that he could understand why that's cool, but it was fun for me. After his nap, we headed out with my downstairs neighbor and her son, who's just about 6 months older than Rudy for some middle of the day food driving. We collected canned food from our neighbors, trick or treat style. It was a fun way to show off Rudy's costume and collect food for our local food bank. When Jason got home, we packed up and went to my parents' house to spend the night and enjoy a family halloween party. We did our food drive up in their neighborhood too, just a bit, so Jason and my parents could join in the trick or treating fun. I was really impressed at how generous everyone was--most people came back to the door with thier arms full of food after being asked for just a can or box of food for our food drive. Here's a few pictures from Halloween evening.

Rudy and Jason prepping for Trick or Treating on Halloween Day.

The family in Halloween mode.

Rudy checking out his Uncle Jake's Wolf costume. I was worried it'd scare him, but all I had to do was say, "Dog!" and he and Rudy were friends.

My family, minus Vati, who's behind the camera.

My parents posing with their first grandchild before heading out to Trick or Treat. I'm dressed as Dumbo's feather, a fitting metaphor for Rudy's small but growing confidence that perhaps he can walk all by himself, without my finger to hold on to.

Rudy, Jason and me with the wagon we used to collect food for the local food bank.