A very happy Halloween

In our family we love holidays, and we do what we can to provide joy to the kids around us, and all those that we encounter. We love love Halloween, and we adore Christmas. For Halloween we set up massive decorations, and try to get unique treats for our tiny treaters. We knew we had a lot of work in front of us to get our house up to speed, but we had a full schedule. Well yesterday did indeed prove to be one busy day, so we started the day knowing it would be a crazy run. In the morning we met our friend Tiarra Fleming the photographer for some photo's of Em, www.littlefacesphotography.blogspot.com. Here is a great shot she got of my Em, doesn't she capture the best shots? This is just Em right off Tiarra's roll, she said she loved shooting her. If you need an affordable photographer, I recommend her!! For those of you that know us, you know Mike is also a photographer, and a picture he did of her family is on her blog.



We then ran two a softball double header, plus we had to make up the end of a rain out game, so yes that's 3 games. We then ran home, and got ready for Halloween, I was one tired momma. The good thing is that while I was at the game with Em, Mike put up all our crazy decorations. I was very impressed when I got home, and saw all he had done. Em's little cousins Faith and Ransom joined us for trick or treating, corn dogs, and lots of fun. The kids took off with Em, Jude, and Mike to troll the neighborhood for candy, while I stayed back to pass out our own treats. I honestly, LOVED the time to myself just handing out some great treats. The kids LOVED our decorations, and even those little ones that were really really scared braved the mean witch next to my door to get the big lollipops and giant pixie sticks. They would timidly say "Happy Halloween", and then would whisper to me "It's all pretend you know". I would wink at them and tell them, "I know, but don't tell your parents" and they would run off smiling.

The greatest part of last night were all the smiles we got from Jude, and his giggles too. He seemed to really feel involved, and tried in his own way to communicate that to everyone. Mike said he fell asleep in his wheelchair while trick or treating, but that everyone still gave an extra piece of candy for Jude's tiny pumpkin bucket. Many of the people recognized Em from her smile box campaign, and Jude from my blog. One mom who was a special ed teacher, even went as far as to get Jude some gummy treats because the hard candy she had probably wouldn't work. Mike said a few people commented about how great Jude's stroller was and how it even had a "head rest", but they just didn't know it was special need equipment. The point is though is that it was an awesome night, and Jude enjoyed it too. When the kids got home, tired, and dragging with bags full of candy, they collapsed in the living room. I put Jude in the middle of them as they played "Candy exchange". They then traded for the candy they didn't like for candy they did from the other kids. Jude squealed, turned, and lifted his arms as the kids spoke. He felt included, he was happy, and that made me happy.

I will post a plethora of pictures tomorrow :)