Halloween/Harvest Traditions

When Emersyn's first Halloween came around, I thought of no better place to show her off then her great grandparents nursing homes in Albany. Albany is about an hour and a half away from our house so we don't get down there as much as we should but for the last four years, we have made sure to get down there each Halloween.

My precious little Mickey and Minnie

Great Grandma Stanton who just celebrated her 95th birthday!

Great Grandma Jensen

I can't get over how old Emersyn looks in this picture!!

We had lunch at Grandma Stanton's retirement home and she was so happy to parade the kids around to each table at the cafeteria. I loved seeing the elderly people's faces light up when they saw my little ones. One precious lady remembered when we first brought Emersyn down in her ladybug costume. We had lunch and visited for a bit before heading over to Grandma Jensen's. Unfortunately, Grandma Jensen is suffering from some memory loss so I'm not even sure she will remember that we came but it was special nonetheless.

We left Albany and headed home. Emersyn fell asleep in the car which was great timing because we wanted to carve pumpkins when we got home. This was our first time carving pumpkins since having kids, can you believe it? We just always run out of time every ear for some reason. This year we were determined to do it and we made it, just barely by one night!

Everett got bored. :)

Awfully proud of herself!

The finished product!

On Halloween night we decided to take Emersyn trick or treating for the first time. I was undecided about trick or treating for awhile but then last year we got home from Albany when there were so many kids out and it just looked like a really fun community activity. Before Ems went out, we got to hand out candy to some of our neighbors and it was a lot of fun.

Ems went trick or treating with her little bestie. Her mom made her Jessie costume, isn't it darling?? Emersyn's costume was homemade too, though not by me, ha! Brett's mom made the skirt and then she just wore a black turtleneck and black leggings. I got the Minnie ears on sale at the Disney store for $5, score!!

Ready to trick or treat!

Everett's costume was a little bit of a splurge. I have always "made" Emersyn's costume with the exception of her very first one so I decided to cough up the $17 for Everett's costume and I am so glad I did. How adorable is he??!

Oh my word I am so in love with this boy!!!

We had such a great Halloween/Harvest time! Emersyn got to wear her costume to school today too.

And now I'll leave you with a collage of my sweet girls past costumes.... :)

(click to make bigger)