Elliott's First Halloween!

Today was SUCH a fun day!! A perfect mix of family and friends, business and relaxing, all blended together with lots of fall-ish activites. Scott, Ellie, and I tried out a new church today.....it's not the one, but we'll keep working on that! Then we met our good friends Katie and Chase for lunch, and they came back to our house so the boys could watch some football. Honestly, just having football on the t.v. makes me feel all cozy, and it is just the best time of year!

While the boys cheered on the Seahawks (ok, there wasn't a lot of cheering going on.....more like yelling and groaning), Katie and I made caramel apples!! It was pretty fun, even if they are a lot more difficult to make than you would think! We made 10, and I felt like I was just getting the hang of it by the end. None of them look too pretty, but I tell ya, if I had 10 more apples......I would have perfected the caramel coating and candy-application process :)

Finally, we got Elliott dressed in her very first Halloween costume! This adorable little cow has been hanging in E's closet for over a month now! Katie and I ventured out and tried to get some good shots of Ellie with some fall color.....that was pretty much a bust! For whatever reason, Ellie seemed to be scared of the leaves :( Oh well! She still looks pretty cute!!

Our final stop was the Trunk or Treat party at my brother's church. I went last year with a baby in my belly, and I could only imagine how much more fun it would be with an actual little one to show off! We met my parents, brother and sister-in-law, and niece and nephew there and had a great time. Zander (Buzz Lightyear) kept us busy going and getting candy from all the "trunks" and playing every version of bean bag toss known to man kind. Zoe kept us smiling with her new trick: cooing :) Soooo sweet! And she was a very smiley little Seahawks cheerleader, to boot! Ellie was.....well, Ellie! She seemed excited about all the commotion, and observed everything closely, as she usually does. She tolerated the cow costume for the most part, and put up with being carried all around the church! We gave her time to crawl and to work on her newest skill: standing!!!

I was a little disappointed with one thing, though. I remembered from last year that there was a "balloon room" for all the younger kids. (It's exactly what it sounds like....a room full of balloons! Kids and babies can run and crawl all around, and it's just plain fun!!) Well I totally expected Ellie to loooove it! I thought about how much fun she would have crawling around and chasing balloons. Not so much :( When I first put her on the floor in the balloon room, Elliott started shaking and trying to bat the balloons away! I was shocked! We did make a second trip to the balloon room, where Ellie started to loosen up a little bit and released the death grip she had on my sweatshirt, but I guess it still just wasn't the awesome, excited response that I expected to get from her! Oh well :) All in all, I think her first Halloween was great! I know I had fun, and I will always look back at these pictures fondly. Life may not always be as simple as it is now :)

~Amanda