Halloween 2011

I did it. I finally did it. I copied something from Young House Love:

Clara and Joseph are around the same age, so YHL's toddler pumpkin painting project was a perfect way to kick off Halloween 2011 with the little man. Time to begin wielding the painter's tape.

Last year, we carved a J into Baby Bear Joseph's first ever pumpkin.

Oh my gosh, I forgot how ridiculously cute he was last year...

So this year I decided to change things up and instead used an "M" for his last initial.

Gran helped Joseph slather fingerpaint all over his pumpkin.

All over. Then we removed the tape and voila! Instant Joseph masterpiece. And it only took about 2 minutes to create.

Next, we decided to see if Joseph would be interested in pumpkin lobotomy. Not so much... but he did try to feed some pumpkin slime to his Uncle Marshall (who quickly dodged).

So, Gran took over brain removal while Joseph.... began piling fingerpaint bottles into the brain bucket.

Helpful. ;)

I took the fingerpaint out and showed Joseph the seeds and goop to see if he'd like to squish his hands in it or something.

Not so much... but he did try to make off with the brain bucket.

Very helpful.

Then Gran showed Joseph that he could stir the goop with a spoon. Just like food on the stove.

And since Joseph really, really likes to help in the kitchen...

He was all about that!

But out of everything in the whole pumpkin experience, Joseph was most enthusiastic about removing and replacing the pumpkin cap.

Everything else held his attention for maybe a minute. Joseph focused on the pumpkin cap for more than 15. I'm pretty sure he thought it was a puzzle. My kid loves puzzles.

Essentially, it was a puzzle since it could only be put back one way. Every time Joseph turned it just right, he would expertly pat the cap to make sure it was secure and then start all over.

I eventually took him back inside out of the cold despite his loud protests. Crazy kid. Then Mom and I tried to get Joseph to say, "Trick or Treat" by bribing him with Smarties. It didn't work and we were strangely without any Smarties after 10 minutes.

We got home from our pumpkin extravaganza just in time to start receiving trick or treaters.

Last year, we had 113 trick or treaters. We kept a tally. This year, we had 64. Not nearly as awesome, but still pretty darn fantastic since it was really, really cold and there's snow on the ground.

Lastly, we took Joseph the Lion out on his first ever trick or treating excursion. We hit two whole houses! (Well, 4 if you count visiting Gran's and Glenda's earlier in the day).

Huzzah for next door neighbors! ;) Joseph filled up a WHOLE sandwich sized ziploc baggie with treats. He even got his favorite crackers from Ms. Glenda. What a lucky kid.

We even brought Aunt Theresa and our friends Mark and Erin with us to celebrate the monumental occasion.

The Most Adorable Lion Costume of All Time was purchased last year at Goodwill Outlet for a grand total of about $1. Score! It kept him super warm and cozy.

I really had to work hard to get those whiskers on him. I think his young male ego was crying out in protest because I was using an eye liner pencil. See Rob? There's hope for him yet. ;)

After being outside for a few minutes, Joseph finally realized that his lion mane would keep his head warm and he stopped trying to remove it. He really, really doesn't like to wear anything on his head.

 Theresa is going to help me do a happy lion photoshoot in the daylight sometime. Because she's awesome like that. It was dark before I got even one picture of Joseph the Lion and I was very, very sad.

I decided that between the hood and the tail... he was the. cutest. thing. ever. Not that I'm biased or anything.

With the hood on, Mark and I decided that Joseph could finally be Simba. Pre-hood, I may have referred to him as the Cowardly Lion. ;)

Of course, the very second we got back inside...

Then we settled down to watch Hocus Pocus together. And ate Smarties. With one tired little lion.