Happy Halloween!

This year, we got our first real taste of the children's Halloween scene. Last year, Ruby was not quite 5 months old, so still far too young to partake in Halloween activities or even to realize that it was out of the ordinary for she and her little friends to be dressed up like animals.



This year, Ruby was able to enjoy the full Halloween experience, starting with a trip to the pumpkin patch.









The Tuesday before Halloween, we hosted a Halloween party for Ruby's playgroup. In recent months attendance at our weekly playgroups have dwindled due to moms having moved out of the city and conflicting nap times. Therefore, we were very excited that almost ALL of the moms in the group were able to make it to the Halloween party. With 10 toddlers running around, it looked like our house had been hit by a tornado.

One of the best parts of the party was to see the difference between this year and our playgroup Halloween party last year. Whereas last year, taking the group picture entailed nothing more than propping the babies up next to each other on the couch and snapping the shots before they slid down too far, this year having that many toddlers sit long enough for a picture was an impossibility, so we included the moms in the shot.





This year was also Ruby's first time trick or treating (and the first time for Steve and I since we ourselves were children). We walked along the nearby Lake Street, which is renowned for its abundance of candy and trick or treaters. Ruby was too shy to take candy from strangers. At the first house, after much hesitation, she chose a Smarties from the candy bowl, only to turn around and put it back a few moments later. Finally, she did accept one piece of candy, which she held onto tightly the rest of the evening.