Halloween!

Happy Halloween!!  No cooking or music today (no new baby either), just a lot of bouncing and celebrating with our little Tigger!  Alexander loves Winnie the Pooh and his favorite character is Tigger.  He LOVES to bounce around the house saying, "Tiggers say Iiiiiiiiiiiiiii'm the only one, hoo hoo hoo hoo!"  Thus, it was a no-brainer for us when we picked out his costume for this year.

On Halloween, Alexander's school threw a little Halloween party in the afternoon where the kids dressed up in their costumes.  They had a small parade around the school, and then came back to pizza and live music played by their music teacher.  Afterwards, we went back home, had dinner, and then Alexander and I went out trick-or-treating with our neighbors while Joseph handed out candy.  Alexander had an absolute BLAST trick-or-treating for the first time.

Joseph and Alexander (Tigger).

Alexander, fresh from his nap, and ready to party
with his friends (although he was still a little groggy).

Alexander, tethered to the rope, walking along with his friends
at the beginning of the parade.

As you can see, he was a little cranky that we had to get him up
from his nap.

Once we headed out the door, he started to fuss and cry, so I had
to hold his hand during the whole parade.  It took a little while,
but he finally calmed down and started to have fun.

Still a little weepy...

....starting to get better. :)

He finally came around once his teachers started to sing songs.

Mommy and Alexander, taking a break to
take a picture.  

Mommy and Alexander back at school after the parade, and ready
to party!!

Here's Alexander's little friend dressed as a girl pirate.  They've been
friends since they were little infants.  They adore each other. :)

Alexander dancing and bouncing to the music!

Joseph, Alexander (Tigger), and Oscar (the jack-o-lantern) at home,
getting ready for the trick-or-treaters.

Alexander and his buddy Sanders getting ready to go trick-or-treating.
Thankfully it was a beautiful fall day - not too hot and hot too cold.

A cute little Tigger and a pirate. 

Our first stop was our own house! 

Then we stopped by our other neighbor's house.  Their son, Arhan,
dressed as a very muscular Spider man!  Too cute!

Here's our friends Roshni (mother of Arhan the Spiderman) and
Kate with her adorable twins Lucy (the strawberry) and Sanders (the pirate).

Alexander, the leader of the pack. :)

Aren't these little trick-or-treaters just too cute for words?

Alexander was VERY much into checking out what he had in his bucket.

By the fifth house or so, Alexander finally got the hang of
going up to people, saying "trick or treat", taking one piece of candy,
and then saying "thank you."  I was so proud of him!

The little neighborhood posse. :)  They're all around the same age
within a few months of one another.  

The kids loved this house, as it had lots of "OOOOOOOOOO!"
sound effects outdoors.  Once they approached it, they all
started saying, "Ooooooooooo!" as well.  Too cute!

Towards the end of our trick-or-treating adventure, the kids
began to make a mad dash towards each house.  

Look at 'em go!

Here's all of the kiddos at the end of their trick-or-treating playdate
that was about 40 minutes long (we just went around the block).
They had a wonderful time and were excited to check out all
of the candy that they had gotten.

Kate, Roshni, and I told the kids that if they sat nicely for a picture,
they could have one piece of candy from their buckets.  They
listened beautifully! :)

Alexander didn't quite understand that he needed to unwrap
the lollipop first, in order to eat it. :)

The little trick-or-treaters at the end of the night.

After trick-or-treating, Alexander was very excited to show Joseph
what he had gotten in his bucket.
Once we took a tally of all of the trick-or-treaters that came to our
house, we found that about 100 kids came!  That's been the most
we've ever had.  I suppose everyone was very anxious to get out
of their homes after Hurricane Sandy came through.

Here's our Donald Duck and Goofy jack-o-lanterns all lit up.

It was so much fun being able to take Alexander trick-or-treating with his friends last night.  Seeing the absolute and unadulterated joy and pleasure that he was experiencing with his friends was a great reminder of just one of the many reasons why I love being a parent.  I was so happy that I didn't miss this moment - it was very special.

The biophysical exam that we had done today went well and baby William looked great in his ultrasound.  It was nice to see our little man once more, but unfortunately, he's too big to get a great picture of him in utero.  I suppose we'll just see the real thing in a few days.  Tomorrow afternoon, the plan is to go in for the cervical ripening, and the induction the following morning.  Let's hope for the best! :)  Until next time...

Love and kisses,

Nikki