Halloween with the Holden's

Halloween was way more exciting this year with a preschooler who "understood"what was going on.   It was a little chilly in the morning so the boys spend some extended time in their matching skeleton pj's 

Before they put on their Halloween finest and headed outside for some photos with the pumpkins.

After nap time, we changed everyone into their costumes.  Carter was a prince, complete with his own horse to ride.

Parker was an adorable, snugly tiger baby.

Once everyone was ready we headed to our neighborhood Halloween party.

Recognize the person with Carter - that's dad dressed up like a female country music singer.  He won the award at work for the best men's costume (He came in close to winning the neighborhood award as well  but lost in a dance off.  Someone said dancing in a dress was hard).

We had a blast at the neighborhood party.  Parker enjoyed snuggling with the ladies.

While Carter got out his excess energy chasing around his friends.

Both kids thoroughly enjoyed their pizza dinner.

And Carter had a blast in the various bouncy houses.  Mainly when playing with Hailey.

Soon it was time to line up for the Halloween parade.  All the kids stand together until released into the neighborhood.  It's a mad dash at the beginning and hilarious to watch screaming, smiling kids everywhere.

Carter was a little slower than most (particularly with the horse he refused to take off).  But he had no problem walking up and getting his candy.  We practiced saying "Happy Halloween" and "Thank you" all week.

In addition to Carter's neighborhood friends, he had 3 of his classmates who were trick-or-treating in the neighborhood too.  This is Carter, Jack, John Paul (in back) and Logan.  They were on the same pace for a while so it was nice to chat with their parents and catch up.

We were lucky that Grandmommy was able to stay for the initial rush so she could watch Parker and man the house while mom/dad got to walk around with Carter.

Carter made it much further than we anticipated.  He did great ringing the door bells and picking one piece of candy at each house.

Soon everyone made it home where we snapped a quick family picture on the front porch.

The boys were having too much fun so we let them stay up a little late.  Parker took the opportunity to dig into Carter's candy.  He choose a lollipop.

Carter preferred to hand out the candy.  He loved to hold the basket and tell all the kids to just take one piece.  After a while he decided that he would rather pick what piece each child got and put it in their bag for them.  He was a tough candy-giver-outer!  And probably had as much fun doing that as he did getting candy.

Parker had a great time watching his crazy brother and being tickled by dad.

It was a really fun day for the whole family.  We hope you all had a Happy Halloween as well!