Happy Halloween from the Rollins! I have been looking forward to this day for a while, mostly because I decided I wanted to throw a party. Paige is too young this year for us to justify trick-or-treating (probably next year, though I still think most of the candy won't go to her), but I want a reason to celebrate and dress up. I figured having a baby Halloween party would be a lot of fun. I scoured Pinterest for ideas and came up with some fun food and games for babies and toddlers. I made some cute invitations and took them around to neighborhood friends. I decided to focus on just those with young kids in my neighborhood to keep it smaller and manageable.
For our costumes, I knew I wanted Paige to be in a tulle dress. I think it's adorable and I knew I had to do it while she is too young to protest or have opinions of her own. We had a lot of white tulle left over from our wedding and I decided to use it to make a tooth fairy costume for her while Stephen and I dressed up as dentists with scrubs, masks, and toothbrushes. Her costume came out pretty cute if I say so myself. She didn't like wearing it the first few times I tried it on her (we think the tulle was itchy to her) but she's warmed up to it enough that she'll tolerate it now. It has a big white tulle dress, purple wings, and a head band with a felt tooth on it. I also made her a little felt tooth pillow to go with it. It was a lot of fun for me to make.
For the party, I wanted to make it fun and special. We decorated with orange streamers and balloons. I made sensory bags out of trinkets from the dollar store (the bags leaked even after being sealed with duct tape, so I wouldn't do it again, but they were cute). I took a laundry basket and wove string through it to make a spider web and then hid blow-up pumpkins and ghosts under the web. I found some foam bats and foam stickers to let the toddlers have a craft. One of the biggest hits was the chalk table that I made a few months ago--I put the chalk in a pumpkin basket and the kids (and parents) had fun drawing. For food, I decorated string cheese like ghosts, peach cups like jack-o-lanterns, and made a cheese dip that had googly eyes. There was also punch with an ice hand.
We had four families come with their babies and toddlers, and that seemed like the perfect amount. The babies had fun exploring and playing with the parents chatted. I'm grateful for such great neighbors and friends. Stephen was also a champ at helping me with everything. I couldn't have done it without him. Paige did well with so many people, though at the end, she was ready for a nap. It was fun to celebrate Halloween like this. We'll probably hand out candy for a little bit and go to the neighborhood potluck tonight, but I'm glad I had the party too.
For Family Night a few weeks ago, we started our Halloween celebration by going to Witchfest at Gardner Village. I went a few days before with some friends and thought it was cute, so we went back as a family. They had a scavenger hunt to find the witch mannequin, and with a little help from strangers, we found them all and earned discounted cookies.
Beyond Halloween, we've had a fun few weeks since I last wrote. Paige is sticking to her schedule pretty well, and still wants to eat all the time. I weighed her on my scale at home and it read 16.5 lbs, so she's still small, but growing enough that I'm not concerned. She's been pretty chatty lately. Stephen and I are competing to see if she'll say "mama" or "dada" first. While she hasn't giving a definitive answer to that debate, she does repeat "ah!" and "hi~!" It's fun to play parrot with her and try to get her to say things. Most of the time, she just babbles to herself, often in a high-pitch voice. She's also kind of waving at people, which is adorable.
I also finished Paige's Christmas stocking. I started working on it a year and a half ago, so I'm glad to finally say it's done. Both of our families had Bucilla stockings, so I'm glad to carry on the tradition. It was really good for me to learn to embroider too. I've used that new skill a few times already (like in making Paige's costume). I'm still trying to exercise more, thought I've learned that I'm a really bad vegetarian (and an even worse vegan). I'm all for eating fruits and veggies--we went to a really yummy stir fry place and I loaded my bowl with veggies--but it's hard for me to eliminate foods. I'm glad I'm learning and trying new things, even if they're not all successful.
In one last bit of news, the New Zealand team won the rugby world cup, and since Stephen served his mission in New Zealand, we were obligated to watch their victory and celebrate. I've decided rugby is a man sport and is a cross between football, soccer, and hockey. Still, it was fun to watch. Go All Blacks.
Happy Halloween!
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