Halloweekend

My mom hates Halloween and never made a big deal of it when I was small. She actually used to bribe me with prizes so that I wouldn't dress up and go trick-or-treating. I don't want to be that way. I actually love Halloween (the movies, the books, the decorations, the weather, the soup, the candy- everything about it is wonderful to me) and want it to be a really fun time of year for Harper.

She has been dying to wear her Ariel costume ever since I first showed it to her. She carried it around with her in a bag for a few days until she started trying to sneak it on and I had to take it away and hide it (we needed it to last until Halloween).

When I received an e-mail about Boo at the Zoo, I knew we had to go. Colt was working on Saturday so it was just Harper (aka Ariel) and me but it was still fun. Harper had so much fun seeing all of the costumes and insisted on meeting every other Ariel. She would show them her fin ("See my fin?") and make sure to let them know that Ariel and Ursula live "under the sea." She collected candy, watched animals, rode the carousel, and asked to swim under the sea with the seals (I said no). All in all, it was a great way to kick of our Halloween celebrations.

And if you ask me, Harper was cuter than Ariel herself, even if she refused to wear her lovely red flower clip.

Yesterday, we took Harper trick-or-treating to do some family trick-or-treating. We visited Colt's parents and both sets of his grandparents. Harper had fun and was so spoiled that I felt like we were having Christmas in October (seriously, her Halloween buckets- yes, that's supposed to be plural- are full of jewelry, ponies, Barbie stuff, money, food, and candy). 

I can't say enough how happy I am that Harper has so many loving grandparents. It's not just them, either. She has great friends (little and big) and aunts/uncles (official and unofficial) in her life. I always think about these special people with a lump in my throat. In my mind, I refer to them as Harper's Team. I love each and every member of Harper's Team and am grateful that my sweet girl has so many awesome people in her corner.