Fall Fun

We enjoyed a night at Lubbock's 1st pumpkin trail. Over 500 jack-o-lanterns were donated to light the trail. James has been absolutely in love with pumpkins, so this activity was right up his alley. The only problem was that hundreds of people, candle-lit pumpkins, and a toddler who loves pumpkins and wants to run around and pick them all up was not the best combination. We had some tear-filled moments at the beginning while James learned his boundaries. We ended up carrying him the whole way. This seemed to be easiest for him, so as not to tempt him with pumpkins within his grasp. He really enjoyed looking at all of the pumpkins.

And what would a little boy who loves pumpkins be for Halloween? That's right. A pumpkin.
Here is our little pumpkin on the way to the ward Trunk-or Treat.
(Thank you to the Nelsons and especially Sophie for letting us borrow the costume!)

Here is the Cullimore Pumpkin Patch.
The extra look of elation on Jordan's face is probably due to having just won "Best Overall Chili" for the ward chili cook-off.

James absolutely loved running free throughout the gym. He did not want to stop to pose for pictures. He, in fact, thought of a fun game to make of it. I would take out the camera and ask him to smile. He would then pause as if in complete obedience to my request and then take off as soon as I pushed the button. Do you see the clever look on his face? This is my best shot. Most of the pictures are of his back or side. I finally wised up and started pushing the button just before I asked him to smile.

James's first taste of Trunk-or-Treat spoils.
We don't ever have much candy around our house, but somehow this boy knows candy. He discovered a love of chocolate while helping to make chocolate chip cookies one day...so, maybe, it was the chocolate. He could smell it. And he wanted it.
Yes, he bit straight through the wrapper. He also promptly clenched his jaws as tight as possible when I tried to retrieve the wrapper pieces. The result was chocolate all over both of us and only a small piece of wrapper. After a trip to the bathroom to wash up, we continued our trek.

Here we are after James's first trick-or-treating experience.

The spoils.

Here is James on Halloween.
His pumpkin costume was sitting forgotten in the laundry basket.
So, he donned Daddy's "costume."
We didn't go trick-or treating, since we'd had the trunk-or-treat, but we were visited by friends.