Trick-or-Treatosaurus

It was a lazy morning and it felt so good to sleep in under the warm sheets in a nice cool room...

Who am I kidding?

This Halloween was full of lots of things to do, from the moment the sun came up, until it disappeared behind the trees. There were the normal life moments, like doing the things I never have to do... things like emptying the diaper bin... installing car seats... and doing laundry. Firoze, I truly miss you and all these things you do for me. :) Then there were the things I always have to do... things like letting Devon climb in my bed and ask lots of questions about dinosaurs at 7:45am, while I kept hoping a miracle would happen and he would snuggle next to me and fall back asleep. Yeah, right...

In between all those everyday things, we spent some quality time making a birthday "cake" for Bob. If this was Project Runway and "you're either in or out," cake would be out. Cake isn't special when you can buy a better tasting cake at Publix for $10. So, we made butter toffee bars instead and added chocolate chips just for Bob.

As usual, Devon was my Sous Chef...



No candle can match the scent of butter and chocolate in the air...



And just like that, we have one perfect birthday "cake."



Does this make you hungry, or what? Happy Birthday Bob! They're all for you!



On Halloween evening, I got my little dinosaurs all suited up. Devon could not be more in love with, obsessed, and excited about all things dinosaur. Of course, when I asked him "what do you want to be for Halloween?" the only possible answer was "a dinosaur!"



Our sweet litte Deansie was transformed into the cutest, chubby dinosaur that ever lived! I'm sure this is a scene straight from Devon's imagination... where everyone he knows and loves is transformed into a dinosaur.





You know I love to dress up and I was this close to putting on a dinosaur costume myself, but instead I decided to be a Paleontologist (those nerdy people that study dinosaurs). Maybe Paleontologists are really cool and wear couture, but in my mind, they'll always wear khaki.



Debbie and Bob, you truly go above and beyond as friends. You know how much I was looking forward to this night and you helped make it as wonderful and stress-free as I had imagined. Thank you for being my "family" in Atlanta and for loving my boys so much!





Dean was our traveling dinosaur exhibit and happily rode in his "cage" (don't you dare call it a stroller, use your imagination!).



Me and my little snuggle-saurus!



We went trick-or-treating in the most awesome Atlanta neighborhood. It's a perfect little street full of families that were trick-or-treating to the fullest... with big, big glasses of red wine or beer in their hands. Yes, I'm talking about the parents... it was a great big ol' party in the street. We suffered without a single beverage... who knew that's how Halloween works these days???



Meanwhile, Devon had the time of his life and looked soooo cute doing it!

I love the tail here...







This is the face of happiness... the happiness a full bag of candy can bring!



We saw too many cute kids to take pictures of, but who wouldn't love a cuddly little Elmo?



This might be my favorite picture of Dean. He's in full teething mode and will pretty much chew on anything he can get his little chompers on. Here's my little cutie chomping on his stroller, just like a real dinosaur would do it - with his spikes in the air!



Even Dean had to take a break from eating his stroller to say "What on earth???" and crane his neck to see a Storm Tropper walk by.



Finally, it was time to end our perfect night of Trick-or-Treating...



Just like any holiday, it was about family... the evening spent together on a crisp cool fall day, watching the sun get orange and dip below the trees, watching Devon's face light up and being so proud to be a dinosaur that he really, really wanted to sleep in the pants all night, watching Debbie sneak a piece of Devon's candy (hey, there has to be some benefit to pushing a stroller all night!), seeing Bob happily wear the other Paleontologist hat the entire night, watching Dean chilling in his stroller, and most of all, making memories that will make me smile, even during sad times.



(Yeah, this is how I "carve" a pumpkin... you got anything to say about it? There's only two people I know who can talk... that's my Dad and Bethany... the two people that can carve a weeping willow, the words "Happy Halloween," Jesus's face, and whatever else floats their boat on a pumpkin. So there.)