Real Halloween

John and I were so excited to celebrate Orelia's first real Halloween this year.

Since becoming too old to trick-or-treat ourselves, this is essentially the first real Halloween for John and I in a very long time.

Luckily for us, Orelia's preschool had a Halloween parade, so she got to debut her costume early (and we got to see whether she would actually keep it on).

No problem there.  Our little monarch was pleased as punch to be fluttering around school.

It was so fun to see such a sense of pride on her face as she marched around with her daddy.

I ordered Orelia's costume months ago, and we talked about it constantly (she loves real butterflies), so I think she was thrilled to finally get to wear it.

Halloween night was a blast too.  We went to a generous friend's house for chili and partying before Orelia and a dozen toddlers hit the streets to trick or treat.

You have to experience Halloween in Palo Alto to believe it.  

There were homemade haunted houses everywhere, but luckily Orelia was mostly too young to understand what was supposed to be scary.  She had an absolute blast whispering "trick or treat" at every door and eating her two whole pieces of candy that night.  Once we got home, I hid her basket and when she woke up she forgot all about the candy that was left uneaten.  Ha.  

Bennett didn't come out for our Halloween adventure because he was busy relaxing at home with John's dad and stepmom.  (What a treat for us to be able to focus on Orelia's big night.)

 I felt a little guilty we didn't appreciate his baby-in-a-costume cuteness, so I brought out one of Orelia's old costumes for him to try on.

He promptly slept through the whole experience.