A Super Mario Halloween

This was definitely a strange Halloween. Hurricane Sandy came rolling into the area two days before which had all of us feeling "off" after both kids and Mike stayed home from school and work on Monday and Tuesday. Henry spent the morning of Halloween in the pediatrician's office with a very painful ear infection. And for the first time since 2005, we trick-or-treated without any friends or family with us. Weird.

Aside from being an unusual Halloween, we had so much fun! We pumped Henry full of Motrin and he happily put on his Mario costume to match with his brother's Luigi.

This was not our first Super Mario themed Halloween. Back in 2009, Charlie wanted to be Mario and wanted his Daddy to dress up as Yoshi. {I was a very, VERY pregnant Flo, the Progressive Insurance spokesperson}

For some reason, we saved that Yoshi costume which found it's second use as the boys wanted Daddy to be Yoshi again this year! Oh my god. My husband in this costume makes me laugh so hard.

I cannot even begin to explain just how cute Henry was when he trick-or-treated. He was still feeling pretty yucky from his ear infection but he was so happy to be in his costume running around with his big brother. I just love how sweet he is at this age -- so excited for Halloween. When a house would give him more than one piece of candy, his face would light up and he'd say "I got two!!! I got two candies!!!" as he'd run back to the wagon!

At the same time, my heart was sad this Halloween watching my baby walk up to the houses on his own. He didn't need me right next to him. He didn't accept my offers to carry him. I stayed back on the sidewalk with Daddy and watched. How is he possibly old enough to be so independent?

It was very cold last night so after half an hour, Daddy and Henry went back home and Charlie and I continued on! We found lots of creepy decorations!

And then Charlie and I just enjoyed trick-or-treating together. Like I said, it's been a very long time since we last had a Halloween without lots of friends or family around. I secretly knew of a friend's house where the dad was dressed as a dummy holding a candy bowl on the porch and would jump out to scare the kids as they reached for a piece (one of my FAVORITE tricks!). I took Charlie there and we laughed and laughed over how frightened he was. We stuck around to watch a few others get spooked as well. As we walked away laughing, hand in hand, I looked down at his face and soaked in every single bit of him. It struck me just then that my 8 year old might not hold my hand next year. He might not want to wear matching costumes with his baby brother next year. He might not want to trick-or-treat with his parents following him around. So, in that moment, I looked at him with mama-eyes and tried to memorize his smile, the lights shining off his big brown eyes, and that perspective of what he looks like standing next to me, still holding my hand.

And my very favorite shot from the night...

Back home, we warmed up with LOTS of candy and a little bit of mustache silliness before calling it a night!