Halloween before Halloween

There's a lot of great reasons why to have Halloween before the real Halloween. One of them is carving pumpkins early. I love having a date where my cousin Kate can come over and use her mad pumpkin carving skills to whip up whatever pumpkin the kids ask for! This isn't just any pumpkin carver, she wins contests!!

The kids love to have the 'ok' to grab pumpkin guts and get all messy. Not that they would need the 'ok' to do it, because they would anyways. But why not carve pumpkins multiple times? They go bad in a few weeks anyway, well in Ava's case it was a few days. For whatever reason her pumpkin was rotting inside and her Kitty turned out to be known as Smelly Cat. I think we sang Smelly Cat about 50 times that day.......whaaaaat are they feeding youuuuuu......(if you don't know what I am talking about, go back in time and watch some Friends episodes....or just turn on TBS right now.

Ava is obsessed with kitties right now. Thank-you pottery barn for carrying a kitty costume. Now if only Ava's kitty impression didn't sound like a dying cat.

This is one of many costumes Austin may wear for Halloween. This one happens to be somewhat tight, apparently he grew since I ordered the costumes in June. Ok not June, but I did get them really early. Never can be too prepared.

Another reason to have an Early Halloween is putting on those costumes for the first time and capturing it on a beautiful day. When has Halloween ever been a nice holiday with sunshine? Hasn't it rained for the past 5, 10, 15 years!?

Apparently Kitty Cats climb on pumpkins....

Love that tail!

the many faces of Leonardo

We also like to make Halloween books that are spiral bound mini booklets filled with pictures of the kids carving pumpkins, wearing their costumes, and trips to Post Family Farms.

my favorite one! hi-yah!!!

As many kids change their minds as it gets closer to Halloween about what they want to wear, I want to make sure I capture them in the moment that they actually want to put on their costumes.

Enough Kitty pictures!? ok just one more!

Can you make out the kitty face? Kate did a great job considering the stinkin' pumpkin was rotten! Smelly cat didn't last long on our porch!

There is Austin's ninja turtle pumpkin! He loved it. He kissed it over and over and was so proud!  It's not too late to dress up your kids and have Halloween before Halloween. If we have any good days left...