I think it’s safe to say that after this year, Leighton is officially a big fan of Halloween. She still didn’t quite get the whole trick-or-treat concept, but she loved wearing her Olympic Gymnast costume and walking the beam (the curb around the neighborhood) and doing somersaults all over the grass. We dressed as her proud parents in our USA t-shirts, and even Coco participated with an American flag bandana. We decorated her wagon to look like the podium for the medal ceremony, where she of course took home the gold. Team LL all the way!

Leighton wasn’t even the slightest bit scared of the spooky decorations at our neighbors’ homes, and she had the time of her life running around at our neighborhood potluck with her best friend Emmy. The only house she wanted to get candy from was our next door neighbors, who are so sweet and just adore her and Coco — they even brought over a Halloween treat bag for them earlier in the day. She’s still sleeping with her stuffed ghost. 🙂 She ran between their house and ours no less than 20 times, grabbing a handful of fun sized candies and bringing them back to stash in her “putt dot” (pumpkin) treat bag. I think she would have stayed out there all night had we let her. We also ended up with more candy than we started out with, thanks to her shenanigans. 😉

Leading up to the big day, we had lots of fun outings and activities. One of my fall faves is “Scarecrows in the Garden” at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Leighton would have preferred to play on the slide and rope bridge the entire night, but we did make it around to see the various scarecrow creations with Mee and some of my old puppet coworkers.

We got a little more ambitious with our pumpkin carving this year, and it was a family collaboration… Minnie Mouse! Leighton chose the design, I drew it on the pumpkin and cleaned out the guts, and Craig spent over an hour carving the little detailed lines. Leighton was not at all interested in the carving process, but she loved stopping on our stoop to say hi to “MeeMee Mouse” every day.

One of Leighton’s favorites was the Halloween party at her Little Gym. The gym was filled to the brim with costumed children, but she managed to get some practice time on the beam and bars in her gymnast costume, and it was so cute! She amazes us at how well she’s doing in her gym class, and she just loves it to no end. Leighton is totally fearless and has so much strength for her tiny body. Who knows… maybe we really will see her in the 2032 Olympics! (A mom can dream, right?)

Each holiday we’ve celebrated this year has been so magical with Leighton, and Halloween is no exception. I can’t wait to see her eyes light up for Christmas!