Halloween was a lot of fun for us this year. It was the first time that Bethany has really cared about wearing a costume, trick-or-treating or decorating. Maybe it was because she’s a little older and understands more. Or maybe it was because Dustin started regular viewings of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and Garfield’s Halloween Adventure on October 1. Either way, she was excited.

Bethany picked out a ghost decoration to put in our yard. Dustin carved a jack-o-lantern for her, which they later named Steve. Daddy and daughter also found directions to decorate cupcakes to look like a ghost, Frankenstein’s monster, and a witch. I dutifully helped Bethany make the cupcakes one day.

Bethany likes helping in the kitchen, so we enjoyed ourselves.

But, as the evidence suggests, there was LOTS of tasting going on. I was afraid we would run out of toppings and have naked leftover cupcakes.

The end product was fun. Even if the sugar rush from eating one that evening made a certain little girl be wide awake until about 10 p.m.

I had debated whether I should make Bethany’s Halloween costume this year. We moved at the end of September, and I couldn’t even guarantee that I would even make it to Halloween before the new baby arrived. (Little did I know that I’d be less than a week from my due date with no signs of labor this time.) Making a Halloween costume would be crazy, right? But Bethany’s obsession with the Wonder Pets grew to dynamic proportions during September and October, with her requesting to be called Ming-Ming the Duck on a regular basis. Dustin was dubbed Tuck the Turtle, and I defaulted to Linny the Guinea Pig.  I couldn’t help it. I just had to. And my work paid off.

First, Bethany inspected the costume in the mirror…

She thought she was hot stuff!

“This is serious!”

Bethany had been walking around the house for days as I sewed, singing songs from Wonder Pets. She was so excited by trick-or-treat that we had to coax her into performing for the camera, but we finally succeeded. Just pretend that you can’t hear mommy and daddy cracking up so close to the microphone on the camera. Professional videographer, I’m not.