Happy Hollowleen

No, that's not a typo. That's the way Lily pronounces Halloween. It sounds incredibly cute. Speaking of incredibly cute...check out this sweet picture of Dorothy:

I just fell down and scraped my knee. Good thing Toto didn't get hurt!

Lily has never seen the Wizard Of Oz and has no idea who Dorothy is or why she would want to dress up like her. The same goes for why her mother would dress up as the Cowardly Lion and her father like the Scarecrow. Despite all of that, Lily seemed to enjoy Halloween.

Mary Beth found the cute little Dorothy outfit at a yard sale and we had the lion and scarecrow costumes from a Halloween Party we went to with Laura and Rich, Lily's Godparents, several years ago. Sorry Rich...but Lily made a much cuter Dorothy!

We definitely got Mary Beth's money worth out of the Dorothy costume. Lily wore it to B*by L*ves Disc*, to preschool on Thursday, for Halloween, and to a costume party last night!

Check out these cute pictures of Lily at preschool:

Dorothy had a very busy and fun Halloween. We started the day having breakfast with Dad Dad at the diner. I dressed Lily in her costume and she got quite a kick out of showing Miss Mary her fancy red shoes!

After breakfast we headed to a nursing home with our stay at home parent's group to do a little reverse trick-or-treating (we brought the treats).

The nursing home we visited was the place where my mom worked for years while I was growing up. I was completely unprepared for the flood of memories and emotions that accompanied our visit. Truth be told I was a weepy mess the entire time we were there. I was shocked that several people from my mom's time still worked there. In fact, one woman said, "Of course you're Mary Agnes' daughter. You look just like her."

Despite her emotionally unstable mother, Lily had a lot of fun at the nursing home and the residents just ate her up. I was so surprised by Lily's behavior. She was not the least bit intimidated even though some of the people were quite infirmed. Lily just walked right up to each person and said, "Hello! Do you want a treat?" and asked quite a few people, "How are you feeling?" Could she be any cuter?

One of the ladies took quite a shine to Lily and actually gave her "walker rides" up and down the hallways!

This is fun Miss Jane!

You bet we'll be back, Miss Marie and Miss Jane. This place is GREAT!

In the early evening we went trick-or-treating. Lily got quite a kick out of going door to door. We went to about 8 neighbors and I think Lily thought she was going on some kind of "Halloween Tour of Homes". Our little snoopy sniffer either walked in or stuck her head into every house. Tony and I always tease that we should have named Lily...Nosey Rosey!

Lily didn't really understand the whole concept of trick-or-treating. Lily liked taking candy from people but she also wanted to give them candy...more like a candy swap. It was very funny.

Our neighbors are so sweet and several of them had special treats just for Lily. Lily's favorite was the Werewolf flashlight our neighbor Venera gave her. She has used it so much since Friday night the battery is already dead!

Suzy and Sheila came and joined us for trick-or-treating and dinner. Lily loved visiting with them and Nai Nai and Aunt Sheila got to enjoy a little dinner show from our overtired, overstimulated Dorothy! Lily was quite a hoot and thoroughly enjoyed having a new audience.

Here are a few pictures from our night out:

If you want to see how much our little pumpkin has grown in the last year take a look back at this post.