Don’t laugh at me…I brought Ella’s Halloween costume to Viet Nam with us last year. There was a possibility of us being home by Halloween, so I spent some glorious time ogling the baby costumes and choosing the perfect little lion costume for the little miss. Of course I didn’t know her size, so chose what I thought would be best. I bought it, took it home and dreamed of the little girl that would be THE cutest little lion on the East Coast that Halloween!

Then our travel date didn’t come as early as we had expected, and we were in sweltering, lovely Hanoi on Halloween. We had our baby, which was so much better than any silly costume, but we were so ready to go home by the time Halloween rolled around. We had been in Viet Nam for two weeks on Halloween Day of 2006 and were feeling home sick and not in the mood for celebrating. Being a bit of a grump, I never took that cute lion costume out. It still has the tags on it today…maybe Ella’s sister will wear it someday. Hopefully that will be when she’s actually home!

So this is Ella’s first American Halloween. We love the fall around here and seeing little kids who are ecstatic to be dressed up is so much fun! Miss Ella is representing her Daddy’s favorite team this year as a cheerleader, even though the Giants don’t actually have cheerleaders! We’ll take her to our neighbors then let her come home and have a few treats. We had plans to go pumpkin picking and on a hayride; something I did with my family every year growing up, but the weather prevented us from going. Hopefully next year we’ll be able to because I think she would really enjoy it.

I hope you all have a wonderful Halloween! Our trick or treat day is tomorrow due to a large local Halloween parade, so I’ll be sure to post pictures of her all dressed up later this week. On a completely side note...does anyone out there watch Noggin? If so, have you heard the "I don't like candy corn" song a trillion times and have trouble getting it out of your head?!? When I saw this picture, that song was all I could hear! :)

More Reading:
Creating Family Traditions - Halloween
Firsts With Adopted Children
Autumn Photo Opportunities

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