A little grease monkey's first Halloween

I am absolutely loving all of Cutler's firsts! He's rolling over now. He's reached for me (melt my heart). He knows how to pull his socks off. And yesterday was his first Halloween.

I started back in August trying to decide what he was going to be for his first spookfest. I had always had visions of those chubby cheeks sticking out of some cute, plush costume. Jeremy had different visions. So here I was tasked with coming up with a costume that was a.) inexpensive - yes, infant costumes have become very pricey - gone are the $15 plastic jumpsuit days, b.) somewhat easy to make - crafty and I don't always play nice and c.) up to Jeremy's manly standards. I initially toyed with the idea of  a Minion... but then considering that several of you are wondering, "What's a Minion?", I thought better of it. (Answer: cute little workers/minions in Despicable Me - cute movie. Watch it.) And then one day I mentioned a mechanic and Jeremy couldn't be swayed in any other direction. No cool smurf, gnome, Dirk Nowitzki costume could convince him otherwise. So yes, we dressed our precious little boy up as a mechanic. But he was the cutest grease monkey you've ever seen. And with a sentimental twist, we were able to find and use some of his late Grandpa Lyle's old mechanic patches. (No, I did not stitch the patches on. I tried... but when I only made it through two corners of stitches in 4 innings of a World Series baseball game, I said forget it. I'm better with double-sided tape and safety pins.)

We started off the weekend with a party Saturday night at Uncle Cy and Aunt Jac's house. Good times complete with flashlights and an orange-candy-filled-egg hunt in the backyard. He thoroughly enjoyed himself.

Then on Monday night we attended Northview's Annual Trunk or Treat. Both Jeremy and I cut out of work a little early to get little man dressed and to the carnival. He loved EVERY bit of it until he finally crashed in Mimi's arms while mommy and daddy helped man one of the games. Here he is practicing his skills.

More pics to come later. There were several cameras floating around, so once I collect (and edit for double chin), I'll post.

As a footnote, have I mentioned how much I love this time of year? Now that Halloween's done, it's time for fall and Thanksgiving and turkey and family time... and CHRISTMAS!!!! Cutler and I are already practicing the Christmas choir music in the car, and I just took his stocking in to get mongrammed. I CAN NOT wait to put up the tree and see him look at all the lights (I'll get one year in before he's trying to pull them down). Oh, and he's totally watching Elf with me. Now there's an idea... maybe next year he can be Buddy for Halloween. "Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color?"