Howdy!

This was it, the year Miles got into Halloween. We dressed up all day, first for playgroup then for the evening of fun at the house. Miles was the best darn cowboy east of the Mississippi, even without cowboy boots.

Halloween morning we played at his friend Isabella's house. Isabella has a brand new baby sister, Ellie, and Miles was really sweet with her. On the drive over I talked with him about not touching her face, but touching her toes, and he repeated those rules many times when looking at her. I think he's starting to get the whole "baby sister" concept. He'll pat my belly and say "baby sister" in a cute little cooing voice. The other day I was wearing a dress and Wayne asked Miles where baby sister is. Miles started lifting up my skirt to get to my belly! Thankfully we were just at the house, but I guess we should start working on those boundaries.

Anyway, back at Isabella's house, cowboy Miles donned the stethoscope and became the prairie doctor. He was by joined his cowgirl friend, Millie, and Pocahontas (Isabella), as well as an angel, a Tennessee cheerleader and Diego. When Miles saw Ava, the cheerleader, he started his own round of football cheers. He still shouts "go big Orange" and "go Vols!," but somehow the generic "go football go!" is now stuck in his repertoire too.

When daddy got home from the office, we all got on our western gear. Wayne and I decided to dress up too so Miles would be more likely to keep his hat on, but I think he would have been just fine without us. We played out in the gorgeous evening, oddly light for Halloween with the late time change this year. The family across the street had their annual gathering for their 5th grade daughter's friends. Once they all assembled, about a dozen girls came traipsing across the yard to see Miles. The girls were a rainbow - each dressed head to toe in a different color. Miles had a big time entertaining them. He and I'd worked all day on saying "Howdy, ma'am" while tipping his hat, so he was quite the charmer.

We decided to trick or treat at the four houses around us where we know the neighbors. So the first stop was Beth & Dan's, the ones having a baby boy next month. I prepped Miles to ring the bell and say "Trick or Treat" and he didn't disappoint. Since this was the first year he carried a treat bag it took him a second to understand what Dan was doing with the bowl of candy. But he quickly got the process and began loading up his own bag! I don't know where he learned about candy corn, but he recognized it and started digging for that.

We played in their yard for a few minutes, tossing the disc with their oldest dog, Cole. Poor Cole was just diagnosed with canine leukemia so he won't be there for much longer. Miles will miss heading to the back yard to "wake up Cole" on the weekends.

Back to Halloween, we then trick or treated a 3 more homes before returning to ours. It was a slow evening, with just about 4 groups at the door. One neighbor about a mile away pulls a hayride with his truck every year, so when we see them coming we know it's time to unload whatever candy we don't want to be stuck with!

Miles enjoyed the ritual dumping of the candy on the floor, and even got a sucker for the bathtub. We'll see if he remembers his stash when he gets home from school today!!