I didn't totally hate it this year.

Now that Stella stands and grabs things and eats them we've had to make sure things are safely out of her reach. In doing that, I've been misplacing a lot of things.

I'll just put my keys in the corner of the guest room closet behind that suitcase, on top of Nora's cage and next to the red pair of shoes. She'll never be able to find them there.

Without fail, the following conversation will occur 30 minutes later: "Miiike, have you seen my keys? I just saw them! Where the hell could they have gone? I JUST FREAKING HAD THEM!"

Nothing sends me into more of a frenzy than losing something. I get mean and sweaty and shouty. It's really quite unpleasant.

Basically this is why I haven't posted any Halloween photos yet. The camera/computer cord has gone missing. I know I just saw it. Thankfully Mike knows my habits and brought me this other photo thingy and now I'm able to share them with you.

So enough talky talky, here are photos from Stella's first Halloween.

This isn't Stella. It's Robert Downey Jr. Oh, no, wait... it's her Dad.

Stella in costume #1. Ridiculously cute she was.

Mucho excited about being Yoda! Please note the light saber on the right.

I like this one because it's a good shot of the ears. Hee hee!

Costume #2 - a hot dog! I love hot dogs more than life. So when I saw this gem of a costume for $5 I had to have it. She liked it more than it appears, she had just woken up. With our cowboy friend.

To go along with my little hot dog, I dressed up as a slutty mustard bottle, but I must have missplaced those photos. Darn.

I found that I was a little more into Halloween this year than I ever have been. It was a really fun day hanging out with family and having a little Fall Fest party and then later hanging out with friends laughing and eating pizza. I still am very leary about passing out candy to kids wearing masks or dressed as clowns. But I enjoyed decorating the house and thinking of costumes and starting new traditions with Stella. I'm softening.