Halloween 2022

Halloween 2022 was a little more normal in comparison to the previous 2 years, so much so that we barely were able to squeeze in time for pumpkin carving! 

Sidney was my biggest helper of the night, not only did she scoop out the guts, she created her own carvings as well. She was creative and laughing at how silly her pumpkins looked as she carved them freehanded. 

Lincoln did some of his own scooping and then abandoned Sidney and me at the table to finish up the job.

I'll leave it to you to guess which of the 3 I carved, and which ones Sidney carved. 

The kids each hung out with friends on this Monday evening. Regan and her friend handed out candy to our 17 trick or treaters so that Ryan and I could take Lincoln with his friends trick or treating. 

Sidney and her friend split one costume, but spent most of the night on Tiktok. 

Lincoln might look a little more like a prop in this picture....he's on the far left. 

Yep, his request back in August was to find a blow up dinosaur costume, with bones only. It took some time, but we managed to find his perfect costume! 

Watching Lincoln waddle around the neighborhood was the highlight of the night! He was so cute and did amazingly well keeping up with his buddies all night, despite not being able to see well. There may have been a couple of close calls where he nearly ran into a tree or a parked car :) 

Lincoln made out with quite the stash of candy as he wrapped up trick or treating. He slept great that night after all that walking door to door dressed up as a blow up dino! 

Hoping everyone had a wonderful Halloween! 

Halloween 2018

The week of Halloween was a bit of a whirlwind around here. Maybe it's because it was in the middle of the work week or maybe because Lincoln's birthday is smack dab in the midst of that hustle/bustle, but it feels like we hurried along to fit everything in this year. 

We managed to carve pumpkins, this year Sidney surprised us and wanted to do everything on her own. From the gut-digging to the carving, she was my little helper. 

We ventured over to a little Halloween party at a nearby vacant store, where the best thing about it was a cute picture :) Ok not entirely true, we enjoyed a horse/wagon ride and the kids played a few games. 

I got to volunteer at Sidney's class party. 

And then finally, it was time for these three to hit up the neighborhood for treats. Regan is teetering on outgrowing this annual tradition, but I was happy she decided to hang out with some friends and still enjoy the treats from their neighborhood. 

The other two and I met up with some friends and walked door to door to their hearts' content! It sure was a successful Halloween! 

Halloween / Dia de los muertes

I’m fortunate that Sidney still wants me at her holiday parties at school. Today, despite the mountain of work piled high on my desk, I kept my promise to her (and the room parents) and made my way to school for the fall harvest party. We had a good time and I spent most of the afternoon snapping pictures and chatting with parents/teachers while helping with crafts and activities.

After school, with only her in tow, Sidney and I decided we needed a special after school snack. There’s a new restaurant in town; and this place has been packed since opening day. So packed that they literally ran out of food and had to close last weekend! Her and I dined on appetizers and strawberry lemonade while discussing the party. I mentioned to her that this may have been the last harvest party as the school is deciding whether to continue. After commenting about cost and religion as factors, we decided to look up the history of Halloween (so I may somehow help her understand the religion aspect). Pretty interesting stuff. I explained it to her by relating to the movie Coco (side note: if you haven’t seen it, go watch it. And expect tears, like crocodile tears). The movie is all about Dia de los muertos, ie: Halloween. Where if we remember those that have died, setting up a shrine on that special day, their spirit will come visit us. 

We wrapped up our day-date and headed to the evening festivities of trick or treating. 

This year, we opted to go door to door with some friends that live nearby. They took us to streets and houses I’d never been to before but right in my own neighborhood. We were having a good time, when suddenly a cute dog comes bouncing out of a house wanting to play. The owner comes dashing out after him calling: Leo! Come back here Leo!

I stopped in my tracks, smiled up to the night sky knowing I hadn’t forgotten, and neither has my dad. Love ya dad! Thanks for the visit. 

Halloween 2015

Trick or treat has come and gone. Though we are into November, this tease of summer weather has me begging for July again! 

We prepped for Halloween by carving pumpkins...lots of them. The girls did great helping and here are a few of our finished products. 

The Friday before Halloween was the Harvest parties at school. With 2 in school, it means 2 separate parties at the exact same time (our school does all parties on the same day, at the same time). As lovely as that sounds, it means I can't be in 2 places at one time. And so, I have to alter my days volunteering in each class and then ensuring someone is around to watch Lincoln. Because let's be honest, adding him to the mix of chaos at school would prove disastrous! This time it was Sidney's turn to have me. I loved seeing her interact with her new (and some old) friends. 

Sidney and Emma

I arrived a tad early to help all those first graders get ready so when they were prepped and ready, I dashed over to Regan's class for a quick photo op. 

These girls are just fabulous. And their parents have become friends to us. 

Because it takes a village....

Josie, Abigail, Addyson, Regan, Kaitlyn and Becca

After a quick parade around the school, it was time to start the parties. Sidney took her hand at bowling, but first, Mr A had to chuckle and remind her to throw underhand! Our little softball player was winding up with that plastic pumpkin....

Here is her wonderful group of first grade friends. 

Once Halloween rolled around, my mom came up to help man the house while we took the kids out trick or treating. Lincoln was terribly unhappy as I put on his Dalmatian costume so I gave him a dum dum ("orje " his favorite) and he quickly cooperated for pictures. We made it about 15 houses before Lincoln asked to go home; eventually I got sad anyway as I realized for every 10 pieces of candy he received, he was able to eat maybe 1. 

Darn allergies.  

He was adorable chasing the girls from house to house, but what surprised us was his concern for "cows" (aka: cars) as we crossed the street all night. He refused to walk along the side of the street (then the next day he darted into our street after a ball without a care in the world!). The girls made a haul as they kept going for another hour. At the end of the night, we dumped the bags into a pile and I think we have enough candy for 6 months!  

 Happy Halloween! 

Halloween 2014

Halloween has come and gone. It was a whirlwind of a day. Heck, it was a whirlwind of a week! Sandwiched between Lincoln's birthday, family pictures, Lincoln's 1 year doctor visit and his first birthday party, was Halloween.

Ryan and I decided back in September that we would spend this special day volunteering at the kids' Harvest Parties. Well let's be honest, I made the decision and he hastily agreed to being signed up when I asked him in the middle of a chaotic Open House for school. :) You see, when we only had one kid in school, he was free to go about his day while I spent time volunteering. He's honest when he says volunteering isn't his thing. I even roped him into cross-walk volunteer for the morning of Halloween. I'm pretty good :) lol

 

My parents came up to babysit Lincoln while we headed to school. On the drive, I gave him a preview of what to expect and it went something like this.

Me: "I want to warn you that the chaos and noise level is slightly deafening on party days".

Him: "I might hate you a little right now".

 

In the end, he admitted that it was fun! And seeing the girls be so excited to each have a parent volunteer is worth every second of that deafening noise level.

 

I got to spend the afternoon with Sidney. It was my first time volunteering in her Kindergarten classroom. And while I'm familiar with some of the kids (due to lunches, school events and living in the neighborhood), it was fun to see her interact with all of her classmates.

Her class operated in station format. I was in charge of the 'snack' station. It was a pretty cute owl. She was over the moon delighted to have me as the parent-helper for her first station.

Miss P decorated their tables with some paper in the morning so that the tables were somewhat presentable. She asked all the children to draw a little picture on their table spot. I couldn't resist snapping a picture of Sidney's spot.

My little Picasso. 

Here is her class.

She's sandwiched between her two BFF's. Those 3 are essentially inseparable! 

I was able to sneak away for a few minutes and catch Ryan in Regan's classroom. Unfortunately, their grade was operating on a little different rotation so he only got to spend the last 15 minutes or so with Regan's class (some grades rotate between all grade level classrooms, some grades stay in their own classroom and just rotate stations).

His station was the mini golf into a carved out pumpkin. Not a bad gig for the golfer in the family! 

Here's Regan's rowdy bunch! I had to snap quickly because these kids were excited. Like jump around, can't sit still, excited! Regan's in the back next to Mrs N and her BFF. 

And as if that excitement wasn't enough, we dressed up after dinner and headed into the bitter cold (just under 40F and getting colder). Lincoln (and I), made it to about 6-7 houses before he was ready to go home.

 I love love loved his costume though and just had to take him out in it! He certainly was the cutest little lion that I ever did see :)

 

It was a slow night of treaters at our house...only 6! SIX kids. Sad. We are accustomed to closer to 30. Darn cold must have scared them all away.



Thanks mom and dad for helping out! 

Halloween Prep

Our kiddos are decked out and ready for the Halloween holiday coming up. We try to get good use out of their costumes and attend a few events around town. Today was just a photo shoot in the back yard with Regan our peacock, Lincoln our lion and Sidney our butterfly fairy (which by the way she discovered and created all on her own). 

Let's take a closer look at the littlest, because gosh darn it, he is sure cute in that lion. He didn't dress up last year, being only 3 days new, so I may have spent an outrageous amount on this costume, but really I'm making up for last year too :) 

Serious, it's just too much! I can't stand how cute he is! 

And all warm and fuzzy ready for trick or treating night. 

Pumpkin carving 2013

We dug out the guts of our pumpkins and carved 'em this weekend. Ok, I'll be honest, Ryan does the carving, and me/girls do the gutting. It works out well and the girls have really started to get into over the last year. 

Just look at that face! 

We'll have to wait until later this week for a picture of his final work....

Trick or Treat!

That time of year again, where the kids dress up, their school's host parties and this mama does her darnedest to make it to two parties and through trick or treating with a big smile on my face. 

Thankfully I have a pretty awesome coworker who picked up my slack this afternoon...on his birthday nonetheless! It allowed me to dash out of the office around 12:30 and head to Regan's class. 

I arrived just as the kiddos were getting into costume for the parade. The shape of the school creates a natural indoor parade route and all the kids line up along the hallways and one class follows the next.

Aren't they so cute! 

From there, four of us parents supervised 'stations' for the next hour; I was tasked with candy corn relay. Other stations were cupcake decorating, bowling with pumpkins (that was a LOUD bang against the wall with each throw) and Halloween bingo. The kids love holiday parties and I love helping out! Getting to know all 21 classmates makes me feel like I know so much more about Regan's day. Her teacher and student teacher are wonderful and I remind them constantly how impressed I am not only with their teaching ability but their incredible patience. 

Just as Regan's party wound down, we dashed out the door and raced a few miles north where Sidney was waiting (tears welling in her eyes) for us to arrive. Ryan beat us there and she thought that meant I was a 'no-show'. Oh my sweet mama's girl....how I love her drama. She spotted me walk into her room and flew across the table into my arms. I love those warm welcomes! 

Their new 'treat' policy means no more cupcakes and cookies and candy. I thank them for this policy. Instead, the kids snacked on fruit kabobs, yogurt and granola bars. In all honesty, they had just as much fun with those "treats". 

Our little ham then shined in front of a group of parents as she sang the months of the year while doing the Macarena Dance. Man alive that is cute. She has been practicing hard and sometimes I just ask her to sing/dance so I can watch her talent. 

Finally after an early dinner, it was time to head out trick or treating. Leigha joined me once again and I'm sure glad to have her with! It makes the walk much more enjoyable, because frankly, the girls don't so much need my help anymore climbing the stairs or remembering to say "thank you". They just bounce from one house to the next, or stumble...only two falls (one each), and one with any substantial blood. After all, it is dark outside! 

 Here are Ryan, Sheri and Hope's masterpieces! Me and the girls have the sole job of cleaning out the guts, the rest was up to them. Don't they look awesome!? 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE! 

Weekend with Hope

It's hard to believe my oldest Godchild, Hope, will be graduating from high school this spring!

Every year for the last 10+ years, she has come to spend time with me in the 'big city'. As we drove around on Saturday, we reminisced about things we had done over the many years: swimming pools, lakes, movies, games and all the fun in between. I remember one specific year where Ryan got in on the fun and took her to Target to buy her a slip n slide....not sure who was more excited that year :) 

One particular place we frequented again this year was Minihaha Falls. We came home and found the similar pictures of her at this exact location (I'll get around to scanning and uploading them soon).

 Of course now when we go on various outings, we have two more cuties in tow....

And they adore Hope as much as I do. Both arguing over who gets to sit by her at meals and then in the mornings, asking over and over again "when do teenagers wake up?!"..... :) 

Regan had a slight mishap at the park, not entirely paying attention to her surroundings and walked directly into the water. Need I remind you: it. was. cold. 

She was fine, just a bit embarrassed.  

And then since it's October, and the weekend before Halloween, we got Hope in on the action of carving pumpkins. She took a shot at one of the crafty-fancy carvings and did a whopper of a job! I think I'll let her high school workshop teacher know that she has fulfilled her home work for the weekend. Wowzas did she work hard (those pics will come too).

Thanks again for coming to stay with us Hope! 

We love you!

Halloween fun

The girls and I made a quick Halloween craft this morning, thanks to Pinterest. They thought it was super cute to glue a bunch of cotton balls to their 'ghost' and then add some shapes for a face. I thought it made for a cute home made decoration. 

 After our morning art class, we headed to Camp Spooky to hang out with Hudson, Paxton and Harlow on some wild rides :) It was a gorgeous afternoon, pushing 70 and sunny. What more can we ask for?!

Look closely and you'll see Sidney with Paxton and Hudson with Regan flying around Snoopy.

Regan the pumpkin

 We walked half way around the park to find a stand with the beloved dippin' dots. The kids go ga-ga for these things. Sidney was so excited she forgot how to use her spoon!

We had 4 stroller seats and 4 adults, so there was a lot of musical strollers happening. I liked the view I got when I took over this stroller: hello sweet baby girl!

I know the girls look forward to this pre-Halloween event every year. Not only do they love putting on their costumes again (which were shed given the warm temps), but they also look forward to spending a day with Hudson and Paxton going on ride after ride until we are all dizzy and green.

Thanks for a great time!