short and sweet, trick or treat recap

The day was supposed to be 100% rain non-stop. I even waited until last minute to buy candy because I thought Halloween was going to be rained out. But all of the kiddos in our city were elated no doubt, when the rain ended mid-afternoon!

Hubby and I don't get overly excited about Halloween on our own. But having littles who get excited, get me that way too. It's always a hustle-bustle crazy-type evening--getting everyone in costume and fed earlier than usual. And last night was no different. Our people were pumped, and distracted, already having candy from school festivities. We even had a last minute wardrobe change, which threw a couple of people into a tizzy (like big bro, who wanted to be original, but had a little bro, who wanted to be identical)! For example, someone started as Captain America. . .

and ended as. . .a Jedi, just like big bro! :)

But eventually, after ghost bananas and trick or treating earlier in the week at Daddy's office. . .we made it out and about on Halloween!

We sure do love our little "treats!" 

Now onto November!!

Happy Friday!

trick or treat!

We were all so excited this year to be trick or treating on our new street in our new neighborhood and boy, we were not disappointed! So many trick or treaters and our streets were bustling! We started out all 6 of us. Toad (from Mario Double Dash), Batman, and a pumpkin led the way, while our littlest, wearing a pumpkin wagon onesie, hung out on Mommy--my first attempt at baby-wearing out in public!

 Off they go. . .

I brought both my real camera and my phone, to try and capture a bit of our night. Chad took over on this one--pretty cool--catching me taking a pic of the boys above. . .

Our Toad was beyond thrilled with his costume, and turns out almost everyone we passed commented on how cool his costume was and were also excited he was a Mario character. Who knew? Toad's highlight of the night was when he ran into Mario on our street!

And finally, Batman was tuckered out, and though our pumpkins could have kept going, it was time they turned in to greet trick or treaters with Daddy, while Luke and I continued on for a bit longer, enjoying some just the two of us time! This shot is a bit dark, but I love it. The boys really stuck together and enjoyed their night with each other. Can you feel the love tonight. . ? We did and it was precious!

 

Hope you had a Happy October and. . .

 

a Happy Halloween!

keeping it real

I'm one of very few people I know that doesn't have a "smart" phone. It seems that on Monday, everyone was posting pics of their precious kiddos in their Halloween costumes on Facebook via their phone. Take a picture, post it on Facebook and voila, in no time, friends can see your treasures ready to head out for some sugar! Well, not only do I not have that capability (I have my camera to take the pics and then have to upload them at a later point and edit them if I so choose), but our Halloween was quite crazy.

We were in a rush to get out of the door, because Chad was heading out at 6:15 that night to catch a plane for a quick day trip meeting in Chicago. Of course, though our plans were to be done with dinner, dressed and ready to head out for a bit before Chad left, it didn't happen. It was still lighter outside than I thought it would be, Charlie hadn't eaten much dinner, and Miles still wasn't dressed. AND, I hadn't taken a picture of my littles all dressed up. So, around our house you could hear, "Charlie, hurry up! Honey, where is Miles' costume? Boys, stand over here. No. Move closer to your brother. BOYS, look at Mommy! Babe, I've got to go." Then cue our friendly neighbors, who all wanted to talk (which is normally great), while Chad just wanted to go to a couple of houses before he pulled out. He ended up leaving frustrated and I was left feeling frustrated not to have great pics and not to have met my husband's expectations, and not to have all gone together happily trick or treating! (Though, thankfully, the boys did have a great time and were oblivious to their parents expectations of the evening).

These things happen. Not everything is perfect. My friend Brittany posted about the bloggy world showing sweet little pics, and telling dreamy stories, and making stellar crafts, etc. etc. and how that's not the way life always is. I agree. I know I've shared about hard days before. And while I love to share about my family and things on my heart---sometimes they are wonderful memories and sweet pics, but sometimes not. Just because I don't always write about the crazy days we've had, doesn't mean we aren't crazy! I would never want anyone to read this blog and think "Boy, she or they have it all together!" My hope is that instead, you read and feel comfortable and know that our family is real, just like yours!

So, here are our less than stellar Halloween pics, not on Halloween night like many others, but already into November! Hope you all are enjoying the beginning of this thank-filled month!

First up, our ninja! This was taken before Halloween, so it's decent! Cute little boy, determined to be fierce!

Next up, Spiderman! Sweet thing struggled all night with his eye holes and ended up just wearing his mask up on top of his head like sunglasses!

And finally, cute baby cow! He did not want to be still for a shot so we could see just how adorable he was, but trust me, he was! Instead, here he is crawling in the grass, much like a cow (not that cows crawl)!

Last but not least---my attempt at capturing all 3 trick or treaters. Not perfect, but cuties nonetheless!

Trick or Treat??!!

No tricks, just sweet treats this year for Halloween! And maybe one regret. I'm kicking myself right now for not putting Miles into a costume. We trick or treated with some friends and there were several small babies in adorable costumes--I just wanted to eat them up! I always see infant costumes and think they are adorable, the little bees, or pumpkins or pea pods, or elephants or whatever and eventually decide not to spend the money on one. However, this is probably the last go around with an infant costume and I'm just wishing I bought one for Miles. Oh well. He was still a cutie in his recycled Baby's 1st Halloween onesie!

Luke and Charlie on the other hand were fully decked out! You will never guess what Luke was. . .wait for it. . .if you know him well. . .a shark!!!! And not just any ol' shark--a short fin Mako shark (aka the fastest shark in the ocean). For real. We made him a fin out of cardboard from a diaper box (of which we have plenty), aluminum foil and duct tape! He loved it and loved to chomp too! Luke was also determined to make trick or treating all about racing to the next house, but then what little kiddo wasn't?

Charlie was the most precious "puh-kin" around, if I do say so myself. He was also in a recycled costume, but he owned it and was a charmer! He was a little hesitant at first when trick or treating, but by the end of the night, he was inviting himself into people's houses and really got the hang of saying Happy Halloween!

Oh, and we can't forget Daddy. Daddy transformed into Jack Sparrow and had our boys yelling "Arrrgh!" when they saw him! He was definitely a tricker, as many of our friends had no idea who was under his bandana and nice long pirate hair! Nice, honey. Good job!

 And our final stop was at Aunt Mary's. She provided some treats and the opportunity to greet trick or treaters since it was all dark at our house due to us trick or treating elsewhere! Thanks Aunt Mary--it was fun!

All tuckered out! Hope you had a Happy Halloween!!

treats and not tricks!

Before we jump too far into November, I just had to wrap up our Halloween! For the first time in 20 years, our church did not have a fall fest party on Halloween. So, we had to make other plans. This year we joined some friends for an early potluck dinner and trick-or-treated around their neighborhood! Luke, (aka Superman) who normally likes to feel things out before jumping in, quickly got the idea of how trick-or-treating works and was leading the pack in no time! Little Charlie (aka Froggy) on the other hand, was at the tail end of the pack and even decided to head the opposite way several times! He figured out how things worked eventually and was fascinated by the wrappers in his bucket. We definitely had a Happy Halloween!

An attempt at getting a group shot of the little kiddos

(Cowgirl Carter, Froggy Charlie, Elvis Kate, Lion Austin and Fred Knox)

An attempt at getting a group shot of the big kiddos

Samuel the elephant and Superman

Froggy on a mission!

Trick or treat!

Ariel Kate and Superman Luke (aka Dora and Diego)---sweet friends!

One of the highlights of the night was heading to Aunt Mary's to trick-or-treat! It was her first time (as a new home owner) to pass out treats and Luke was insistent that we show up at her place. So fun!

Trick or treat, anyone home?

Charlie takes time to inspect his goodies!



Aunt Mary and her nephews!

jack o' lanterns, spiders and bats, oh my!

I know the kiddos in our city can't wait for these buckets and buckets of rain to turn into buckets and buckets of candy!!! We've been stuck inside again with rainy weather, but we've stayed busy baking graham cracker bars and pumpkin chocolate chip muffins (a recipe I have thanks to my friend Rebecca). And, since Lukey is obsessed with spiders and bats (appropriate for this time of year) we made a fun Halloween lunch! Even though the spiders didn't have 8 legs because the pretzels wouldn't fit, (they kinda looked like bats anyway) Luke was okay with it, since he already made a spider craft that did have 8 legs! I'll be back with more pics of our trick o' treaters, but wanted to wish you all a safe and happy Halloween!! And, enjoying snacking on those pumpkin seeds---we sure will!!

YUMmy!!!