Halloween Night!

The kids were so excited and didn't even have to be bribed.  Why, you ask?  Well, of course, it's because Halloween evening had finally arrived!

Amidst all of the halloween festivities, we had forgotten to carve our pumpkins.  I just didn't have time to do it with them before we went trick-or-treating, so they settled for drawing faces on them. 
Thank goodness this seemed to suffice!

"If you're gonna trick-or-treat, then first you've got to eat," was the little ditty I sang for them at their 5:30pm dinner.  I think they believed me, because they chowed down in a hurry!  Very soon we had a beautiful Belle, marvelous Minnie Mouse and rambunctious Red Power Ranger.

Gigi brought over some spooky decorations like the witch on the front porch (she talks!) and these scary skeletons to hang in our trees.  Belle was much too lady-like to make a mean face, but the other two tried their best!

The kids had quite the audience--all 4 grandparents and even Meme came to see them dressed up.

Right before we were about to start trick-or-treating look who made it home.  Hooray for Daddy!

The kids went to say hi to our neighbors...

while Lila ran back inside to get baby Brandy, and then we were off!

So many houses had fun decorations

It made the kids much more at ease and willing to go ring their doorbells!  Look how happy these two are just hanging out with this enormous pumpkin.

Even these little ghosts were pretty cute!

By the end of the night, Minnie Mouse was slowing down a little bit.  She gets props, though, for walking or running almost the entire time.  Kids will do amazing things for candy.

We ended by trick-or-treating at our own house.  We were so thankful that the grandparents had graciously volunteered to hand out our candy.

Before bath the kids got to inspect all of their loot.  Let's just say they hauled in a ton of candy!  It really is crazy, but I guess that's part of the big allure for the holiday anyway:)

We had a fabulous time celebrating halloween this year, but I must say, I am glad we are finally done. 
It feels like we've been doing this for a solid week! 
Thank goodness thanksgiving is a little more laid-back--I need some rest!

Kids' Halloween Parties

Man, we have not been slacking around here!  Since they don't have halloween parties in Kindergarten, Jackson got invited to a party after school on Monday.

Caleb's mom threw such a cool halloween party for the kids!

There was pizza, cupcake decorating, crafts, indoor basketball (J's fave)...

pumpkin decorating...

and then real basketball, too!  The kid was in hog heaven.

Little sister was quite happy to help him finish decorating the pumpkin.

Then before we left, the kids got to go on a candy scavenger hunt in Caleb's front yard.  So cool!

They all got a ton of candy...just the beginning of a very sugary week!

The next morning, Lila got to put on her costume and we went to her school for a morning party.

Her class was too cute all dressed up.  The kid wearing the Merida costume from Brave cracked me up with that HUGE red wig!  I couldn't believe that she kept it on.

The kids got to trick-or-treat at a few different places...

and they even got to go to Cinderella's office, too!  How fun! 
Can you tell that Minnie Mouse was not feeling it, though?

She was so concerned about me leaving that her sweet smile was nowhere in sight. 

She did enjoy a muffin with her class...

and was all smiles when I told her that she could just come home with me!  I just couldn't bare to leave her there sobbing.  It's just too sad! 

The next morning, it was finally Madison's turn to dress up for school.  She chose her Spidergirl costume and was so excited to head out the door.

No worries about this little girl going to school.  She was ready!

I heard that her class trick-or-treated all over the school--they even went upstairs!  For her party, she made this little craft, played some games...

took a picture with her class...

and then got to enjoy this yummy brownie.

On our way out the door, we ran into Minnie Mouse! 
Spidergirl stopped to wish her a happy halloween. 

Stay tuned for the halloween night recap.

Owens Farm

We almost waited too late, but we finally made it to Owens Farm this year!

Maddie and Jackson were both in school, but we met my friend Mandy and her two girls, Brooklynn and Finley.  This little girl was so excited when we got there!

Our first order of business, feed those hungry goats.  This is definitely the closest she got to the goats.  Most of the time she was 5 feet back.  They can get a little aggressive, so I understand her hesitation!

Both girls were much happier climbing up the fence and checking out the big white goat that had done the same.  They thought he was pretty darn funny.

Precious pumpkin pic

Me and my sweet girl.  We are becoming attached at the hip again--she loves her mama SO much. I must say, the feeling is mutual, but we now do everything together!  If she hears any mention of me running an errand, no matter how mundane it is, she loads up in the car immediately. 
"Dry cleaners?  Sure! Grocery store? Count me in!"

It was the perfect fall day to enjoy being outdoors.

We bought the girls tickets to ride the train.  They did their best "choo choo" before the conductor got ready to leave.  Brooklynn had a change of heart at the last minute, though, so I took her place.

We had a really fun time on the train.  This little girl was laid-back and loving it.

Before we went home, we got to pick out two pumpkins to take with us.  It's such a fun time of year and I'm really glad we got to spend the day with our friends.  I felt like I was on vacation only having one kid to keep up with!  It's been many moons since it was just me and the J man going around town:)

Lake Pointe Fall Fest

This year we decided to simplify a bit and only attend one fall festival. 



Gigi helped me round up these three musketeers and take them for some good family fun.



Lila was only brave enough to do one game--fishing for ducks--but she did good at it!

After that the big kids took over and racked up some serious candy.

Lila and I did the cake walk together and I won!  I let her choose the prize--she opted for a pink hostess cupcake--and was stoked about it.

Soon after I won, Maddie did too.  Poor Jackson went round and round and never won!  A little while later a sweet lady who had been working the Cake Walk came up to me, asked if he was my little boy, and then gave him a treat anyway.  She felt so bad for him.  Such a nice thing to do and an added bonus of going to a small church fall fest:)

One of the cooler things J got to do was shoot a rubber band gun.  He hit the target right off the bat, too!

He and Maddie both did good at this spooky bean bag toss...

and then all three made a beeline for the bounce house obstacle course.  Lila insisted that she go, too, but bailed out before she got through the first hole. 

We ran around to the other end of it, just in time to see Jackson...

and Madison rush down the big slide.  They loved it.  In fact, we couldn't get them to do anything else, so Gigi stayed with them while Lila and I went to ride the train.

It was much more her speed.  There's that grin that I just love.