Halloween is not my favorite holiday. That's kind of funny coming from someone who has a candy addiction and loves little kids... especially cute little kids dressed up as cute little things. It's all the not-so-cute dressing up and too-old trick-or-treaters and scary stuff that I'm not so much a fan of. Thankfully, with two rather small children of my own, it's easy right now to focus on the good parts.
We have a Halloween party tradition in our play group and I look forward to it every year to see those kiddos all dressed up.
This year, Kristen even planned a craft - they got to decorate different Halloween scenes to put in their very own mugs (and then we gave them hot chocolate in their mugs when they were done). It was kind of awesome. Thanks, Kristen!
It's always a goal and an adventure to get a group photo of all the kids in their costumes. This year's turned out shockingly well (meaning none of the children are screaming and some of them are smiling)!
Here's my sweet cowboy nephew, Atticus:
and Ursula with baby Isabelle:
My boys:
And lots of family (minus daddies) shots:
Isabelle, again:
being entertained by Ryan & Emmy:
Kaeden was also entertained by Baylie once he finished his lunch.
Once everybody started to crash, we turned on the Berenstain Bears' Halloween, which kept the kiddos very occupied while the mommies had some more peaceful time to eat, chat, clean up, etc. They were mesmerized!
and how can you have a Halloween party without a pumpkin cake?
Yesterday, Ryan and I started off the day by finally carving a pumpkin during Kaeden's nap. It's always fun when we get some one-on-one time together, and we enjoyed doing this special project together. He helped me scoop and then I let him design the face while I carved. He was very pleased!
We had planned to go to a parade in Kristen's neighborhood, but when the rain started, we jumped ship on that idea, which left Ryan rather disappointed. We decided to do some trick-or-treating anyway, so here is Ryan at his first ever trick-or-treat stop (Auntie & Uncle Bret's house... low pressure!):
Mason ended up taking him to quite a few houses in the neighborhood a bit later and they had a blast... and Ryan brought back quite a few goodies! We had fun sorting them together after dinner :)
We have a Halloween party tradition in our play group and I look forward to it every year to see those kiddos all dressed up.
This year, Kristen even planned a craft - they got to decorate different Halloween scenes to put in their very own mugs (and then we gave them hot chocolate in their mugs when they were done). It was kind of awesome. Thanks, Kristen!
It's always a goal and an adventure to get a group photo of all the kids in their costumes. This year's turned out shockingly well (meaning none of the children are screaming and some of them are smiling)!
Here's my sweet cowboy nephew, Atticus:
and Ursula with baby Isabelle:
My boys:
And lots of family (minus daddies) shots:
Isabelle, again:
being entertained by Ryan & Emmy:
Kaeden was also entertained by Baylie once he finished his lunch.
Once everybody started to crash, we turned on the Berenstain Bears' Halloween, which kept the kiddos very occupied while the mommies had some more peaceful time to eat, chat, clean up, etc. They were mesmerized!
and how can you have a Halloween party without a pumpkin cake?
Yesterday, Ryan and I started off the day by finally carving a pumpkin during Kaeden's nap. It's always fun when we get some one-on-one time together, and we enjoyed doing this special project together. He helped me scoop and then I let him design the face while I carved. He was very pleased!
We had planned to go to a parade in Kristen's neighborhood, but when the rain started, we jumped ship on that idea, which left Ryan rather disappointed. We decided to do some trick-or-treating anyway, so here is Ryan at his first ever trick-or-treat stop (Auntie & Uncle Bret's house... low pressure!):
Mason ended up taking him to quite a few houses in the neighborhood a bit later and they had a blast... and Ryan brought back quite a few goodies! We had fun sorting them together after dinner :)
All in all, a pretty good day!
and now, time to start thinking about Kaeden's birthday.... one year ago at this time, I was watching tv and timing contractions that were still 10-15 minutes apart, wondering if maybe, just maybe this might be it! It was! More on that to come...
and now, time to start thinking about Kaeden's birthday.... one year ago at this time, I was watching tv and timing contractions that were still 10-15 minutes apart, wondering if maybe, just maybe this might be it! It was! More on that to come...
