happy halloween

halloween on a saturday was a super treat. we started the day with some pumpkin pancakes using chocolate chips to make them into jack-o-lanterns (don't worry, the kids didn't see it either until having leftovers the next day).

after breakfast, we went outside to carve our (very cold) pumpkins. the kids helped a little with the scraping, but then abandoned me to take care of the rest - not that i minded too much.

mason went in to eat a special marshmallow from one of the ladies at church.

now for the main even - trick-or-treating!

this was my first time ever making 'scraped' carvings. it wasn't as bad as i imagined.

once the kids were done trick or treating, we went up to the clubhouse for a potluck dinner. this is one of my favorite neighborhood gatherings. happy halloween. love.

boo u.

every year we get a flyer for "boo u." at one of the local university campuses and every year we have a conflict. it was going to be tight, but i decided that we would do a quick costume change in the car after madelyn's class and check it out for 30 minutes. amazingly, we were even able to pick up daddy to join us (he had a late meeting at a location on our way to the school).

i've got to say, it was worth the effort. there were maybe 40 tables set up with different themes staffed by costumed students for the kids to trick-or-treat all over campus. while we have been to this campus before, it has always been to crowded for the event to really appreciate how lovely it is to walk along the paths. it was windy and cold, but it added to the halloween feel and we all enjoyed the time outside.

a quick picture with the school mascot

there were science activities inside the student center but they were so similar to the "spooky science night" at the high school that we opted out of waiting in line for them.

this was the best table - not only were they cute, but they were easily the warmest!

the kids had a lot of fun with this game where they were able to pretend to be bees. each kid was given a glove to wear. they dipped that hand into a bucket of velcro balls and then find the matching color flower to 'pollenate.'

we all enjoyed this outdoor event and will try to make it again next year!

we decided to go out to a pizza dinner on our way home and were planning on dropping me off at book club on the way home. only we forgot that we didn't drive together and had to double back to get matt's car at work. love.

harvest parties

the candy fun just won't stop! today the boys had their parties at preschool. yesterday mason helped me make all of the snacks for his party (in an highly unusual turn of events, maddux and manning took naps and it was just the two of us). mason had chosen 'acorns' and 'owls' for his class party snacks. maddux chose yellow and orange "decorated" napkins for his party.

the boys had a really great time at their harvest parties (the school does not celebrate halloween in any way)! there are games, snacks and treats. they look forward to it every year. love.

the boys' treat bags. maddux on the left, mason on the right. i really loved their pumpkins!

trick-or-treat

it was in the 70s today - and sunny! nothing like any other halloween we have spent in ohio. our neighborhood chose to trick-or-treat at night instead of during the day with the rest of the city. we had a potluck dinner at the clubhouse first and then went home to get ready to go out. we have such a great neighborhood. the turn out was awesome, the food delicious and the company so good we almost didn't have enough time to get home and into costumes! 

madelyn was a hula dancer, mason was a golden ninja from ninjago, maddux was a pirate and manning was jake. they were all super excited!

matt takes the kids out and i stay home to hand out candy. he said that manning was thrilled to be trick-or-treating. so thrilled that he walked the whole time and refused to wear a jacket (even though the temperatures were dropping quickly!). there were quite a few pairs of icy hands when i was handing out the candy.

i think that this might have been the first halloween where none of the kids cried! they were in great spirits, it was almost a shame to put them to bed. happy halloween! love.

procrastinate much?

i am a self-professed procrastinator. but even i usually carve pumpkins before halloween! on the way home from church today it occurred to me that neighborhood trick-or-treating was tonight and we had not even purchased pumpkins large enough to carve. matt had a golf tournament so it was just the kids and me. we talked it through during our ride and they decided that painting our pumpkin patch pumpkins was better than buying one to carve.

it was cold but sunny so after lunch we went out to paint some pumpkins!

maddux hanging his bird feeder he made at the event last night.

since they didn't light up, we lined the front walk with them.

madelyn painted ariel on hers and a jack-o-lantern face on manning's (he was sleeping). mason made a black ninja and maddux just came up with is own design.

some very happy kiddos!

trick-or-treaters, we are ready for you! love.

don't mess with my candy

our grocery store offers trick-or-treating inside the store each year and usually the whole shopping center participates. i needed a few things from the store so i called matt to see if he would be willing to walk around with the kids and trick-or-treat while i did the shopping. it worked out perfectly! we were even finished at the same time.

we let the kids eat the cookies they had decorated in the bakery when we got home but when manning finished his, he started right in on his candy. i had already told him that he couldn't have it and when daddy told him no and reached for his pumpkin, manning got all teary-eyed. it was so pitifully cute. he didn't want anyone - especially dad - touching his candy. love.

trunk-or-treat #1

i overheard at the ymca that there was a trunk-or-treat at one of the churches we had considered attending and when i saw that it was on a day where we had nothing else planned, we decided to check it out - and give the costumes a trial run. mason is the "golden ninja" from lego ninjago (the only costume i made), madelyn is a make-shift snow white after we ran into trouble coming up with all of the pieces for her intended costume and maddux went as a pirate in a borrowed jack sparrow costume (manning was jake).

it was drizzly and cold but the event was really nice. there was a hay bale maze, a small trunk-or-treat, decorating mini-pumpkins craft, fire pit s'mores, a costume contest, carnival food for sale and some other activities that we never got around to checking out (manning had a nuclear melt-down at the s'mores station and we made our exit).

waiting in line for the trunk-or-treat

taking a craft pumpkin to-go

one of the better decorated trunks - they had lights running through the balloon 'water.'

this was another nice event that we will watch for next year. love.

pumpkin patch

the kids had the day off for school so one of my friends arranged for a group of us to meet up and get a group rate at a local pumpkin patch. it just happened that we have gone to this patch every year that we have lived in ohio. the kids look forward to it every year (and so do i). i think that there may have been 20 or so of us in total. matt had planned on taking the day off from work but then had an early morning meeting come up that he couldn't miss. but then he surprised us all by joining us for fun and lunch before heading back to work! it was a grey day, but the forecasted rain stayed away and it was comfortable to be outside - with jackets.

a maze that was trickier than it looked.

the staff has parents in the group each do one part of the face painting - assembly line style - and the results are pretty impressive! (maddux had a bat on his nose too.)

i think all of the kids could have spent the entire day in the corn bin and have been totally content.

bunnies!

this time i even sprang for the train ride. it was funny to see the trail of parents following the train around the property to make sure that their child didn't stand up.

it took a while to find an animal that was still hungry enough to eat from manning's bowl. he was thrilled to feed the "moo."

this was a requested picture

fall is so much fun! love.