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Saturday, October 31, 2015

pumpkins & costumes

Normally we carve pumpkins with Craig's brother's family but it didn't work out this year.  We wanted to do them closer to Halloween so they would last, and we planned to see their family later in the week for trick or treat, so we invited our neighbors over for pizza and carving instead!
I was so proud of Andrew!  This was his first year carving the pumpkin all by himself!  He had no help.  He stayed super focused the whole time and didn't want to stop!  He chose a spider and he did a perfect job!
He was slightly proud of himself too!
My girl got right in there and scooped her pumpkin!
This is our crew... scooping pumpkins!
This girl sweet talked her daddy into carving Rapunzel.  She can talk him into anything.
Pizza with Jackson!
Jackson's daddy brought power tools.  Now that's how you carve a pumpkin!  Ha!  I'm not sure why we hadn't thought of that before!
The finished products!  Do you love how Kerigan is presenting her pumpkin?  Ha!
The finished products!  Jackson took his home before it got dark so we didn't get a picture!
My little girl wore her kitty outfit to preschool on mixed up day!
And while Kerigan was at tumbling, my little man and I went and got some treats for his class for Friday.  He so carefully filled each bag with such love!
He couldn't have been any sweeter.  He and I had the best talk while doing this.  We talked about school and his friends and the life of an almost 9 year old.  He said "I can't wait to see my class happy!"  My heart was bursting.  He is the sweetest little boy ever!
And for the 3rd year in a row he is blessed with a very special teacher.  She had the kids do writing about a pumpkin and they had to describe it using details they had been learning about in class.
Then she brought pumpkins for the whole class and they got to decorate them to match their writing!
What a fun activity!  Andrew was so excited to do this and I am once again blessed to be at his school so I can sneak into his classroom for special things!
He was so proud to pass out his treats and all the kids kept saying "Thank you, Andrew!"  He was so proud.  Best buddy Gavin got to help him pass them out!
Then I picked this sweet girl up and she was getting wrapped like a mummy!  Ha!  They were having a fun Halloween party, too!
Then after school we headed to our old town to trick or treat with Craig's brother's family.
Best buddies and cousins... had to be Hiro and Baymax!
Do they look ready for round 1 of candy begging??
Off they go!

They had a great time and got lots of yummy treats!
Kerigan is so happy when her big cousin is with her!
Then they always love coming back and counting their stash!
They were so happy and excited!  Since it was a Friday we got to spend the night and the kids thought it was the best thing ever!
I did a little blast from the past collage of them with their cousins in the past.  We've only missed one year trick or treating together!

2007, 2008, 2009, 2010- the years before Kerigan!  Ha!  I can't get over the first picture of Evelyn and Andrew!  They are exactly the same age- 4 days apart!
We missed last year!

The next morning we woke up and headed to Ga Ga and Papa's to show them the kids costumes.  At this point, they were only somewhat tired of wearing their costumes!  Ha!
They were so excited to see Ga Ga and Papa!
Opening their treats!  They both have piggy banks that they love to drop coins into.  So Papa always likes to give them coins!
And they got Halloween cookies!
Two of my favorite people.
Then on Saturday we headed out with some friends to trick or treat in our neighborhood (this is round 2 and costume burnout!  Ha!)
Piper's face cracks me up.  She loves Andrew.
And these sweet girls were all giggles and smiles!
Until our scary neighbor's house!  This was so funny- every year they do something and we knew to expect it this time.  This guy works with Craig at the high school, they are fun neighbors!  All the kids were playing along and shaking his hand, etc.  And Andrew would not go near him!  Ha!
Craig is always our comic relief!
The kids kept arguing about who was going to ring the doorbell.  They would all take off running between houses and then one would get upset, or couldn't run as fast, etc.  So Craig was corralling them and giving directions!  Ha!
And those of you who knew my dad know that he always clicked his heels together like this as a joke (like when I would leave the house in college, or when we would pull out of their house to head back home, etc).  So when Craig did this and I caught it on camera I about died laughing.  We were almost home so he was a little giddy!  Ha!
Our last stop- favorite neighbor Heidi's house!  It was getting cold by this point, and we were all ready to head to our house for soup!  So we grabbed Heidi and brought her with us!
I love having taco soup with all the fixins!
This just screams fall!  Once again we had a special night with friends and neighbors.  I love trick or treat night and the traditions we've started!

And just for fun... some blast from the past pictures I couldn't resist putting together.
2011, 2012, 2013, 2014


It's so fun to look back at my babies!

Monday, October 26, 2015

night eyes

We have a tradition of going to the zoo for Night Eyes.  It's the first time we get our costumes out for the season, make sure everything fits, we have all the pieces, etc.  This year Kerigan was Dorothy and Andrew was Hiro (from Big Hero 6).
Last year we brought Andrew's friend from school so we asked him to go again this year.  The boys were so excited!  And they found this giant rhino first thing out the door.  I have no clue if he's from a movie or what, but the boys thought he was cool!
We follow the path and they have characters, treats and activities for the kids along the way.  First stop- Emerald City!
I'm pretty sure she couldn't be any sweeter.
Somewhere over the rainbow...
Sweet little Dorothy
One of her best friends Annika was Dorothy too!  Kerigan is blessed with some of the best friends at the age of four.  I am so happy she has formed these sweet friendships and I pray they continue her whole life!
Ding dong the witch is dead!
Attempt at a family picture... one not looking and one making faces.  Such is life.

Gavin and Andrew
We always have to ride the train!
They are just as precious as they look!
Three friends
We laughed and laughed at Craig because somehow he knew he was going to end up holding Gavin's minecraft head.  He kept saying all night "I'm not holding that thing" and first thing Gavin wanted to run and do he hands it to Craig and says "Can you hold this?"  Hahahaha.
In an egg
Clifford was there!
A crew of pirates...
They have most of the animals out- I loved this picture of Andrew pretending to be scared of the lion!  Ha!

Just chillin.  And knocking the Pac Man ghosts off the hay stacks!  Ha!
He ran around behind this to make it look like he was in the alien ship and it cracked us all up!
But not funnier than Craig getting right in there for some candy!  Ha!
Love this picture of "teacher" Angie giving the kids all directions before turning them loose in the bouncy house area!  Andrew looks scared!  Ha!
They had a blast!
I.love.them.
They had some more characters...
Princesses!
I cannot get Andrew into Star Wars for some reason.  He likes the characters and the new BB8 robot is on his Christmas list.  But he won't watch the movies.  I think he thinks they will be scary.  I keep telling him I think he'll love them!  We'll have to see what Christmas brings...
This thing was so weird!  But he loved it!
Our crew... minus Parker.  He was snuggled in his car seat.  It was such a fun night!
On our way home we stopped at Jethros for some BBQ!  Yum!
Girls table and boys table!
Andrew and I got to snuggle this little man and we were loving it!  Andrew even got a smile out of him!  I don't know how many times Andrew has told me he wishes Parker was our baby.  Ha!

Up next... trick or treat!