Halloween Party

my beautiful fairy!

and please take notice of the head piece...be impressed

okay, so normally I might steer her away from bobbing apples, but she was the first one, so I figured why not let the other kids get the germs! ;) And you can see she came up successful, so hopefully she didn't drop a bunch of slobber in there!

donuts on a string...no hands allowed!

I accidentally double booked us for last Saturday night. I totally spaced that we had an Oktoberfest Dinner at the Knights Hall (sorry, Pops!) so I volunteered to help set up the church's Halloween party. Well by the time I remembered I didn't think it was quite fair to tell Sophia that she could help set it all up, but not actually get to play there! So, Charlie and I split up and he took Leo to the dinner and I took Sophia to the party. Both groups had a good time I think! Sophia loved all the festive activities and there was even a pinata! This was the beginning of our Halloween gauntlet...there will be more costumed pictures to follow very soon!

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

Sophia and Aunt Cathy anxiously awaiting the curtain to rise! Okay, so there wasn't an actual curtain, but you get the idea!
the set...it looked great and very accurate!

Popcorn?

She loves her Murray's!

Aunt Cathy got some play time in with Leo too when we picked him up from Grandma's! She's more excited about cuddling than he is, however!

We adore the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie book, and all the others in that series, so when I heard they were putting on a play of it, we had to go! Cathy, being a theatre geek herself, was the perfect companion for us and we all had a lovely time! After the show we even found time to hit my favorite ice cream shop, Murray's, I mean we were so close! Plus they close for the season at the end of this month so I have to squeeze it all in! The Theatre for Young America group also has some holiday plays that I might look into since we all had such a good time at this one. Sophia and I are also looking forward to the Go, Dog, Go puppet show this week as well...we're just so cultural!

Pumpkin Carving Time

and the herder becomes the herded
Sophia and her little lamb

Sophia hard at work in the planning phases

ewww...and he's touching it?!

whoa, impressive knife skills, Daddy!

Leo's pumpkin

Sophia's pumpkin

Hen House Holiday Celebration

I'm not sure who came up with this idea, but it's a winner. A local grocery store puts on this holiday celebration each year and it's pretty fantastic. You only pay $6 to get in, kids are free, and you get reusable grocery sacks, enough samples to last you two days, coupons and other nifty things. The whole point is for the store to showcase how fabulous they are and how much they can help you during the holiday craziness, which is great actually, but most people go for the free samples...we sure do!

This is Leo enjoying ice cream serving 2 of 3
Sophia, Emma and Isabelle in front of the holiday floral display

yeah, you don't mind pushing my kid around while wearing yours...right?!

Celebrity Chef Tyler Florence was there!

Leo could not get over this cow. He was so excited and kept yelling...Mommy, Moo!

cookie decorating

Sophia teaches Cowgirl Kate some of her finest moves

ah yes, and here we are finally at the end with a bag of loot, hats, balloon animals and ice cream cones...could it get any better?!

Oh and by the way...you MUST try Blue Bell's newest holiday flavors...they were all delish!

Birthday Dinners

Stacy and Mer getting cozy in the kitchen! ;)

Jacob ready to eat

Mommy and Cody blow out our candles, with a little help from our friend

Mom and Stacy say 'cheese' while Leo says, why did you stop feeding me cake, Uncle Stacy?

before heading home to bed, Sophia and Leo had to try out Bama's Official Hallmark Singing Halloween Hat! It's quite a hoot!

Stacy cooked a birthday dinner for Cody and me, since we're both born in the awesome month of October! He made chorizo stuffed pork chops wrapped in bacon...can you say fabulous?! For dessert, Mom made me a delicious chocolate cheesecake and Cody his favorite apple cheese torte. It was a great night spent with the fam!

Bowling Bonanza!

before bowling Leo and I played outside a lot...he looks like such a big boy now that he's two!
Leo is in love with Adeline. Poor thing doesn't get a break when he's around as he's constantly laying on her, hugging her and kissing her. It sure it cute, but it doesn't make me want another one! ;)

do you think she'll get it down the lane before she falls over?

just too tired to bowl any longer

3 friends

Emma, Isabelle, Sophia and Leo hit the tiny tot bowling again this week. It was fun. Sophia is still working on getting enough momentum behind the ball. She likes to mostly sort of drop it right at the head of the lane, but it almost always makes it to the pins, but not long before the arm drops! Leo is excited about any activity involving a ball, so he enjoys bowling as well. He gets the idea but just doesn't quite have the coordination to do it without mommy's help.

Spooky Mood Food

With Halloween right around the corner and cooler temps moving in, I've been inspired to make some spooky foods to fit the mood!

we pressed out the biscuits and shaped them with a stem
added some pepperonis to make jack-o-lantern faces

while they baked, the kids went on a hay rack ride

and voila! Jack-o-Lantern pizzas for everyone! Yum!

we also made pumpkin and ghost shaped grilled cheese...the pumpkins had ham and cheese and the ghosts just cheese

Leo enjoyed dunking his ghost into some tomato soup!

another night I made pasta with a pumpkin cream sauce it was delish! Very fall and very festive! Sophia gobbled it up!

This morning Daddy felt inspired to make jack-o-lantern pancakes! He even added pumpkin puree to the batter and a strategically hid some M&Ms inside for a little Halloween treat!

these two didn't waste any time diving in!

Look forward to Monday's meal of Mummy Dogs, Halloween mac and cheese and caramel apples!