Happy Halloween! (2011)

It was yet another fun Halloween at our house!  This year we made a few changes to our regular Halloween plans.  We trick-or-treated our neighborhood with the Biller kids as usual, but this year we started a new tradition of cooking out with our cul-de-sac neighbors before trick-or-treating.  We might have looked slightly red neck with our grill and bonfire going in our front yard, but we had a blast!

I already shared my single shots of Jessie and Buzz Lightyear from our Halloween festivities the other day, but Mr. Potato Head was exclusively seen on Halloween.  I made the costume, and now I could kick myself for not making it a sleep sack design.  It turned out to be a little chilly Halloween night and we only had Ryan in his Potato Head costume for ten minutes for pictures.  Oh well!  It was a little difficult not being a sleep sack anyway!

So here is our Toy Story Trio!!

After our photo shoot, Ryan sported a pumpkin costume the rest of the night to stay warm. 

Trick or Treating Fun! 

The candy stash!!

And the night ended with all the adults hanging out by the fire in our yard!  It was a fun night!

Pumpkin Babies!

Having three kids, I can't say I am always very consistant in making sure I do the exact same thing with each child at certain age intervals.  I try but it doesn't seem possible to keep up with every little thing.  For instance, I heard about taking pictures each month for the first year with the same object AFTER Katelynn was already too big.  I did it with Justin anyway (some of you may remember my bear pics each month) and planned to do it with Ryan, but I forgot until it was too late to start it so now Justin is my only one with growing pics his first year.  BUT at least I can say that every single one of my babies was a pumpkin baby at Halloween!!

So can you figure out who is who?  I have them in order from left-to-right (Katelynn, Justin, Ryan).  Keep in mind that since they were all born in different seasons, they are all different ages.  Katelynn was 2 weeks, Justin was 9 months, and Ryan 4 months).  Do you think my boys look just a little bit alike or what? 

We didn't even try to match up the pumpkin faces, but now that I have compared all three, I think it's funny that we used the same shape eyes for all three.  We must like moon-shaped eyes!  Haha.  And actually Katelynn and Ryan's pumpkins are the exact same design.  The only different is Ryan's is a bigger version to fit his feet.

Here are the shots of my youngest pumpkin baby by himself!  I think he thought I was just a little odd for stuffing him in a cold pumpkin!

A Corn Maze and Pumpkin Carving - Oh My!

What a busy day we had filled with fall activities!  Jonathan got home on Friday- YAY!  He made it for Halloween!  We were a little worried he would miss out this year.  Of course he was behind on work here in Charlotte so he had to work Saturday, but it at least left today for some fun family activities.  I love the Rural Hill Corn Maze so despite the fact that it isn't my hubby's favorite thing to do, he came and did his best to enjoy it with us!

We found another mailbox!  (This might have been the only part the kids enjoyed.. haha)

Ryan was a sport about being bundled a bit since it was a cool fall day.

 Justin's favorite part was walking through any mud he could find.  Once that got old, he just chilled in the wagon, but of course he didn't nap even though it would have been a great idea!

 The gang at the corn maze!

 Getting lost in the corn was exhausting!

After the afternon at the corn maze, we headed home to get our pumpkins carved and eat some yummy chili as part of a new tradition we started last year.  Even though it was a little cooler than we have been dealing with, it was still decent enough to do our carving outdoors!

Finished products!

(Left to Right) Justin's (drawing by Daddy.. carving help from Mommy and Daddy), Ryan's (carved and drawn by Mommy), and Katelynn's (with help from Anna)

A Halloween Filled Day!

Today we spent most of the day in costumes and having fun with friends.  It started in the morning with Katelynn's preschool Halloween party.  Justin isn't yet in preschool but Katelynn's school was so generous to include him in all the activities! 

The Parade

Trick or Treating



SNACKS

They also participated in games during Katelynn's class party, however, I didn't get many pictures of the events today.  I was trying to coordinate the party and it took up most of my picture time! 

You'll notice Katelynn was Snow White at school.  It's not her Halloween costume.  She wanted to be something different at school than on Halloween night, and luckily she did because at the last minute yesterday, I realized her pants for her costume did not fit her correctly.  I spent the afternoon sewing them to fit her in time for the Cow-o-ween event at Chick-fil-A tonight.

Buzz Lightyear and Jessie headed out to Chick-fil-a tonight to score their free kid's meals when they dressed up.  They also got goodie bags, their face painted, saw a dance routine by a local dance studio, and met the cows!  It was a good night!

When we got home tonight, I realized that I should have at least taken a picture of Ryan with the cows!  I haven't finished his costume yet, but he was there sporting a Halloween shirt (In fact, a shirt that Justin wore at 9 months old, somehow my almost-4-month old fits in it!)  So.. Katelynn took our picture to prove we were showing our Halloween spirit today too!

I love holiday festivities!  Today made me even more excited for what is in store the next few days!  Bring on Halloween!!

Pick'n a Pumpk'n

Yes, we already went to the pumpkin patch but it was rainy and Ryan didn't even get to get in any of the pictures. You know I MUST have pumpkin patch pictures every year, right? So I took the kids today to get some pictures at a farm not far from our house. It was a beautiful 70+ degree day at the end of October. You can't beat that. I am pretty sure I am going to have to jump off my high-horse and accept that for the next several years (at least), I will not get the perfect picture with three smiling faces all looking at the camera at the same time. After so many pictures on my camera, these are the best I could come up with....

I had a friend take some pictures of Ryan by himself with some pumpkins that I will share if any came out cute once I get those too!