halloween.

I'm a bit late posting about our trick or treating, but I couldn't resist sharing the adorable kiddos.

Wendy dresses made by their Gamma (Andrew's mom) and I made the hat for the Peter Pan costume--about 5 minutes before we walked out the door. 

Cousins! Spider-man and an 80s work out girl! 

Lincoln was the cutest to watch, he caught on real fast. And wanted out of that wagon as soon as we approached a house and had his bag out and ready to collect. 

We are so thankful for our neighborhood, a safe and fun place to go. The neighborhood gets together and throws a pitch in dinner too ---which is a great way to say hello to those around us. I'm not a fan of the scary Halloween, but I love that it is holiday where kids can be kids and dress up using their imagination!

happy halloween.

We started the day out as Dorothy and Toto for a little Halloween party in the morning.

By the evening, she wanted to be a cat. Which went quite well with Naomi's Toto/dog costume from earlier. I love letting her be whatever she wants to be. She has been Rapunzel, Jasmine, and Tiana in the last few days as well. [None of which we had to buy, she has quite the dress up stash, with the cat and Jasmine costume borrowed from friends.]

She greets her friends by their names. Hey Jonah. Hey Hudson. Hey Deacon.

She walks up to each door with confidence in her little cat costume. Trick or Treat. I'm a cat. Meow.

Sister sits back and watches with her little dog ears dangling and a blue face from the sucker she snagged. Oh, the cute.

Oh, aren't holidays the best? Did you dress up? Or your kiddos?

Next up, Thanksgiving. Yay!

whirlwind weekend.

All of this happened this past weekend:

• family pictures taken (Which makes me super duper excited because we have never had professional family pictures done. And ohmygosh, you must see the video she took. I'll share that tomorrow.)
• attended a fall festival
• birthday breakfast at Cracker Barrel
• bridal shower for my cousin, while Andrew took Audrey to the Children's Museum
• family dinner/birthday party for me
• my little 14-year-old sister was rushed to the ER and admitted to the ICU (but now in stable condition and in a regular room, thank goodness), which means lots of time spent in the hospital visiting and lots of stress
• and somehow we managed to fit in an hour of trick-or-treating

 Audrey and her cousin Jonathan, I mean, Mickey and Minnie Mouse.


 Holding hands. They were so stinkin' cute together.


Naomi was a doll all weekend, just went with the flow. She even gave me 7 full hours of sleep last night, which was much needed after the eventful weekend. (Also, she is getting so.so.big.)

A Mermaid with a Sucker is the Cutest Thing Ever.

We had a packed two days of celebrations and Halloween fun. Let me just let the pictures do the talking... Audrey at our routine playgroup on Friday morning.

The attempt to get a picture of all the kids dressed up at playgroup. Notice the moms trying to get out of the picture. It was so funny. The kids were melting down by the second.

On Friday evening we went to my brother and sister-in-law's church for a fall festival. There was a room just full of balloons. Audrey LOVED it. Okay, so did I. I definitely played in it.

On Halloween we took the kids to the...mall. (I know, so impressive, right?) It was actually quite fun to see the cousins strolling along in the wagon. A sucker kept Audrey content the entire time.

We went trick-or-treating just at one house. My dad's neighbor. They are as sweet as can be. A woman in her 90's that has a heart of gold and so much wisdom that if I could just have an ounce of it I would be much better off. She has a daughter just like her, also older. I really enjoyed seeing them. It was a good reminder to visit them more often.

I like Halloween and not just because, ahem, my birthday comes the day before. But I think Halloween is a time for children (and adults) to imagine and dream and become. I've been asked are you going to let Audrey dress up for Halloween? Or (gasp) think there is a Santa? Yes. and Yes. I believe in imagination and dreaming and having fun. And that is just what I am going to make it. And I think this year was a success at that. I had fun dreaming and believing and pretending with Audrey.

I Wonder How Many Adults Still Dress Up For Halloween.

5 years ago we started a tradition with our friends to have a themed-Halloween party each year. It's pretty much an excuse for adults to get dressed up together and look utterly ridiculous. But it's so fun. The costumes are hand-made for the most part- usually coming from our parents closest or a Goodwill find.

We each bring a dish to share. And then we eat. A LOT. Laugh. Drink wine. And vote on the best costume for that year.

This year, the theme was service jobs. Being that we have been overly busy with moving and remodeling our new home, I didn't had a lot of time to think about our costume. But I did manage to pull something together the day of the party. We went as (drumroll please)...

.

.

.

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Lakeview Lions Lunch Servers. I mean, who didn't love Wednesday lunches at your elementary school? You know, salisbury steak and roll day. Delish. So I thought back to my awesome lunch servers and came up with some outfits. Complete with trays of food and some life-size peas to go along with it (aka Audrey).

[Please note: I am rather embarrassed of this hilarious costume. We look like complete dorks. I even rolled my socks. I assure it is the costumes fault, no one looks good in a hair net. Right?]

In 2008 the theme was going to be food. For a year I had planned that if I got pregnant, then I wanted to go as a pea in a pod. I was going to paint my belly green. Sure enough, I got pregnant and was even due right after Halloween (Nov. 2). I bought a green dress months in advance. Party was scheduled for Oct. 18. It was set early, in case I went into labor early. The party never came that year, because, Audrey decided she would make her appearance on October 18.

2007 the theme was cartoon characters. Andrew told me I had to take it easy since the previous year he was practically in tights. We went as The Jetsons. I thought we pulled it off rather well. (The purple dress I am wearing used to be gigantic and long before I cut it and sewed it).

2006 was my favorite year yet as far as costumes go. The theme was movies. Inspired by one of the best Christmas movies ever, Elf, we went as Buddy and Jovie. I even went as far as to dye Andrew's long-john's yellow and detail yellow snowflakes on his jacket.

2005 was our first annual Halloween party. We actually didn't have a theme, so we went as ahem, Jed Clampett and Elly May Clampett. Ever since I married into the "Clampitt" family, I had to take on the jokes. So, for Halloween we decided to embrace the jokes and go as the "Clampet's."

So, do you dress up for Halloween? What has been your favorite costume of the past?