Happy Halloween 2012

To kick off the actual Halloween festivities, we carved pumpkins the night before. It was quite comical and a little hysterical. But, we ended up making it through. Seth was too anxious to carve his pumpkin we had to keep convincing him he had to scrape out the insides first. 

(and no, he is not wearing pants ... lately he only has them on about 15% of the time. Who knows why? As long as he's happy, I could care less about pants ...)

 Shelby got the biggest kick out of getting into the pumpkin goo! She was cracking up and loving her life. Shortly after she was hysterical and we sent her to bed ... so her enjoyment was short lived. She had fun for a while at least.

 Finally, he got to carve. He wanted to carve a Mickey Mouse pumpkin so we just went as basic as possibly so he could help out doing it. I drew it on there and then let Seth at it. I helped him along the way, but he actually did a lot of it on his own. He was pretty proud of his pumpkin.

 Here is the finished product. Nick did the Mario on the left, She's Mickey Mouse and I did the Hello Kitty one ... I know, you're all in shock!

 It was a success and Seth was getting progressively more and more excited to go trick-or-treating and have his Halloween party at school the next day.

 The school party started out with a parade with all the kids. Because of the weather they ended up walking around the gym in the school instead of outside. Last year we were outside freezing, so I was a big fan of the change indoors. She was on cloud 9 ... except he was also pretty MAD at me a few minutes before, because I forgot to bring him a mustache for his costume. I left it on the counter and just plain forgot to grab it on the way out the door. It took some convincing, but I finally made him realize he was just as Mario-ish with out and that no one would notice!

 Here is his whole class ... kind of. That's about as good of a picture as I could get of all of them.

 Finally, that night we were ready to go trick-or-treating! The kids took great naps that day so I was excited that we all would be prepared for the evening. We went over to our friends house to trick-or-treat with them. I always trick-or-treated in a group of friends, and I think it's more fun. We also wanted to opt for a safer neighborhood than ours. Nick had class till late and the kids and I were on our own. 

Shelby girl was so excited once we got her costume on ... she didn't quite know what was going on, but she was ready and excited!

 Seth was all about it. The boys were dying for us to let them go ... it was torture that we had to wait a few minutes!

 Speaking of torture, being in their costumes ready to go and having to wait for the moms to snap pictures was the worst of all ..."Can we go yet!???? Other people are already going ... we need to hurry!"

 Proof that I was there ...

 Seth's and his little friend Jacob had a blast together. They were soooo excited it was adorable.

 After getting candy from a house they would run to the next house chanting ..."Next, Stop ... Trick-or-Treat!" over and over again till they were at the next house. Seth randomly came up with it and then the other kids followed along. They were having the best time ever, I'm pretty sure!

 Shelby rode in the double stroller with her little buddy Adaline. They were pretty cute all cozy in there. Eventually, Shelby realized that she was getting a little jipped on the fun. So, I ended up carrying her up to the front doors. When she got there she would reach out for candy and when they handed it to her she would just crack up. It was hilarious. Everyone got the biggest laugh out of her. I think her tiredness was beginning to set in.

 Tink was pretty proud of her candy hall ... and was cracking us all up carrying her pumpkin around.

 We headed home and stopped by Nick's school to surprise him when he was out of class. He was excited to see the kids in their costumes and so were his school friends. Once we were home, Seth was dying to dump all his candy out and check it out.

The kids had fun and we really enjoyed Halloween this year. He did lots of fun activities throughout the month to get in the festive mood and the kids LOVED it! Although, last minute Seth did say he wanted to change his costume to be MITT ROMNEY, we were happy with Mario and Tink. Don't worry because Seth is already talking about what he wants to be next year! 

Trunk-Or-Treat

This past weekend was pretty crazy and I was a GIANT BALL of STRESS! I planned our church Halloween Party and it turned out to be so much fun with tons of people there, but getting to that point was a bit crazy. Lets just say that before the weekend was over I ended up with hours of stressing over the party and setting it all up, sore muscles as a result, a minor fender bender, broken Coach sunglasses and a minor nervous break down. But, hey we looked good in our Halloween gear and had a fun time at our party!

Seth has been excited for months about being Mario for Halloween. I think we did a pretty good job. He was excited and bounced around making Nintendo sounds and singing the Mario Brothers songs.

 We also had ourselves a little tiny Tinkerbell. She LOVES her tutu and gets really excited to be in her outfit. However, after about 30 minutes (or less) in the wings, they aren't fun anymore. Unless she's looking at herself in the mirror, which for this little girl never gets old! So the wings tend to come and go. But, how cute are they?

 The sparkly shoes didn't make it out yet, I think they are only going to last for one use, so I'm saving them for the real deal!

 She's really into making everyone laugh lately, and despite being used to it, the finger in the nose gets us all every time. So, it's an oldy but a goody for her!

 Here we all are. I dressed up like Joan Holloway from Mad Men ... it was fun, but no, most people at church didn't know who I was supposed to be. (other than being some type of a period costume) Whatever, I was excited and had fun!

 Here we are at the party ... Nick went all out and dressed as a poll observer. Being in Ohio a few weeks before election day, he thought he was clever.

 We had the cutest cake walk ever. My friend from church made these adorable little cakes! Seth actually won one and was SUPER EXCITED about it!

 Shelby helped out in the trunk-or-treat part of the evening. She got a kick out of handing out candy to the kids.

 When we got home Seth asked me to take a picture of him with his bag of candy, so there you have it!

It was a crazy weekend, but it all ended up fine. We had a good showing of people and it seemed like everyone thought it was a fun time. Dressing up, is always fun so it was a success in the end! I can't believe it's already Halloween!

Preschool Pumpkin Night

Last week Seth had his preschool Pumpkin Night. They brought a little pumpkin and got to decorate it with a lot of crazy things.

 Seth's buddy Madalynn had fun with him. They teamed up with each other and were so cute and giggly for the evening. 

 Here is Seth with his pile of creative things to use on him pumpkin.

 He was concentrating very hard on making his pumpkin cool and silly.

 speaking of silly ...

 Check this thing out ... I bet you've never seen a pumpkin quite like this one.

 The next morning, Grandpa Dan headed out and we were sad to see him go. It was nice to have another set of hands around helping me out with these kiddos. Nick and I were so grateful to get a day trip to the football game together AND a date night while he was in town. He was also a great dish washer! We miss him already and we're hoping next time he'll bring grandma Lisa along with him.

Go Cougars!

When we first found out we were moving here, to Toledo, Nick looked up the BYU schedule and immediately decided we were going to go to the BYU v. Notre Dame football game in 2012. Well, here is 2012 and what do you know .... we made it to the game! We went with my cousin Aubrey and our friend Allison. They flew in and had a blast over a fun weekend. Looks how cute these BYU girls are.

 Shelby's face in this picture is hilarious! I can't stop laughing about it. Seth and Shelby were excited to see Aubrey and have fun with the girls for the weekend.

 Since Grandpa Dan was in town we got to go to South Bend and watch the game WITH OUT OUR KIDS! As much as I LOVE LOVE LOVE them, it was pretty awesome to have an entire day where I didn't have to worry or stress about what they were doing. It was so much fun. Not to mention Nick and I never get to spend more than an hour or two by ourselves, so that was great too! We got all ready for the game and headed out after grandpa Dan took us all out for a fun breakfast. 

Aubrey even brought flags for her car = awesome!

 We got there early in the day and headed to the College Football Hall of Fame. I didn't know what to expect, but it was actually a blast! We took goofy pictures and got to do some fun interactive games. There was a Notre Dame football trivia game and I bet you can't guess who pulled off the win .... YES it was ME! Shocker ....I know, even to me! We had a bunch of fun and probably could have stayed longer.

 Once we found parking we headed right for TOUCHDOWN JESUS! It was amazing and Nick and I snapped our picture.

 The game was so much fun. The weather wasn't bad at all (bonus points, because I tend to whine and sometimes even cry when it's too cold ... I know, I'm ridiculous!) We went into it thinking we would loose by at least 30, so the holding the lead for most of the game and ending up with a 17-14 loose to the Fighting Irish wasn't too shabby.

 Best and worst things about this stadium are right here in this picture. Best thing - Touchdown Jesus, I mean it's pretty amazing! Worst thing - their "Mini-tron" as I called it. With all the money their tuition costs I feel like they should invest in a jumbo tron. We couldn't see the controversial replays and could barely even read anything off the score board at all. (first world problems, I know)

 The band did a pretty sweet half time. They played back to the future songs and eventually formed the iconic DeLorean and they even had people with fire extinguishers like the smoke coming out of the back ... it was pretty cool! I barely got my camera out in time, so most of the smoke is already gone.

 Fun times with these lovely ladies!

 Nick and I enjoyed a time when we were young and in love and attended all the BYU football, basketball, and misc. other sporting events together. It was a fun relaxing day with out our critters. Although, on the way home I did admit I missed putting them to bed that night ... cheesy, sure, but I don't care.

 Nick also got a few minutes to chat with his friend Ryan, it was fun to run into him!

Ra, ra, ra, ra, ra GOOOOOOO.....Cougars!

We Mustache You A Question

Seth and Shelby "MUSTACHE" you a Question ...

In the Halloween section at target there was a package of mustaches that I couldn't resist. We've been having a lot of fun with them around here.

 Shelby surprisingly LOVED hers. She didn't want me to take it off.

 Grandpa Dan visited us for the last few weeks and we had so much fun with him. We visited the pumpkin farm to pick out our Halloween carving pumpkins. Seth got to pet the bunnies and even hold one. He was so so excited about it.

 The kids were cracking up in the pumpkins. They got the giggles and couldn't get rid of them.

 I'm not gonna lie, my little pumpkins are the best!

 Look at that smile!

 Shelby also thought it was hilarious that we sat her on a big pumpkin. She was having the best time ever at the farm.

 This is as good of a picture as I could get of the two of them. For some reason grandpa Dan didn't end up in any of these pictures? Neither did me or Nick? It started to get pretty windy and cold so we headed out a bit sooner than we planned on. Shelby also started getting so tired she couldn't walk more than 2 steps with out falling over. Quite comical ... such a fun day!