Halloween Projects

The week before Halloween Hannah had Thursday and Friday off of school for fall break. 

We did some Halloween crafts.

The kids decorated some cookies, but they got nibbled and licked and I forgot to take pictures. These were the last ones sitting before I dumped them in the trash days later. 

So wasteful!

We did carve pumpkins on Halloween (well on the 30th) but we are slacker parents and didn't get pictures of the process or the end results.

Chester's Party Barn

On Saturday morning we headed over to Piedmont Oklahoma to go to Chester's Party Barn. 

(Why you would name this place after a clown named Chester, I'm not sure.)

Surprisingly Milo was willing to feed the animals, but not Hannah....

We took a cold and windy hayride over to the corn and wood mazes, and the BIG Slide....

Yeah, they had pumpkins, but due to our procrastination the selection was a little slim. 

We were all a little cold, grumpy and ready to head home.... we were Party'd out! 

But how cute are these little monsters of mine??

I'd like to find a Pumpkin Patch to go to next year. Anyone know of one here??

Storybook Forest

We heard about The Storybook Forest a couple of years ago, but I always seem to forget about it until it's too late to go. This year I was reminded and we went. You wander through the forest on a path and come to little stops with props and stories. The kids could trick-or-treat their way through the forest.

At the end of the path there was a clearing where there were some games to play and a hayride to go on.

 

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The kids had a good time, but if I'm being honest...we aren't sure if it's something we would do again. 

Manna...almost

Four words: Sourdough jalapeño cheese bread. Easy to make, and even more delicious to the taste.

Witches Brew

The last couple of years I have been looking for fun things to start doing as holiday traditions. My SIL, Mandi, has told me about a tradition her mom did with them while growing up... Witches Brew! I loved the idea, it seemed so fun and festive. So last night we made up some root beer complete with dry ice and spiders. It was an even bigger hit than I thought. I even went as far as to steal the chili and scone dinner.

As you can see, the kids loved it, and Hannah asked if we could do it every Halloween.

Not sure if we will keep calling it Witches Brew, Milo started calling it Monster Potion. I'm not sure if it's because we had Monster Mash playing in the background, but it got me thinking of some fun things for next
year!

P.S.
Witches Brew
3 cups sugar (or less)
1 1/2 gallons water
1/2 bottle (2 Tbs) Root Beer Extract
2-3 lbs dry ice
Spiders, of the plastic variety (optional)

Stir sugar into water until dissolved. Stir in extract. Add dry ice. Let kids be entertained for a bit while it bubbles and brews.

Tips... or things we learned.
It doesn't have to be warm water, ours was and it melted the dry ice a little quicker than we would have liked.
You can use less sugar, after you add the extract taste and decide if you want more. I will do less next time.

Saturdays

It's Saturday... I love Saturdays, they are always spent with my little family (can I still call my family little now that there are five of us?) Saturdays are yard work days, clean out the garage, start or finish a project days. Saturdays involve trips to Home Depot, running errands that I hate doing alone with the kids, playing outside (if the weather is nice.) If there isn't a project we are doing or wanting to do, we try to find something fun to do together. We don't necessarily do or go anywhere special, but it's usually together.

I know that not everyone gets the same sort of Saturday. In the last few months I've had friends mention something during conversations that have given me a glimpse into their Saturdays... And they are nothing like mine. It has left me wondering what does everyone else do with their Saturday?

The Black Eye & The Happy Girl

Here is the eye today... The swelling has gone down.

On Monday morning as I was trying to get ready to take the kids to the doctor Vivien followed me into the bathroom, but with newly found walking-legs she is quite wobbly, and she fell. I am not sure what she hit, the wall, the corner, or this odd little threshold on our furnace room door. All I saw was the little scratch & the quickly swelling bump under it. I had no idea she was going to wake up the next morning with a black eye. I have a feeling this little girl will be covered in bumps & bruises for awhile. Ever since she started walking, she has decided to do more climbing. She drags and pushes stools and chairs all around the house to get up on higher surfaces. Example: The stool to the toilet seat, to the toilet tank. YIKES!!

But look how happy she is...

She has entered the cheesy grin stage and knows all about smiling for the camera.

I LOVE IT!!

She Faught the Wall...

And

the

Wall

Won!

Fall is Here

The weather has been delightful the last couple of weeks and we are spending lots of time outside.
By the end of the day there are  lots of dirty little faces, hands, and feet that needs scrubbing.
I LOVE IT!

Three

Milo turned 3 at the end of the month... how can that be!?!

He started his day with a breakfast so far from healthy that I decided not to photograph it.

He had a great birthday and was loving all of his presents!
Hannah was a real trooper watching him open his presents and refusing to share.

Not sure how many candles we ended up lighting that day for him to blow out, but it was quite a few.

His dinner request was "MEAT!" so we headed to Texas Roadhouse.
We love our crazy little Milo!