Trick or Treat Time!

 Halloween is finally here! The kids put on their costumes once more.

 Off we went! We headed downhill with the stroller and starting visiting houses.  Our neighbors are all sooo nice.  They gave out so much candy since our neighborhood is quite a hike to tromp around door to door. But the kiddos were troopers!

 Well actually I was worried. This was Charlotte after the first house.  Out of nowhere she says, "I just don't know about this" with that look on her face.  I rolled down the hill laughing.  RDHL.  I like that.  Better than ROFL.  Ha!

 But seriously the kids were totally amazing.  After every single house, Charlotte would turn to us and say, "I GOT MORE CANDY!!!" It was a surprise every time.  What a joy.  And Tommy was so polite.  Remembered to say 'thank you' and 'Happy Halloween!' Loved it.  We had so much fun.

 They brought home quite a haul. Look at all that candy.  Because our neighborhood is so spread out, we only visited less than 20 houses.  One house was one we didn't even know existed! There was another road that led out of one of the cul de sacs in the neighborhood and it went up another hill to 4 more castle sized houses.  Crazy! The one house we visited in the secret side neighborhood gave out an entire bag of candy.  Sweet!!

 We normally like to hand out candy to trick or treaters because we don't usually get that many.  But the kids wanted to get the full trick or treating experience so I just filled a bucket and put a sign on it.  There was actually candy left in the bucket when we got back!! I couldn't believe it!!

 Andrew was nice enough to take a picture of us after coming home.  Sidenote: that Frankenstein mask was a dollar.  Best costume ever! What a wonderful Halloween.  My favorite holiday is now complete so we can officially start listening to Christmas music now.  Although Christmas books are never out of season at our house. 
Happy Halloween!

Halloween Trick Or Treat 2015

 I almost thought we were going to have to get two Captain America costumes for Halloween!

 But alas, no, she still wanted to be 'Rora when the time came. 

 The kids were SO ready.  They LOVE candy so all they wanted to do all day was to go trick or treating.  Look at little Miss Charlotte with her huge ball gown stuffed into her pumpkin carriage stroller.  Too cute.  Also, notice the crowns from her party came in handy tonight.  She actually wore it! She rarely will wear anything on her head.  But the crown was okay tonight for some reason.

 Tommy walked almost the entire time (until it started raining).  He loved going up and ringing the doorbell.  He would ask at every single house, "Does this house have a dog?"  Still terrified of dogs, they both are.  Charlotte pet one dog tonight but Tommy wanted nothing to do with any of the dogs.  Poor kiddo.  But every house, even with a dog, was so worth it to get that candy.

At one house, as the lady opened the door, I said, "What do you say?" meaning say trick or treat.  Tommy goes, "I like your house."  She said, "Well, you'll be getting a lot of candy tonight."  Haha!

Also, one more side story, Tommy really got into character.  He was talking about how he defeated red skull in World War II.  "That was a great battle, right?" Um, yeah, that was one BIG battle, Tommy. 

 Speaking of fears, Charlotte's greatest fear in her life right now is these two cats.  There is a house in our neighborhood that has these two inflatable cats in their yard.  Every time we drive by them, even during the day, Charlotte freaks out.  She screams and covered her eyes.  "I don't yike it! NO! No kiddy kats! NO!"  Poor baby! So of course we took her there to trick or treat.  But she did great.  Didn't even see them due to being on the other side in the stroller.  Phew!

 We made it to so many houses.  We only went to about 5 houses last year.  This year it was probably over 10.  They did so great, even in the rain.  What troopers! They got so much candy.  It was crazy.  It was about 85% chocolate.  Not good news for Tommy but good news for Tommy's teeth.  We will just have to hide the rest.  Or eat it.  Darn.

 After they had two pieces of candy, it was meltdown time.


Or dance time! They can feel the sugar pulsing through their veins!! Party time!!

It was an awesome Halloween.  The kids did so great. Plus they got loads of candy.  Halloween is the best! :)

The Newest Stage of Our Lives: Busy Weekends

For awhile, we were busy every weekend with wedding showers, bachelor/bachelorette parties, and weddings.  The next phase was babies, people having them, showering them, etc.  The next phase we have just recently achieved is the birthday party phase.  We've been attending the birthday parties of our friends kids but now we are constantly being invited to parties of Tommy's friends.

So the newest phase in our lives is birthday parties/sporting events.  I think we'll be in this stage for awhile.  

So what did we do this weekend? Kid stuff.  LOTS of kid stuff.

First event: Tommy's soccer game!

 We thought it was going to be 40 degrees.  We were extremely wrong.  It was 65 by the end of the game.  Tommy had on 3 fleece layers, gloves and a hood (I think we were over-prepared for even 40 degrees).  I had to force him to take them off because he thought he wouldn't be able to play well after he took them off.  He was a ball of sweat.  His hair was WET.  It was disgusting.

He definitely looked like the unibomber with his hood and purple Hawaiian sunglasses.  Poor kid.  He felt much better when we took off his layers.

One quick note, there was a bloody nose during the game. It was nasty.  Blood everyone.  Poor little girl on our team bashed her face into a girl's head on the other team.  Ye-ouch. She didn't freak out until she saw blood all over her hands.  Then when they finally stopped the blood, her mom told her she needed to sit out for the rest of the game.  She almost threw a fit because she wanted to get back in the game.  Tough little lady!

 I think Charlotte looks a little bored. Don't worry, Charlotte.  He only has one game left. :)

Charlotte is in this picture.  She is wearing her baby's blanket on her head in grandpa's lap.  No idea why.  Maybe it was too stinkin' hot! We overdressed her too.   Whoops.

 Then we raced home to eat and change and head out to a birthday party!

 This birthday party had a petting zoo!!

 It was also a Minecraft theme.

 Birthday boy Owen and Tommy enjoyed playing with toys before he opened his actual presents.

 Then Tommy and Logan enjoyed teasing the girls in the playhouse.

 Then the kids would go and check out the animals again.  There were ducks, goats, a prairie dog, a pony, a donkey, rabbits, and a turtle.  It was pretty cool!

 But the swingset probably saw more action.

 Then it was time to open presents.  Tommy got Owen a Minecraft type sword.  I think he liked it.  But then he said it wasn't Minecraft so maybe he didn't.  Ha! Good thing there's such a thing as gift receipts! :)

I loved the candy bar set up.  Each of the Minecraft thingies (I know nothing about Minecraft) had a candy in the cup that represented it.  Cute! Gummy fish for the fish, rolos for gold, pretzels for sticks, it was very pinteresting!

On Sunday, we decided to head to Fair Oaks Farms for their new annual celebration "Cowtober".  They had trick or treating so we dressed up the kids and took them to the farm.

 Charlotte decided she wanted to wear her Aurora dress with her Elsa shirt under it.

 Tommy will not budge on wearing anything other than his Captain America costume.  Doesn't he look giant in this picture????

 Charlotte changed her mind before we got to the dairy and went with Elsa.  She can't 'let it go' either.  Groan. :)

 There were many Captain Americas and Elsas but these two were definitely the cutest.

 Especially those pink wellies she picked out to go with her dress.

 Cowtober was super fun! They had a bounce house and the kids could have stayed all day in that bounce house.  It was a monster with inflatable teeth inside.  Fun!

 After Charlotte fell out of the bounce house (don't worry, she was fine), we convinced them to leave to go on a wagon ride.

The wagon ride was fun! They took us through the new apple orchard and raspberries/blackberries expansion. 
 

 They also took us by the new chicken coop expansion.  Chickens freak me out!!!! They are little scary dinosaurs and I am not a fan.  We pulled up and as soon as the tractor was off you could hear the chickens singing this eerie tune.  It was soooo creepy!  If someone made a horror movie about chickens, I would never sleep again.

They're trying to get me! Piling their bodies up against the gate! AAAHHH!! They're like zombies.  Ok ok, they're not that bad.  They are incredibly fascinating.  Crazy chickens. 

Charlotte's highlight of the weekend was riding a pony.  She had DECIDED.  She was going to ride a pony and she stood there, nearly tapping her foot until Mom made it happen.  Doesn't she look elegant with the sun shining in her hair and her dress and cape in the wind.  :-)

I took a quick video of the pony ride.  Right after he asked if she could sing the song from Frozen (when the video cuts off), she pushed the button on her dress.  Why would she sing it when her dress can do it for her?? HA!

We went on the tour of the dairy.  This part is also fascinating. We saw a couple cows refuse to get off the carousel when they were supposed to.  They were definitely enjoying the ride. 

The kids went on their own cow carousel when we got back from the tour.

Then we watched the 3-D movie.  Charlotte was terrified.  It was actually 4-D I guess? They had water squirting and vibrating chairs.  She was NOT pleased.

We got a family picture for Cowtober.  The kids had a really great time going to the dairy for the first time.  I can't believe this is the first time!

 After the dairy, we went to the real farm.  Grandpa was cutting beans! A lot of this field had drowned out so he wouldn't let me take pictures of the yield monitor. 

 Charlotte was terrified of the combine at first.  But she quickly came around and realized she loved it!

Grandpa even saved two of his Oreos for the kids in case we had time to ride with him! They were so excited.  Charlotte also enjoyed pointing at Grandpa's hand and saying EWWWWWWW like 10 times because his hands were dirty from working on the combine.  Ok we get it Charlotte.  :)

We got a family picture selfie in the combine and it is now one of my all-time favorites.  I can't believe the kids are actually smiling for a picture! Awesome!

We didn't get home until 9 that night and the kids didn't nap that day. Yikes!  It was a SUPER busy weekend.  But it was totally worth it.  We had so much fun!

First extremely busy weekend of many! Here we go into this new stage of life. ;)