October Madness

October is the craziest month of the year.  The only way I get through it is by pounding a huge Costco bag of candy and drinking lots of Diet Coke.

Here are the five major Halloween activities we have plowed through enjoyed:

First, Cornbelly's Fall Festival with the kids.  This place has grown exponentially over the last few years.  Moments after we got there, I was able to snap this picture (the money shot) of my kids:




Then it all went down hill.  Kids were crying, begging for dinner...the evening ended with me yelling at everyone to get in the damn car!   Just a funny side note...last year, my mom took my kids to Cornbelly's in the afternoon and they weren't open yet.  So my mom just took the kids out and they did all the activities anyway..for 2 HOURS!  A true Wally World experience.  Finally a worker came and told my mom they weren't open and my mom played dumb..."oh okay..we will leave right now!"  haha.

One more picture before it all went to Hell:

 

Second, the pumpkin patch.  My parents got invited to a shindig with donuts and hot chocolate at some random pumpkin patch in South Jordan.  My kids and I tagged along.  It was crazy but we got some cute pictures.  Then Buster melted down when I wouldn't allow him to eat a second donut.  I love this picture:

Third, the Ward Halloween party.  Luckily, my mom watched Buster for me because my sanity was at stake.  Sammie wanted us to be witches this year. I busted out some incredibly long silver eyelashes and black lipstick.  Once we got there, I felt more like streetwalker than a witch!

Fourth, I took my kids to our gym's Spooktacular.  It should have been called the Craptacular.  I got sucked in by the Monsters Inc theme and my little boys love Monsters Inc.  It was crowded (I hate crowds!) and there were lame activites (think fruit loop necklaces) and shizzy refreshments.  Boo!

Shockingly, my older kids liked it more than my younger ones:

Ryan doing the "pin the eye on Mike Wizowski"

The highlight of the whole thing for me was seeing this darling toddler dressed as Richard Simmons:

Fifth, I got up this morning and made Halloween cut-out cookies with my little guys.  I felt like mom of the year.  Check out Ry Ry's awesome bedhead:

I dressed up and helped at Ryan's preschool party today then I came home and packaged up the cookies--perfect end of the month visiting teaching..my M.O.:

I had planned to do Witches Night Out at Gardner Village and some other activities but some pretty serious Halloween fatigue started to set in at the end of last week. Now I am trying to rally for the school Halloween parties tomorrow and Trick or Treating tomorrow night.

Anyone else feeling the Halloween fatigue?

You Know It's Halloween...

when you are pulling through McD's for a huge Diet Coke before 8:00 in the morning.

Here's to all the moms putting on cheesy costumes and heading to school today to help with parties. We are good people.

*this morning when I told Ryan he couldn't have candy for breakfast, he told me to "keep an open mind." What the?

Happy Halloween Friends!

High Maintenance Halloween

I condensed Halloween this year all into one action-packed high-maintenance week. Here is what we did:

I took my kids to our ward Trunk or Treat: It was obscenely cold. I don't do cold. That is why I gave up skiing. We lasted thirty minutes and I called it quits.



It pains me to not have them coordinate in any way. Luckily, tomorrow I am helping at Sammie's Halloween party in a matching poodle girl outfit.

We made Halloween cut-out cookies:



I wore this get up to help at Ryan's Halloween party:



I know this is a recycled picture but trust me, I looked exactly the same this year. Ryan wanted to be a pirate for his preschool party (I forgot his sash):



I made freezer jam. This has nothing to do with Halloween but I have to brag about it. Forget the fact that it is easier than a batch of cookies. I feel so domestic making jam! I'm a homemaker for crying out loud!



I took my kids to our gym's Spooktacular. It was awesome. This year was a Harry Potter theme which thrilled Luke. Here he is with some dude dressed as Hagrid:



My gym doesn't do anything half-way. Here is part of the buffet table:



And live owl. I just loooove owls:



Luke and Sammie loved doing the climbing wall in costume:



Saturday afternoon, I took a much needed break and saw Footloose with Mandee.



I loved the original so I was surprised at how much I loved the new one as well. They do a good job of updating the original and yet keeping some of the things that made the original so good. And the new kid that plays Ren McCormick reminds me of Kevin Bacon. I may or may not have an inappropriate crush on him. Yes, I know I should be crushing on Dennis Quaid who plays Ariel's father. He is much closer to my same age. Bygones.

Back to Halloween.

Saturday evening, I hauled Luke's rotting pumpking back to the pumpkin patch and traded it for a new one. Then we carved pumpkins and by we, I mean Sam. Sam donned his orange shirt (way to be festive!) I sat in a big chair and looked at my ipad and yelled words of encouragement.



Check back for photos of Buster in his costume. On Saturday, I also found the world's best leggings...miracle magic pants I tell you. I will reveal them next week.

Happy Halloween Week!

Buster's face kind of describes my feelings about Halloween this year. In the past, I have hit Halloween hard. We started early and did pumpkin patches, barnyard boos, and every Halloween party on the planet. Not this year. I am taking it easy. We only have one week until Halloween and we are going to do a few things but it is certainly a departure from years past. See here and here and here.

I did get my kids in their Halloween shirts and took them to our local pumpkin patch (which is just a guy's house with a million pumpkins and they're cheap!) to take the obligatory photos. My kids understand that they don't lay a finger on a wagon or a pumpkin until they have posed for the photos:











Stay tuned for the trunk or treat, school Halloween parties, my gym's Harry Potter Spootacular and Halloween night. I'm glad we are condensing it this year and gettin 'er done!