Halloween 2016

I have never claimed to be awesome at Halloween. In fact, I fear it is quite the opposite.

Despite Jared's best efforts, I have hardly taken to this holiday.

We did put a few things out front this year, but we brought them in because of Hurricane Matthew. Surprise, surprise, they NEVER went back up! 

I always think this will be the year that I buy costumes and treat bags and go all out with decorations. Then it is time to do all that and I think about how much that all costs and I just can't justify spending my money on things that are going to get ruined, eaten, or that I have to find a place to store 11 months out of the year.

You may call me a Booge, and you would be correct.

Once again, my children picked their costumes out of our dress up bin 10 minutes before we left the house. They carried reusable shopping bags to collect candy.

 I did, however, get a pumpkin to be carved,  

 purchase cute Halloween glasses for the children,

and manage to arrange to be with friends for festivities! 

Yoda (I did go as far as borrowing this from a friend!)

Ninjago (3rd year in a row)

Elsa 

Storm Trooper (2nd year in a row)

Jedi Knight

All in all, we had fun and I didn't have to sacrifice my sleep or get carpal tunnel from using a glue gun! Plus, as a friend pointed out, I have a fun house that I had this many costumes to choose from in the first place!

Halloween 2015

I did manage to make Halloween fun despite my lack of creativity.  Here are the photos to prove it.

This year we were so busy that we didn't carve our pumpkins until Halloween Day! It was actually really fun to do them on Halloween. Grayson, Landon, and Jared did most of the work. Ethan was too busy keeping his nose in a book.

We did decorate inside with paper decorations that we've made over the years.  I definitely need to get some outside decorations for next year.  We really were not keeping up with our fun neighbors this year.  Aunt Teresa did make me this beautiful fall wreath. Which, weirdly, makes me feel like I've got it all together.  

Trick or Treat! 

We took Batman, Minnie Mouse, The Great Pumpkin, Ninjago, and a Stormtrooper out trick or treating.  My parents were actually here for the day and we loved having them with us this  year. Our new neighborhood is all about Halloween and the children really made out in the candy department.

The Great Pumpkin fell asleep due to all the excitement. A little sad that he's my last little pumpkin.  

Pumpkin Patch

I may HATE Halloween, but I LOVE our annual trip to the pumpkin patch.The kids run around in pure joy and cater to me for my need of cute pictures. Cuteness overload last night, as always.

Just a little sad because Weston will be the last baby to wear this little pumpkin costume. Very happy that it fit him. He is the largest and youngest to wear it. Also very proud that I dressed every baby as a pumpkin for their first Halloween. :)

Exploring our new town

The closest cities to us are Mount Dora and Sanford. I head over to Sanford every few weeks to do big grocery shopping. I even take a cooler so that I can get cold/frozen items home before they spoil. That may seem like a hassle to some, but I love it! It means there are horses and cows all over the place. It means people let you cross the street without a fuss.It means there's only one stoplight between me and church, school, and a handful of other places we need to go.  We went into Mount Dora to explore last week. Here are some of our photos!

Gazing out on Lake Dora

Welcome to the Port of Mount Dora

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." Mark Twain

Well said, Mr. Twain!

Trying to skip rocks on the lake.

Little lighthouse at Lake Dora. Apparently the lighthouse is a big deal around here. I was definitely expecting more since I grew up in St. Augustine with an impressive lighthouse. This is more like a statue than an actual lighthouse. But, it is still cute and fun.

Beautiful animals, birds, and scenery pretty much everywhere.

Great playground right by the lake. I thought it was hilarious that this gator has blood dripping from every tooth. Haha.

Oh, and this cutie is now 3 months old!

Halloween Lasts All Month

If you know me very well,  you know I don't especially love Halloween. However, my dear husband, LOVES Halloween. Decorations went up in the house and outside of the house on the first of October and he has been coordinating Halloween events all month. Here are photos from a few of the things we have been up to. Oh, and a video at the end.

The Preschool hosts a dinner in the Pumpkin Patch each year and I love this event. It is probably my favorite Halloween activity. The school provides dinner and entertainment, we enjoy the children and pick out our pumpkin at the patch. It's so fun and low key and just perfect. I even got a perfect photo of my four little pumpkins. 

Ethan is a knight for Halloween. It is the perfect costume for him because he is brave and handsome and kind in real life just like a knight.

Miriam is a cheerleader and we almost can't stand how cute she is.

Halloween Spooktackular Trick or Treating at Sea World. 

Our cousins went with us to the Spooktacular. Here we are before we left. 

Clone Trooper (Grayson), Ninjago (Landon), Cheerleader (Miriam), Knight (Ethan), Snow White (Lyla), and Construction Worker (Logan).

Halloween 2013

This is going to be a long post, so hang in there. Halloween seemed to last all week. We definitely have a Halloween Hangover!
We started our week with the annual pumpkin carving. I also made graham crackers and the boys decorated them with icing and sprinkles. They were extra yummy with the extra sugar.

 
 

 

The next day was Ethan's birthday so we took a break from Halloween, but not from sugar! Seriously, I think our teeth are going to fall out.

He got a Nerf gun and a Lego set.

 

On Halloween we had a crazy day. Trying to be a great, fun mom to all my children, I definitely overscheduled myself. My legs feel wobbly today because I was on my feet all day long. We left the house at 8:15 AM and didn't get home until 8:45 PM.  We did stop by the house twice to cook corn dog muffins for Grayson's party, about 45 minutes and to feed Miriam, about 30 minutes. Surprisingly, everyone held it together. (Today is not going as great. The hangover is real and it is not pretty. Hahaha.)

Classroom party and Costume parade at Grayson's preschool. He had a blast. We played ghost bowling, musical pumpkins, Halloween bingo, made masks, read Where the Wild Things Are, and ate yummy snacks.

 

Then it was off to Ethan's school for his book character costume parade. Unfortunately on the stopover to feed Miriam, I left the camera at home. I did get a phone pic, but can't figure out how to put those up. Maybe Jared can help me out later and I'll get it up. He was a Teddy Bear and was super cute.

 

From school, we went to Ethan's 6 year old check up. Definitely poor planning on my part. Never again! Surviving that, we headed to Norb and Sabra's for the festivities. Uncle Jason and Aunt Myndie worked really hard to make Halloween extra special and they did not disappoint. Check out our gruesome treats!

 

 Deviled Eyes!

 Shrunken Head Cider!

 

 Zombie pudding cups and Cakepop Brains!

 Witches Brew!

 

Time for trick or treating!

 

 Landon is wet because he got in the sprinklers. I had to dry his costume in the dryer briefly before we headed out. Hearing him say "Darth Vader" is so cute!

 Ethan doing some amazing Batman poses!

 My sweet Cowboy. The vest Grayson is wearing was worn by Jared and all his brothers when they were little boys. Isn't that cool?

 Put some dry ice in the fountain. It was a highlight.

Made out with some major loot. One guy was giving away whole candy bars! We even ran into a couple friends from preschool that live in the neighborhood. It was a fun night. Happy Halloween to all!