Lost Posts of 2016: Halloween

Well...it has been WAY too long since I last blogged!

I would like to blame the holidays, 

a crazy almost 2 year old who keeps me on my toes,

and the fact that we worked right up until Christmas Eve...

which meant I had to squeeze everything 

into every minute of each weekend.

So...why don't I just move on and forget about it?

Because I can't.

Nope.

The "Type A" me has to share what I am calling,

"Lost Posts of 2016."

They are the things we did,

memories with friends or family,

that up until now...

only live in my phone and computer.

So, before I move on to all things

Christmas and New Years related...

here is Halloween. :)

This year our friends Brian and Kelly hosted

our annual Halloween Bash.

Since it was an adults only party

I didn't have to worry about making

all four of us coordinate.

I have always loved the colorful

sugar skulls that are associated with 

Dia de Los Muertos

and felt that this was the perfect blend for Chad and I.

Scary and gothic for him...

fancy, frilly, flowers, and detail oriented for me.

Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of all

of the couples...but here is who I got.

Dorothy and Dave..

who still has their PE clothes...and can still wear them?

Frank and Sheri...

characters from the movie 5th Element

Jake...

in all of his glory

The girls...

notice sweet little, itty-bitty Eloise?

The guys...

I LOVED Jeff and Deborah's costumes.

They were Ice, Ice, Baby. :)

Fast forward to Halloween Night...

Landry had decided back in August that

he wanted to be Peter Pan...

after I refused to make him a giraffe costume. ;)

I've done an elephant and a zebra...

I had to draw the line at giraffe.

The minute he said Peter Pan

I was SOOOOO excited because I knew:

1. He would be the cutest Peter Pan.

2. Lexie would be the CUTEST Tinker Bell

3. These would be super easy costumes to make.

Aren't they the cutest?

Our little trick-or-treaters!

Lexie was ALL about it!

She would have gone to every house

in the neighborhood.

Landry on the other hand...

he was ready to stop after about 6 houses.

I would like to "thank" the lovely person down

the street who likes to scare the kids. :(

All in all...Halloween was a success!

Check back for more "Lost Posts of 2016."

For a look back at our past Halloween costumes,

click HERE!

***Oh...and can I just add that my last post,

about the school board election,

got just under 1700 views!!!! 

That is absolutely

crazy for this little blog of mine! 

As a comparison, my next highest viewed

post only received 260 views. Ha!

So, "thank you" to everyone who shared my post. :)

Carving Time!

Since the beginning of October,

when we went to Avila and got our pumpkins,

Landry has been BEGGING to carve them.

I kept telling him that we needed to

wait until it was closer to Halloween.

He was so excited that today was the day.

Remember that kid who used to HATE the

goop, seeds, and slime.?

Yup...not so much anymore!

Here is our carving supervisor.

She looks like she is waiting so patiently.

She was...for a while. ;)

This was the first year that Landry did 

his pumpkin all by himself!

I cut the lid...and helped him clean

the last little bits...but he did the rest himself.

Remember our supervisor...

who WAS waiting so patiently?

Well...surprise, surprise...

those patience ran out. :)

She REALLY wanted to get in on

the carving action.

Since her pumpkin was so small...

and clearly she wouldn't be able to carve it,

I decided to give her some markers

and let her have a go at it.

You can see that Landry gave her

a big "thumbs up!"

Decorating your pumpkin is

very serious business.

Lexie's finished work of art!

She quickly went from coloring her pumpkin...

to coloring on the table!

This is how she felt when I put a stop to that.

Notice the marker on her face. ;)

And there was just a LITTLE

marker on her hands.

Landry is so proud of his pumpkin!

Here are our three jack-o-lanterns

all ready for Halloween!

Avila Valley Barn

Two weeks ago we made our yearly fall trip

to the adorable

Avila Valley Barn!

Every year my mom, sister,

the kids and I load up the car,

and head to Avila for the day.

Lexie wasn't quite sure what to do with

all of the pumpkins at first.

She definitely wasn't in the mood

for sitting on a hay bale for a picture.

But what she was in the mood for was...

anything to do with the animals!

If you have never been, or don't know,

the Avila Valley Barn has farm animals that

you can feed.

Lexie LOVES it!

Here is a link to a video of her 

and the goats.

For some reason I couldn't

post the video here.

Annoyed. ;)

Lexie loves goats!

I wish I could get the shot of her face 

in this picture...because it was pure joy!

Landry decided he needed a snack to. :)

After the goats, we made our way to the sheep...

and then the cow.

Come here Mr. Cow!

Once again...no fear...

she loved the cow!

She has just as much love

for the cow as she does the goats.

Watch it here...

Lexie feeding the cow!

Every other time she fed him,

she squealed with delight after.

The minute she saw me filming her,

she's cool as a cucumber.

You can't go to the barn

without getting some yummy roasted corn!

It is easy to see that these two

are pretty crazy about each other. :)

We took some fun pictures

while waiting for the hay ride.

Landry loves this tractor!

This year Lexie wanted to get 

in on the action.

Of course she had a snack with her!

Next up...hay ride!

Each year the hay ride has been a bit different.

The two years they would drop you off and you 

could pick a pumpkin off the vine,

last year they didn't drop you off,

and this year,

they dropped you off in an area 

where the pumpkins were already set-up. 

Lexie wasn't sure what do with

all of the pumpkins.

Landry quickly found the perfect one.

After the hay ride we chose our

pumpkins from the wide variety

that they always have.

Here are our picks!

11 pumpkins for $40...

pretty good deal if you ask me. :)