Halloween Fun

This Halloween season seemed to fly by! 

The kids and I had fun decorating the yard.

On Halloween, we carved out pumpkins with Grammie.

Then we got dressed in our costumes for trick-or-treating.

The kids had SO much fun trick-or-treating with our neighbors. We went to the haunted houses down the street and they came home with SO much candy! It was a perfect night. 

Trick or Treat & Back to School Take 2

Hey y'all. It's November and you know what that means... Hallmark movies and Christmas carols are finding themselves a space up in here! Let's recap a little Halloween shall we? 

Leading up to the big day, Emmerson's crafting reached new levels thanks to art hub for kids. 

Put this child in a room with paper and markers, glue or tape and she is one happy camper. 

On Friday night, Halloween Eve, our cousins came over for our own festive celebration. This Halloween was obviously different as our county put restrictions on Trick or Treating or large gatherings. But we still made it the very best we could!

How cute are they? They were soooo happy to be together. 

Mom whipped up some Pinteresty goodness. 

And Gram donned her cute little pumpkin costume. 

We played games. 

Emmerson and Gram made a pin the nose on the jack-o-lantern game outside. 

And candy, lots of candy!

Jonathan and Jill spent the night at my Mom and Dad's and the girls stayed here with us. I was SO tired after a long work week that I am pretty sure I fell asleep before the kids did. 

Halloween was on a Saturday this year. We had a very relaxed morning and day. 

In the afternoon we started to get dressed in our costumes. Emmerson was a 50's girl in her poodle skirt. (She called herself an American Girl doll after seeing one dresses similarly in a catalogue). 

Taylor was an adorable little pumpkin this year. 

Like her best buddy, Gram. 

And Donovan was a creepy mask that he saw on Amazon. So long years of Mickey Mouse and baseball players. Waaaa! He was very proud of his spooky look. 

Even mom got in on the fun this year!

The evening was very mellow. We set up the movie screen out front and watched Hocus Pocus with a few neighbors. It was nice sitting out front and chatting with neighbors as they walked by. The kids never once complained that couldn't trick or treat. It seems that we have all grown accustomed to the new normals of a pandemic. But all in all it was a very mellow and fun Halloween. 

On Sunday we did a little family walk at a local park that we hadn't been to in a long time. It felt so good to be out of the house, away from work, and enjoying some gorgeous scenery. 

Sunday night we had our usual family supper and Dad and I wrapped up a book study we had been doing online with church for the past 5 weeks. 

Then the work week began and students were officially welcomed back for the first time in 8 months. 

It's still a work in progress and we're all adjusting. It was so sweet seeing the students in person finally. The class is split into two halves. Monday we meet online altogether. Then Tuesday and Thursday I meet with "Cohort A" and Wednesday and Friday I meet with "Cohort B." It's sweet having Emmerson back at school with me a few days a week and Donovan will start next week. There are so many limitations teaching this way, but we're making it work and for now, just happy to have some normalcy away from the screen. 

Emmerson has still been happily crafting with a little group of friends at the park on her stay at home days. 

And Donovan has loved playing with his buddies on his stay at home days which sadly will come to an end for him as his two besties are in the opposite cohort from him. Boo!

And now... it's November and we are counting down the days until our Thanksgiving break. Grammie flew home today after being with us for a whole month. She will be missed so much in these weeks leading up to our trip up north to see her again. 

Giving thanks today for election results, restored hope, and a cold, blustery weekend that feels perfectly festive for welcoming the holiday season. 

Cheers to you and yours. 

 

October Wrap Up

Checking in with an update for the last few weeks. 

The week before Halloween was pretty much sports, sports, and more sports. The bigs both had soccer games on one of the hottest days ever and Donovan also competed in a baseball tournament. 

We spent the majority of the weekend at the baseball field. 

Donovan is so lucky to have such patient sisters and incredible grandparents that cheer him on at every single game. 

The third little girl is our good friend's daughter. The Powell family conveniently have a son Donovan's age and two girls Emmerson and Taylor's age. They are all inseparable at all of the sporting events. 

Tay and Charlotte. You can barely tell them apart. They are both starting to speak in sentences right now. It is too cute listening to their conversations. 

Charlotte: "Tay-wer, what you gone be fo Hawoween?"

Taylor: "I am Eltha for Hawoween. What you gone be for Hawoween?" 

Charlotte: "I like be a pi-wat for Hawoween." 

On Monday, all the boys in Donovan's class who participated in the tournament, proudly wore their tourney shirts. 

Random picture, but Emmerson has been amazing me with her reading lately. She is reading so much and has so much to share about what she's learning. This week she was all about the differences between moths and butterflies. 

This one. She just rules the show around here. She has been keeping us up a lot at night and is always up by 5 in the morning. Girlfriend is completely potty trained now and is even wearing her undies to bed at night! See ya- diapers! 

 Now onto some Halloween goodness. We had a fun school night visit to my favorite festive Halloween houses in town. We usually go in the day time, so the night time walk made them extra spooky. I took so many pictures but they really don't do them justice. These homes are simply amazing!

 And then, the day before Halloween, we did pumpkin carving. 

 And then in was finally Halloween! The girls were so sweet and chose the simplest costumes straight out of our dress up bins this year. They loved putting on a little blush and lipstick and had the biggest smiles when they looked at themselves in the mirror. 

Donovan was all about his football costume this year. 

 Our neighborhood bestie, Ella came to trick or treat with us. 

 And the world's best grandparents all joined us for the festivities, too. 

 This was our first year trick or treating without a stroller. The kids did great! We even went a little further than usual and they never complained. When Taylor was finally done, she told Dustin she wanted to go to bed. I went to a few more houses with the bigs and then we met them at home. 

 Time to dump out the goodies and sort. 

 Look at these sugar crazy eyes!

The grandparents helped us count all of the candy and then the kids reluctantly headed to bed. It was honestly one of the best Halloweens I can remember! The kids had a blast and we loved our times with neighborhood friends. 

Now onto November! Confession, I may have fallen asleep watching Hallmark Christmas movies last night. Tis' the season, right?