Halloween 2024...

This was the year I finally got my wish.... no school the day after Halloween! 

It is always such a late night, that school the next morning is miserable! However, most all of the boy's friends (especially Remi's) had a football game that night, so it made things a bit tricky!  Roen started trick-or-treating early with his buddies that don't play football and then as the night went on others joined in on the fun and it kept growing and growing and growing! They really didn't want to dress up at all, so the going theme for this year was a black ski mask. I'm not sure any of Remi and his friends even trick-or-treated, but rather just house hopped! I think at one point I had like 30 kids running around doing everything from watching scary movies, playing hide-n-seek, playing ping pong and we even caught a little under the blanket snuggling! It was Halloween chaos!

This year, we didn't carve pumpkins, we didn't have an adult costume party and things were definitely different, but there was no shortage of fun... or children!

Trick-or-Treating...

For the first time in years, we didn't do a hayride for trick-or-treating. This was the year, that the boys were just too big. Last year, Remi was off with his friends and the minute we made our first stop, Roen and his friends hopped off never to get back on. So, we did our traditional chili dinner, invited anybody and everybody, and then set the kids off to gather candy to their hearts content. It actually made for a pretty fun evening, with us adults getting to stay inside, out of the cold and the kids getting to go along as they pleased. 

This one of those times where I am beyond grateful for the community we live in, where letting your kids out on their own is a safe option. Halloween night is by far, one of my most favorite nights of the year and a big part of that is our storybook community!

Halloween Party....

We love throwing a good adult halloween party! We don't necessarily do this evey year, but I would say most years we do. This year ended up being a really fun group! A smaller group, but included almost all of our most favorites! 

The girls and I always have so much fun deciding what trio we will go with. In the end, we decided the three little pigs was just too cute to pass up... I mean, what 40 year old woman doesn't want to wear a pink, full-body leotard! I am going to toot my own little horn here for a minute and say this was 3 days post-surgery for this little piglet! Yep, thats right, I had a full hysterectomy on Wednesday, and we partied like pigs on Saturday. Sometimes, you just have to throw on the bodysuit, hike up that tutu and roll with it! 

How we got the guys to put on matching costumes is beyond me, but now, they have started something and I don't intend to let another party roll around without as much enthusiasm! It was such a good night and they best part was, we still had Halloween night to look forward to!

Halloween 2022..

In the middle of all our fall festivities, Halloween came and went! 

We threw an adult Halloween party, had a TMNT shirt painting night, hosted a chili dinner before trick-or-treating, pulled a hayride for all the younger kiddos to ride and Remi had his first friend hayride away from mom and dad with all his 7th grade buddies. It was also his first time with a girl/boy trick-or-treating group! 

I snagged the big pups costumes from Target one afternoon, so we did a little photoshoot with them after school- they seemed to have an aversion to costumes just as strong as the boys do! About all I could get them to do was a mask- which honestly made things simple and easy! Us girls on the other hand, had a pretty grand time prancing around in our tutus!

Halloween is one of my most favorite holidays in our neighborhood! It is truly like a scene from a movie! Kids are running around as fast as they can, hayrides filling every street, people sitting out on their driveways welcoming scary little monsters to their candy bowls, bigger kids driving around golf carts with friends... it is my most favorite way to kickoff the holiday season!

Carving Pumpkins....

Pumpkin carving day is one of my favorite days of the whole year!!

We always pick a day in October, get together for dinner and then carve our pumpkins! Over the years, the pumpkin patch trips stopped and instead we all just buy pumpkins at the grocery store- it has become more about an evening of being together than anything else! The boys have been doing their pumpkins solo for years now, so I am always the group photographer! 

This group tradition started years ago when my boys were 3rd and 4th graders! Looking back at pictures of this tradition is so fun and goodness, how these kids have grown!

Pumpkin Carving 2021

Pumpkin Carving 2020

Pumpkin Carving 2019

Halloween 2021...

Halloween night has got to be one of the best nights of the year!! 

Every year, Micah cooks pounds and pounds of chili, we all pitch in with finger foods and sweets, and slowing as guests start to arrive, we fill our bellies, take a giant group picture of our trick-or-treaters and then we load up, and start off on our evening of neighborhood Halloween door-knocking!

I love that we have a big range of kiddos- the itty bitties who still need a helping hand to take them from door to door, the tweens who hit the ground running as soon as their feet touch pavement, the teenagers who hop on golf carts as soon as they can escape the adults- each stage being fun in its own way!! 

I think this year was our biggest group yet, and even though it was a school night, we all had a great time pretending we didn't!