Halloween Night

We headed out trick-or-treating as soon as we finished dinner tonight. James wanted to branch out this year and go to some houses that are not our immediate neighbors. He only wanted to go up to houses that had decorations-the more the better. Mac was a little apprehensive at first and started saying, "I don't like it, I don't like it," as soon as James picked his first house to head to. James marched right up to the door all by himself and knocked and said, "Trick-or-treat!" and as soon as Mac saw the bowl of candy, he got out of the wagon and up to that door as fast as he could and said, "Tricktree!" and got his own treat.

At each house James would carefully select a candy and then turn around and yell to us what he picked out. He was so excited, most of the time when people offered him more than one piece, he said no and just took the one. Mac even started trying to say, "Happy Halloween," just like James was as he left each house by the end of the night. His sounds more like, "Happ Haweeen!" Once James decided he had enough treats, we headed home to pass out candy.

Examining their haul, they each got to eat a piece before we all watched Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown together and then called it a night.

We read a few Halloween books before bed and James reminded me that tomorrow we get to put those away and get out the Thanksgiving books. I can't believe how quickly this month has passed! I hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Halloween Festivities Part 1

Last Saturday we skipped the Longmont Halloween Parade in lieu of Trick or Treat on Tennyson. TPD was participating and Tim had to be there anyway, so the boys and I went down with him. I went as Izzy from Jake and the Neverland pirates, which only required pig tails, a pink pirate head scarf, boots and a pixie dust pouch around my neck.

 Holland, Kris, Riley and Piper met up with us at Tim's office so Riley and James could trick or treat together.

 The morning started off cold, but it was really nice in the sun and there were a ton of people out trick or treating. Anne and Sean were there with their boys too.

 Saturday night, Tim and I went out with 4 other couple in the Mont to a B 52's cover band at a bar on Main Street and all the girls dressed up as The Spice Girls. I think for throwing our costumes together fairly last minute, we looked pretty awesome. We came in 2nd in the costume contest though.

On Sunday, we went over to the Haleys for their annual pumpkin carving party. James drew the face on his pumpkin and then played while Tim got to do all the fun work.

The biggest pumpkin from Seth's parent's land this year was 300+ pounds. Too big to put the babies inside like we did last year, so we opted for sticking the big kids inside instead. Even though it kind of looks like James is standing behind the pumkin, he is in fact inside of it.

On Monday the Halloween fun continued with the Halloween party at Longmont High School where we met up with the Haleys so the kids could all see each other's costumes.

 Mac loved trying out the games with James and loved picking out a candy to hold.

Today we all went to Central for James' Halloween party. The preschoolers and kindergartners had a parade through the primary classrooms and hallway.

 They got a lot of snacks to eat-I was impressed that most of them were pretty healthy. James' favorite was a hollowed out orange that was carved like a jack-o-lantern and then filled with fruit salad.

The kids also had a couple of different activities and games to play. This one had creepy things inside boxes to feel and guess what they were. James' costume was a hit with everyone-they all knew he was Skully, so we did good!

 Taking a break from the festivities to read a Halloween book with Mac and Dad.

We have had a low key afternoon at home and James is getting very excited to head out trick or treating after we eat our pumpkin pasta in a little bit!

Halloween Sneak Peak

James went back and forth for a long time about what he wanted to be for Halloween this year. First it was a ninja, and then Spiderman. I wasn't 100% on board with either one, because I'm not going to lie, I know that my time is limited where I can get away with dressing the boys in coordinating costumes and I was really hoping for at least one more year. I asked Mac what he wanted to be one day and he said, "Jake!" He is in love with the Disney cartoon, Jake and the Neverland Pirates. Well as soon as James heard that idea, he decided he wanted to be Jake's parrot, Skully. I immediately jumped on this idea and took James shopping with me to buy the makings of a parrot costume before he could change his mind. Mac's costume is 90% the Haley's dress-up pirate costume, I just bought his red head scarf. We bought a green hooded sweatshirt for James and with a lot of glue and some craft felt, I turned it into a pretty good parrot, if I do say so myself. Don't mind Jax who is in the process of trying to rip off his pirate hat....

For those who aren't regular watchers of Disney Jr, here is what we were going for with the boys costumes. Minus the clear hair color difference on Jake, I think we did pretty good on both costumes!

 Trying to get a good shot of Skully's tail and head.

 If you ask Mac what Jake says, he says, "Hey Matey! Ho Ho Ho!"Apparently, he is ready for a good Santa impression in a couple of months too.

The whole crew before Jax ripped off his tri-corner pirate hat, which really looks more like a cowboy hat anyway.

 Pirate dog sans hat.

We are ready for some major Halloween festivties this week!

We Love Fall!

Mac's 1st Haircut

Mac's hair was looking more tragic by the day, so we decided after 2 years it was finally time for his first haircut. Tim and James also needed haircuts, so we made a family trip to Great Clips last night. Here is one last look at his baby mullet.

Tim was convinced he wouldn't let anyone near him with scissors and would scream the entire time, but he surprised us all by sitting on my lap and not making a peep.

 Here is the after, he definitely looks like a little boy now.

 My little superheroes picking out their prizes.

 My 3 handsome boys.

The Lego Party!

Our orignial plan to forego birthday parties since we went to Disneyland earlier in the month did not exactly go as planned. Between the fact that James loves birthday parties, he loves celebrating with his friends, 5 is a pretty big milestone birthday, I love throwing parties, and Pinterest had way too many cute ideas for a Lego party, the odds were clearly in favor of us having a party.

My idea was to invite 5 friends since he was turning 5. Well James was able to narrow it down to 7 boys and almost all of them had brothers, so we had an all boy party that was just a little bit bigger than what I had in mind ;)

This was a super fun party to plan. I just came up with all of found all of the ideas online and had other people execute them, it was perfect! Kelly and her amazing craft machine made the banner, name tags, and Lego heads. I think the favor bags were my favorite party. Kelly made the name tags in Lego font and I just stuck on foam circles to the gift bags. Each boy got a different mini figure, a sheet of Lego stickers, Lego crayons that Tim made by melting down crayons into a silicone Lego guy mold, and a cake pop made by Kelsey.

James saw a picture of Lego head cake pops and wanted them for his party, but I knew they would be a total disaster if I tried to make them. Tim's amazingly talented business partner/co-owner of TPD, Kelsey, made them for us. They look even better than the inspiration picture I showed her. She might need to open up a cake pop business on the side.

 Front door sign, made by Kelly.

We had the party after lunch so we could just serve snacks and treats. Poor planning on my part, because it was during Mac's regular nap time, but he rallied pretty well and had a great time at the party.

 We made candy Legos and Lego guys to top the cupcake with.

 Juice boxes decorated like Lego bricks, which were every bit as time consuming to make as they look.

 Chocolate Lego guys for those who were scared of the red, blue and yellow ones like me.

 Tim took it to a whole new level and also made Lego gummy candies with the silicone molds he found. They were definitely the biggest hit with all of the  boys.

 I tried to plan a few activities so the boys weren't just running around the house like crazy people the whole time. It worked pretty well, besides the fact that all of the games were done in about half an hour. They had a Duplo hunt outside and then played Lego BINGO, which I found online.

 Pin the head on the Lego guy-made by Kelly.

 Lego building time.

The kids who weren't as crazy about Legos as James found plenty to play with in the basement instead.

 Some of the party crew-Teddy, John, Finn, Brody, Eli, Gus, James, Colin, Will and little Gus.

 Cupcake time!

 We lucked out with a beautiful day so the kids all coupld eat and play outside.

 I forgot to have someone take a family picture so we got this after everyone left with the self timer. I think it turned out great!

 My number 1 little Lego maniac sporting his new Lego Crocs he got from his buddies Will and Eli.

I think the party went really well. Everyone seemed to have fun, I think everything looked super cute, and James told me it was the best birthday party ever. Success! Now that our birthday celebrations for the month are over, we can move into Halloween craziness!