Happy Halloween!

Introducing...

I had waaaay too much fun with their costumes this year. The cutest Little Red and the most handsome Wolf I've ever seen (he's not really that big and bad at heart). 

It's pretty cute (and a little sad) that Aspen looks out from her cape - looking around for her brother - and says "I scared. I scared of Big Bad Wolf". We've got to get that on video before they head out trick or treating.

I took them to the Washington Park Arboretum one afternoon and just let them run around in their costumes...and they ended up telling their own little story. We did lose one of Little Red's cookies from her basket during all of the running around and I certainly rewarded them with a visit to the tot lot playground when I was done chasing after them - they are good sports to go along with their silly Mama's schenanigans!

Sawyer's costume was easy - I bought the hat last winter on sale and then just made his paws and tail out of some fleece. Aspen's outfit took a lot more work - I actually made her dress last summer one warm night when I was bored. It was my first attempt at a dress besides the bitty one I made for her when she was teency weency. It turned out alright, but I was glad it was her costume and I decided to keep my baby Gap dress habit rather than make all of her clothes in the future :)  A few weeks ago, I found a vintage pattern on ebay and made the cape to top it off.  

I am not sure I can keep up these themes for too many more years - inevitably she'll want to be a princess and he'll want to be a superhero one day. And honestly, it is a lot of work! But it is something I have really enjoyed doing for the past couple of years, and I think to reward all of our efforts I may even create a little picture book for them with themselves as their characters - something fun to always remember. 

My favorite Little Red Riding Hood and Big Bad Wolf EVER!

Have a safe and happy Halloween!

Jack O'Lanterns

Over the weekend, we cleaned out pumpkin "guts" and went to a little Halloween Party put on by some friends (enchiladas to die for! and The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown - lots o' fun!). 

The kids were excited about carving pumpkins, but weren't really that excited about sticking their hands inside to pull out the "guts". I guess not everyone likes the feel of cold, ooey, gooey, pumpkin guts?

We extended the fun by actually carving their faces on Monday night for our family night. We have made it a tradition to light our 'lanterns and eat a treat by candlelight. It's fun for everyone, and this guy was really excited about it ;)

Due to carving quickly so the kids wouldn't go to bed too late, Jacob didn't have time to be as elaborate as he likes - but he still did better than me - I always do the same, classic kind of pumpkin face. It makes me happy :)


Preschool party tomorrow and our church party and "trunk or treat" to look forward to this weekend. I feel like this year Halloween is really drawn out - lots of fun times to wear costumes and eat some candy corn. 


Sawyer is extra excited, though, for the BIG night. You know - Trick or Treating! I love that we have established so many little traditions for our little family - and one favorite is going to Auntie Lynn's house on Halloween - (Auntie Lynn is my dear friend - I was the nanny for her children for many years, and now our youngest are friends - Sawyer and her youngest daughter are 17 months apart). 


Hooray for Halloween!

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

You will find out, come Halloween!

I am just sitting down to edit a few pics of the kids I took in their Halloween costumes a few days ago...and I'm SO EXCITED to share them with everyone next week! It's funny...I don't really like dressing up all that much - but I sure like dressing my kids up! And since they're still little and get excited about my suggestions - I did a theme *again*!

I hope you're ready for some tricks and treats!

baby dolls...

Okay, this is a funny post - but I need some help. We are going to get Aspen a nice baby doll for Christmas (and yes, I am doing my Christmas shopping in October ;)  and I am having a hard time deciding which one to get. I have done a lot of research (I swear I research EVERYTHING! Even baby dolls!) and my top two choices, which happen to come in close to the same price range are the Madame Alexander baby doll "huggins" (top) or the American Girls "bitty" baby doll (bottom).  


Madame Alexander baby doll is 12 inches.
Bitty Baby is 15 inches so a little bigger. 


I love that both have eyelids that open and close. I love that the Madame Alexander doll looks so old-fashioned and classic. I love that both have soft, huggable bodies. I just can't decide. 

It might help to say that these are going to go along with the doll - the crib for Christmas and the high chair for her birthday in January. 


Some other contenders were Gotz and Carolle dolls. 


Anyone want to help me? Only give me another suggestion if it's really good :)  Otherwise, which one would you choose, and why? We are hoping this baby doll will get years of love before she inevitably asks for one of the big American Girl dolls...


Anyone have a Madame Alexander doll growing up? Just fyi this one is made for play and not one of the collectibles.


Anyone have a Bitty Baby growing up? (I know my sister Jamie did so there's got to be more of you young-uns out there that had one as well).


Okay, that's all. Just a shout out for some baby-doll-loving girls  out there to help me make up my mind -- you know, I try to have ALL my holiday shopping done by Dec. 1st (if not sooner!)


Thanks!


PS- to be honest, I think I'm just about as excited and giddy about all this doll stuff as she will be! (maybe even more!) I was a bit of a "tomboy" growing up but I sure LOOOOVED my baby dolls!


PSS- don't tell Aspen about this! :)

The Pumpkin Patch

Over the weekend, we visited a Pumpkin Farm with some friends.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous - warm and sunny.

Teamwork!

Sawyer found this old tractor to "drive" - he was in heaven!

...and proof that I was there, too! This wasn't the farm we usually go to (for some reason I mapped Craven farm instead of Carleton?) - and I had promised Sawyer a tractor-pulled hayride, however at this farm you had to wait in a looong line and pay for the ride. So, tomorrow we're going to meet up with some friends for a courtesy (ie. free) hayride at our "usual" farm (Carleton Farms!) There are a lot of great farms out there - but Carleton is our favorite :)

It was a beautiful afternoon, we had fun with friends, and picked out two big and funky pumpkins we will carve next weekend!

Gotta love the pumpkin patch!

Halloween in the Air!

Last night, we got out the Halloween stuff, on a whim. It is, after all, getting closer to Halloween, right? I finished up the kids costumes a couple of weeks back (SO EXCITED!) - they turned out super duper cute if I do say so myself. And I sewed 95% of Aspen's outfit and about 5% of Sawyer's this year. You'll see what I mean, in a few weeks...

Back to last night...

The kids got to have a bath by luminary pumpkin lights (mostly, because our bathroom light went out and we didn't have a new one and that's what popped to mind...) I think they thought it was a little weird - I thought it was kind of cool.

They did, however, really really enjoy that we got out our handful of costume stuff. Mostly, it's just leftover leopard ears and a cat face and a sorcerer's hat I picked up when I went to visit the Witch Museum in Salem, Mass. a couple years back. I'm glad they like to play with them! OH! And how could I not mention their new glow-in-the-dark skeleton pjs!?! They just loooove them! Usually, Sawyer requests that we leave the door open with the hall light on when he's going to sleep, but he wanted the light off last night and the door closed so he could see himself glowing in the dark!

I think the very favorite part of the night, though, was that we got out our one Halloween book and read it over and over and over and over and over again (I kid not - we read it at least 15 times in a row!) "Five Little Pumpkins"...our tradition is to read it by the light of our two little pumpkins.

Tonight our old friends/neighbors are coming over and we are having a yummy fall soup, pumpkin-chocolate chip cookies, and watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" for dessert :)

As much as I hate parting with summer...I really do enjoy autumn.


(BOO!)