halloween '15

Our second Halloween in the 'ville (technically my ... 18th?  Let's not worry too much about the math) and the kids have been loving it.  Halloween is kind of a big deal around here.  We've naturally spent the entire past week in Halloween celebration mode.

We kicked the week off on Monday with pumpkin carving.  Here we are preparing our victim.  

My pumpkinhead.  

Lady chacha had zero issues diving right in to the goo.

Brother got a turn as well.

Since daddy was out of town all week, Aunt Zoe came over to assist.  She had "issues" with my storage and usage of sharp knives around my children.  It's like she's seen people cut their fingers off or something.

She ended up taking over to complete the task with surgical precision.

Putting the lid on it. 

The finished product!  

The eyes were "one triangle and one square" per Colin's request.  So yes, we did that on purpose.  

 Next up this week was school parties!  Here's Charlotte at school, preparing to head out for their Parade, where they visit the neighboring businesses and get candy....

Colin's school also had a costume parade down the street in Glen Carbon, followed by classroom parties.  Mommy took advantage of her newfound job flexibility and actually showed up to a classroom party!  I wasn't sure he'd even care if I was there... then I heard him tell Aunt Zoe later that "we had a party at school and MOMMY CAME!"  So that was nice :)

Here is Colin about to decorate and subsequently inhale a donut.  At 230 pm.

Donut time was followed by arts and crafts...

Some sort of game?

So then this happened.. which made pretty much the whole thing worthwhile.  Later Colin said, "I didn't think I was ready to dance.  But I was."  Ha!

We got home from school Friday to find this cauldron full of candy and toys with a note we had been "BOO-ed" by our neighbors.  The kids were ECSTATIC about this.  So fun! 

So Friday night was the main event... Trick or Treating time!  Aunt Zoe & Uncle Zach came over to help out.  This is immediately before I headed out with two very antsy kiddos to kick things off. 

I couldn't believe how good they both were.  Charlotte wasn't shy at all, marching right up to people's doors and saying, as adorably and as loudly as possible, "TRICK OR TWEET!!"  Colin was chatting people's ears off, and keeping a running tally as we left each house ("Ok, that's eleven pieces of candy in 5 houses...").

Our neighborhood is INSANE at Halloween.  I thought our subdivision in Indiana was packed - I've never seen this many people trick or treating.. we had throngs of kids streaming down our street and up our driveway.  Next year we may take a tip from all our neighbors and set up a fire pit and party in the driveway.  The neighborhood was so festive and you could smell the fires in the air.. so much fun!

After finishing our end of the street, I brought Charlotte home with the promise that she could eat a bunch of candy, while Z&Z took Colin out to hit up the rest of the neighborhood.  She was FINE with this plan.  

"Candy Candy CANDY WHEN CAN I EAT THE CANDY?!"

Saturday night we headed downtown for the E'ville Halloween Parade... Charlotte's first time!

These kids were pros... cheering on the floats (especially when we spotted Miss Alicia walking with the Goddard float - like a celebrity sighting!), dancing to the bands, and MOST importantly, grabbing all the candy in sight!

Unfortunately some mystery rain that didn't show up on radar or forecast moved in, and we had to cut the parade viewing short.. but they didn't seem to mind.  Here they are back at home inspecting their haul.

A great, fun week was had by all. Counting down to next year's festivities!

happy happy birthday colin!

 My baby boy is 6!!!

We had a great fall day of fun for his birthday.  Some fierce corn hole games were waged in the backyard..

while darth vader wandered about (because if it's your birthday and you want to wear an orange t shirt and a darth vader mask, you go right ahead).

Eventually of course we got around to the most important part ... the presents...

Colin's little superviser was ever-present...

Still supervising... she got up the next day and asked, "now it's my birthday?"  haha!

This is our third consecutive year with orange cakes....  I don't know that this will ever change....

We continued the celebration the next day on his actual birthday with cupcakes at school, and an offer to have dinner anywhere he chose.   He chose McDonald's.  Because he's 6.

We finally dragged him home with the promise of a few more presents.  He lost it at this new pair of orange shoes...

new globe from daddy.. already getting lots of use!

Although I sometimes feel like we're back to the terrible two's with Colin lately, I'm so proud of the big grade school kid he's become.  He's reading sight words and working so hard with his writing and his numbers.  It seems like he's grown up overnight.  He's still our happy, smart, funny little guy!  Celebrating six years of the Colinator in our lives... it just doesn't seem possible.  Happy birthday!

Harvest Fest

We had the best fall day yesterday.  We decided to check out the Harvest Fest at Laumeier Sculpture Park.  None of us had ever been before, but it was a gorgeous day and it looked like fun.  So glad we went!   They had music, farmer's market booths, and tons of delicious good fall food and drinks.  

The kids were immediately enamored with the place when the first two sculptures they found were a maze (fun for literally minutes!) and this sparkly kitty cat.  Just look at the excitement on Colin's face.

And if a giant sparkly cat wasn't enough, we continued to explore and found this exceedingly creepy giant eyeball.  Which was, of course, Colin's favorite. 

Charlotte preferred the "big red" sculpture ("for the Cardinals!" she said.  I'm not telling her.)

Despite signs everywhere about "no climbing on exhibits", no one there seemed to be paying attention so I could hardly drag my kids off the exhibits...

Remember when he used to be scared of doing things like this?  :(

I'm sure this is not what the artist intended. 

Ok, this one is just asking for it.

(these are early pics.. it got quite crowded later and I assure you there were tons of kids climbing on things, not just mine...)

Charlotte played peek-a-boo inside the tire...

They were both very interested in this "tall man" for some reason.

Charlotte called him "snow man" and wanted to give his leg a hug.

Aunt Zoe and Guiness joined us too!  

To say these kids like this dog would be an understatement. 

 This event was great because there was so much space.  All the food and drink vendors were in one area, a stage with live music nearby, and yet there was still so much open park space for the kids and dogs to play.   Here the kids are confusing Guiness with two balls.

"I want that cracker.  So bad." 

Selfie time

we should bring a third adult and dog along with us everywhere.  Look, we are sitting, together, for 30 whole seconds!

 Some of those are my kids inside this creepy face.

What a great day!  Not pictured but playing an important supporting role:  pumpkin whoopee pies, pumpkin beer, veggie chili and dogs, belgian fries.

touch a truck!

One of the kids' favorite activities every year in Indiana was the Hands on Trucks event.  As usual, there was a similar but SO MUCH BETTER event in E'ville this weekend at Touch a Truck at Township park.  Rather than sweltering on a paved parking lot in August, we enjoyed a beautiful fall day walking around the park.  And as usual, the kids had a great time.  Kids love trucks!

I asked charlotte what she wanted to see first and she didn't hesitate - the PINK TRUCK!!

Then we boarded the school bus.  Colin didn't bother with this one, he "already rides the bus."  Big man on campus. 

They both enjoyed swinging off of this tow truck :)

Colin got to climb in the cab of a few big rigs...

including this garbage truck that was literally the one that used to come to our rental house as we "know" the driver.  Edwardsville.

And then Charlotte tried to steal a fire truck.