All Things Halloween

A day in which college age girls (myself included at one point-UGH!) think it is acceptable to wear completely inappropriate attire.  A holiday in which people prance around in hideous costumes attempting to send chills down your back.  A celebration surely to rot your teeth out. Am I painting a clear picture...

Halloween has never been my favorite holiday but this year it brought tremendous joy to our little family! While it certainly doesn't come close to topping my chart of favorite holidays,  I have a new appreciation for a holiday otherwise built on scares and sugar!

I discovered this year that the true bonus to Halloween is that it falls at a time with perfect weather for festivals .

On the Friday before Halloween we went to a small hot air balloon festival only about 15 minutes from our house.  One of Kirby's colleague's and his family joined us for the fun.  They have two kids as well but they are in high school and middle school.  I must say it was awesome to see their whole family having fun together.  And to top it off their kids were nothing but sweet to my two little loves.

Apparently shoes are more interesting than hot air balloons

Charlie and Kirby, on the other hand, were mesmerized by the hot air balloons.

Carnival Rides and All

The day after the Balloon Festival we went to a Fall Festival.  I stumbled upon people setting up for the event while on my morning run and was excited for us all to check it out.

Master Plan fees were something completely new to us moving to Las Vegas.  For those thinking this must be something similar to HOA fees.  It's not-- we pay those too : (   We live in a community called Mountain's Edge.  Our Master Plan fee covers the upkeep of landscaping outside the neighborhoods, our parks and playgrounds, and our new discovery-festivals!

The Fall Festival was free for all residents of Mountain's Edge.  It included trick or treating, one free pumpkin for each child, and a few other fun activities.

My perfect pumpkin picking her perfect pumpkin.

He nailed it after a few swings!

Because they LOVE him!

She is such a Daddy's girl

Then we finished off our weekend of festival by going to the Haunted Harvest Festival at Springs Preserve on Sunday night.  Which leads me to..

Best Mommy Moment: (yep- it's been a while since I've done one of these)  There is no denying my pride in Charlie and Jocelyn's costumes.  I'm sure next year Charlie will request to be Batman or a wrestler or something else I am not a huge fan of but since he made no request this year, I took the opportunity to live it up!

Attempting to get a quality photo of the two of them-- didn't work out so well!

My ketchup and mustard got many compliments on their costumes and I was one proud momma.  The Springs Preserve Haunted Harvest Festival was super busy but the kids had a blast.  They really enjoyed checking out the decorations and seeing the animals in the petting zoo.

That may have concluded are weekend of festivals but it was the beginning of our Halloween fun!


The kids really enjoyed decorating for Halloween (makes me even more excited about Christmas decorations).  It's too bad we didn't do it sooner. Nanny sent window clings that Charlie put up while Jocelyn kept tearing down.

 She also sent some Halloween foam shapes.  I had Halloween foam stickers and googly eyes which we used to create spooky designs.  Then while they napped I strung them up to hang in the doorway.

In my longest post ever, the festivities continued with pumpkin carving!  Charlie "the official scooper" was thrilled to get his hands in the gooey seeds.  And Jocelyn kept trying to sneak the seeds.  We ended up with four pumpkins total from all the festivals we attended.  Charlie picked a design for Kirby to carve in one.  Another pumpkin we drilled holes in to make it look like a lantern.  Charlie turned one pumpkin into a Mr. Potato Head Dog with pieces my mom had given him.  And finally I carved Jocelyn's handprints and footprints into a pumpkin.  My mom's friend, Mrs. Rudiger, sent me the idea on facebook and it was by far our best pumpkin!

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sneaking seeds

Almost there folks!  We've finally made it to Halloween!!

After all the practice runs during the festivals, Charlie had this trick or treat thing MASTERED!  

Jocelyn just enjoyed waving Hello to everyone!

What is this face about?!?!?!

Daddy letting the kids chow down on candy!  

Truly my little loves had more fun passing out candy than getting it.  Charlie would stand at the end of the driveway and yell "Kiiiidddsss come here.  I'm Ketchup!  And I have candy for you!"
Halloween, you have a new place in my heart

If you ask me I will say that I refuse to be the Momma who goes out and spends $40 on a costume.  However I think I am slightly guilty of this.  If I can create a costume with reusable parts than I feel better about the money spent!

Charlie has been wearing his chef's hat when he plays kitchen and more recently wore it when we were making cookies.
The rest of his costume has now become pajamas!

I admit Jocelyn has not worn the hat again.  She does not like to wear anything on her head-hats, bows, headbands etc. so this came as NO surprise

I would feel guilty about spending $35 on her dress if she was only going to wear it once but I LOVE the dress and it's the reason I didn't iron the label right on to her dress.  Here it is with new tights and headband- most likely to be her Thanksgiving outfit.

I don't think I have ever put a plug on this blog for something but I am going to for this dress.  The designer is LeoandLola on Etsy.  It is such a comfy cotton and the cut of the dress is PERFECT!  If she made it for women I'd buy one for myself.