Halloween 2017

This Halloween, I allowed my children to dress up in what ever way their little hearts desired.  The "holiday" really snuck up on us and every time we went out looking for costumes, we either found nothing worth buying or the costumes were way overpriced.  I just felt that spending $60.00 x 3 kids was financially irresponsible. With that being said, it seems almost backwards that I did offer my kids a $50 bill EACH to skip dressing up altogether and head downtown for a yummy dinner and a treat to The Candy Store.  It didn't matter what temptation I threw their way... they wanted to do what every child in America wanted to do... trick or treat.  I decided to just accept it and to appreciate it because after all, they won't desire to do this MUCH LONGER.  Needless to say, as my children get older, capturing the moment/event gets harder.  It's DARK and my kids RUN from house to house.  SO... this is all I've got people.  

Above: You will see that my children did get some goodies in their lunch boxes and the school teachers got some awesome gifts as well.  

A little something goes A LONG way.  I just gave them a little draw string bag, note, and their favorite "pack" of gum, Ice Cubes, along with a Halloween pencil.  I made the note below.  Click here, if you would like to use it.  

I laid out some SMALL goodies for them when they returned home from school. AGAIN, a little something goes a LONG way.  My twins SQUEALED.  Ty had practice, so he didn't see this until close to trick or treating time.  

Jax got to work FAST. He used his play foam and created a heart for me.  So sweet.

I made the below printable TOO! Truly something to think about and something to beware of. I am realizing MORE THAN EVER that people are NOT truly who they proclaim to be sometimes.  

Lilah was Miranda Sings at one point, for a Halloween Party, but she felt like it was TOO MUCH to be Miranda for Halloween.  Her hair needed to be dyed and straightened and she just wasn't up for it.  SO... I allowed her to be a very simple unicorn.  Short and sweet.  

This will go down as the year that I gave up complete control and let my kids design their own Halloween costumes.  I'm really not sure what to call them other than embarrassingly weird, but they were so proud and happy.  In the end, that's all a mom really wants... for her kids to be happy, right?

I left our trick or treaters a little note that asked to politely take TWO pieces of candy, so everyone has a chance to trick or treat at our home.  

We went trick or treating with the Harris family and the Schoonover family. It's kind of a tradition at this point.  The Harris family goes for a quick 45 minutes, lol, and the Schoonover family meets us when they leave and then we finish up the night with them.

These two are so adorable together.  Just like sisters...

I didn't dress up per say... but I did have on some adorable Halloween leggings on and sported a FUN, spooky, Halloween lipsense combo: Blackberry and She's Apples LipSense.  

Anyone who knows Darren, knows he loathes candy of all kinds. He out right thinks candy is DISGUSTING.  GROSSSS! He does love to organize it though, so ....

I hope you all had a fabulous Halloween.  Until next year...

Christmas Parade ~ 2016

It's one my favorite Christmas tradition with my family in Christ... the Christmas parade.  If I am NOT mistaken, this is our fifth year (according to my blog) that we have done this together.  I will be sad when our kids no longer think it is cool and don't want to go.  I guess us parents could still go.  Haha.  

Our small group is very close knit and we are six godly woman striving to live righteously. 2/6 families could NOT make it this year due to illness and one daddy is on a missions trip in Uganda.  Ty-Ty is getting a tad too old to sit with the little ones now. Sniff, sniff.  So he hung out with the dads.

Our clan of kids started a hugging the snowman and then the poor snowman was having a tough time breaking away.  SO MANY kids started doing the same thing.

Watching the parade intently.  

The gingerbread house was one of my favorite floats.  

Jax was so excited to get a life size $100 bill and a $1,000,000.00 bill.  Haha!

Shannon was getting her hair done, so she arrived late, WHICH caused for another necessary photo!

We were wondering how the kids would respond to the clowns due to the fact that there is so much hype right now about clowns scaring people.  Surprisingly, none of the kids budged!

This was my favorite float... the manager scene.  ALL WHITE, pure, delicate, and  beautiful.  

Chick-Fil-A was there, too, and Cohen was screaming, "EAT MORE CHICKEN", over and over and over! It was priceless.  

We left before the last few floats made an appearance because we wanted to beat the traffic. Until next year...

Halloween 2016

Last night was Halloween.  Poor Jax was sick with a fever, so he lasted an entire 15 minutes, but the rest of the clan went out for a good hour.  I can tell that my kids are getting slightly TOO OLD for this because they aren't lasting as long as they once did.  I guess one 40 pound bag of candy is ENOUGH.  Haha.  What was everyone for Halloween?  Above: my hubby was "Hillary For Prison".   It's no secret... we aren't fans! Who is? We had the jail shirt and D made the sign on the computer.  They were giving away for FREE the masks at Captain Party. 

Jax and Ty were CEREAL Killers.  LOL!  This was ALL Ty's idea.  He worked on this idea with Jax.  They did their costumes completely on their own.  It was slightly hard to relinquish control, but I know they were super excited to say THEY made it.  

When my mom was here, we found a cell phone costume at Marshall's. It was missing two emoji's, so they discounted it down from $24.99 to $18.00.  I added our own emojis to it, filling the empty spots.

The Harris family always comes to our hood. We didn't actually go trick or treating with them, simply because our pace is much different from theirs, LOL, but we did snap a photo with them.

We always have to leave our candy and have an honor code!

Please take ONE.  I know, cheap, but people come in DROVES to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood.  

I always buy a $12 bag of dum-dums at Sam's Club.

I fill up all of my awesome Halloween decorations with dum-dums.

We trick-or-treated with the Campbell family.  Alley went as Kimmie from Full House.

Izzy.

Chastity.

Cortland went as a clown.  Eeeeek! Brave kid.

I didn't have a costume, but I did wind up doing a small twist off of Darren's costume.  I was Hillary and the debate fly!

Later, daddy helped the kids sort candy!

Snickers and Reese's topped the cake for the candy that is MOST given out.

And sadly, milk duds, 100 grand, york, and whatever that other piece of candy is is the LEAST given out candy!  That was ALL they got of those candy brands out of that entire stack.  LOL!

Simon, our watch dog, was definitely NOT a fan of the trick or treaters.  He actually bit my best friend Ashely, on her foot, from all the stress.

I hope you all had a lovely Halloween.  I am glad it's over.  I know, I know... I should be enjoying the NOW, but NOW I have 54 days to worry about Christmas.  SO INSANE.