Trick or Treat!

Friday was Halloween. I love Halloween! I love the costumes, the decorations, the scary and not-so-scary movies and TV specials...I'm a sucker for those ghost hunter shows and haunted history/location shows. It was always such a fun time when I was a kid and now I get to enjoy it and start new traditions with my own kid. It's great!

Last week we carved our pumpkin. We didn't set it outside until Halloween night because of the stupid squirrels that like to eat our pumpkins.

Friday afternoon Logan had his party at school. I am so glad I have awesome room moms to work with. The kids played games, did a craft, and had a ton of snacks. The only downside was that Logan claimed to have a headache during the party and was a grouch. I blame the much colder temps and howling wind....and maybe a building of crazy kids ;) He was fine to go trick or treating that night.

Matt took Logan trick or treating this year while I stayed home to pass out candy. It was a lot of fun but it felt more like Christmas outside than Halloween. It was freezing! Logan wore three pairs of pants and three shirts (he thought three pairs of pants was hilarious). He came back with his bucket full. Trick or treat times were from 6-8 p.m. and we came inside around 7:45. We still had a bowl FULL of candy to hand out, but the kids stopped coming around 7:30. I think the cold kept most people away. We are used to running out of candy within an hour. The best costume was an older BOY dressed as DOROTHY. He just looked at us and said "I lost a bet." I told him he looked awesome and gave him extra candy.  Matt was a big hit in his ninja turtle coat. The kids loved it! One little boy, probably about one or two, just pointed and smiled and tried to say "turtle power" to him. It was so cute!

After we came in we all tried to thaw out. I didn't realize how cold I was until I came inside. We watched the 2 hour Ghost Adventures special that took place in Ireland. It was a good way to end a spooky day.

I can't believe it's November already. We have seen Christmas commercials on television all weekend. Winter drinks (my favorite!) are back at Starbucks and McDonald's. Decorations are out in stores. Buckle up! Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here FAST.

Pumpkin Patch Trip

We FINALLY made it to The Great Pumpkin Patch! The weather foiled our plans to go over Logan's birthday, and his fieldtrip there for school was a soggy, muddy mess. Plus, he was in his uniform so I didn't get cute fall outfit pics. So another trip was necessary! Last Friday Logan did not have school so he and I headed up there for an afternoon of fun. The weather was perfect and we got to do all the stuff that we didn't get to do during the field trip, like the corn maze. Prior to Logan starting school I would buy the season pass for the place because we would make so many trips. Now we only make it once a year so we have to make the most of it.

Inside the haunted barn....Wicked Witch complete with Oz music!

Skeletons. Logan likes to go into the barn, but he also gets scared in the barn lol

Inside the straw maze

We made it to the tower that is in the corn maze. We were stuck in that maze for awhile.

Selfies...proof that Mom was there.

The traditional pic

New this year

The couch rock

Chocolate ice cream.

Noah's Ark

Another new thing at the patch: giant bench!

Time to pick out some pumpkins...you know, so the damn squirrels will have something to eat.

Amish Country

Ready to head home. It was a great day!

Celebrating 8

Logan is 8! The 8th birthday went far better than the 7th :) There was no sickness. The house didn't get broken into (even though Logan remembered exactly when it happened and asked if it would happen again this year...boo).

Logan is one of those lucky kids whose birthday happens to fall on or around a 4 day weekend. Matt decided to take those days off as well. We had plans for the pumpkin patch and/or apple orchard. Unfortunately it rained A LOT that weekend and neither of those things happened. But it was still a good weekend with Logan's birthday party and a trip out of town to spend that birthday money.

Logan really wanted a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle party this year. This was, by far, the easiest party to decorate, thanks to Pinterest and the new movie. Logan is picky about his TMNT, though, and really prefers the more cartoonish ones. So I used a lot of images from the 90s turtles...the best ones in my opinion. I decided to go ahead and let Wal-Mart do the cake and it turned out pretty good. Logan loved the cake topper and it is currently sitting on his bookshelf.

The day before his birthday. I couldn't wait for him to have Perry!

An attempt at holding up 8 fingers...but distracted by TV.

The toy turtles are Matt's!

Baby Haylee's first birthday party.

He is still making his way through playing with new toys. He has some new games to play, puzzles to put together, and a couple new Lego sets. I think the train station set will be put on hold until a long weekend...lots of pieces and I think it's going to take awhile ;) That one better stay put together lol.

The day after his birthday we decided to take a trip to Champaign. Trips out of town like that are rare these days (the last time we were up there was Christmas break). We went to the mall, Toys r Us and of course, Target. We had fun playing at the mall in the Spirit Halloween store. They had all kinds of spooky stuff on display and you could activate them by stepping on a pedal. Logan really wanted to know what they all did but wasn't brave enough to activate them himself: so we let Dad do it. It was fun watching Dad's reactions too hehe.

We Have A Second Grader!

We are wrapping up our first week back-to-school. I cannot believe how quickly summer flew by and that Logan is already back in the classroom! He's a kid of few words but from what I can tell he has had a great first week. So far he hasn't cried or been clingy when I take him into the building. His class is a bit smaller this year and his teacher is brand-new. We didn't have any problems getting back into a routine (except that Mom has been sick and is extra tired lol).

A few pics from the first day....

G'bye Summer

 School started yesterday. Summer went by too fast. I'm sitting here in my too-quiet house full of summer reflecting. Was it a good summer? I suppose so. It wasn't full of summer camps, day camps, vacations or anything like that. It was simple. We took a trip to the pool, made a couple trips to one of our favorite summer spots, went camping...in my parents backyard (Logan says this was his favorite part of the whole summer), we saw a lot of family. There was a lot that didn't get done, some things we wanted to do that just didn't happen for one reason or other. Our last week of summer vacation was a bit of a disappointment. None of the fun things I had planned didn't happen for one reason or other. I think I'm the only one that cares, though, so I guess that's ok.

As we start back into our routine, here is a look back at some of our summer highlights.

Two trips to Rockome Gardens-me and Logan's favorite summer spot.

 

The camp out!

Matt and Logan played softball and t-ball. Logan's last t-ball season. Machine pitch next year!

Farewell to the firepit! 

Scovill Zoo anniversary trip!

Swimming after Matt's company picnic.