Halloween 2015

We went into Halloween 2015 with a few questions.   Would we freeze? Would it be raining? And most importantly, would Emily be dressed like Minnie Mouse?

I am happy to report the answers: No, no and of course she would!

This year we escorted around a Cowgirl Princess and Minnierella!

Marissa had decided MONTHS ago that she wanted to dress up as a cowgirl but Emily's Minnerella combination was pretty spur of the moment. She had planned on a different costume (still Minnie inspired) but after a trip to Walmart with me she changed her mind. Thankfully I had the perfect Cinderella dress already on hand so I was easily able to amuse her. 

We snapped some photos and headed over to Russ' parents house to meet up with our friends.

This crazy crew is so much fun. Some of the coolest kids I know for sure!

We even had this gorgeous sunset as we started out.

I snapped this photo of the sunset and the kids. I can't help but laugh seeing Emily's Minnie ears stand out so clearly.

House after house my heart was beaming when I would hear them loudly shout "TRICK OR TREAT" in unison. They had so much fun and were given SO much candy. I'd say our loot was 80% candy bars, the good kind too! This is NOT going to make the candy easy to resist.

Once we were back the kids all dove head first into their candy buckets.... the moms might have snuck a few (dozen) pieces too. 

Group photo. So happy I actually remembered. I might just turn into a real blogger after all ;).

Thanks Grandma & Papa for letting us come over and bring our friends along too!

Linking up with Stephanie

& Courtney

What was the most memorable part of your Halloween?!

Countdown to Halloween, Bucket List Check-In #2

Today I am linking up late for the Countdown to Halloween week #2. Other posts kept me busy earlier in the week but that's probably for the best since we were kinda lazy in the bucket list department last week. At least this way I was able to cross one more thing off our list before writing this post. 
Here is what we crossed off since our last check-in.
Family Photos   I shared my favorites in the "official photo post" but I thought I would share a few more here.

Sweet sisters

 Fun vintage feel to this one... except I shouldn't be smiling. 

Have you ever noticed they never smiled in old pictures?

Typical care free Emily.

I am pretty sure he had just licked me. You may laugh but I'm completely serious.

How we roll.

Backyard Camp Out
I laughed as I put it on our list but I knew the girls would LOVE it if we could make it happen. I planned it and cancelled because it was too cold. Then I picked another day that would work "better" and forgot to double check the forecast. Yup, it was COLD.
It was warm early in the evening.

 

But it cooled off enough for a fire and s'mores of course!

They were "ready" to go to bed at 7:40.

We did some relaxing and reading.

Around 9:00 I drew the line and said we needed to fall asleep and they finally did. I woke up around 3:30 half frozen then took a quick glance at my phone to see 44 degrees, WHAT?! I should have double checked the forecast! I went inside got extra blankets and dozed back of until around 6:30 when Marissa woke up.

We finally were all up and out around 7:00 so we built a fire and hung out with our hot cocoa (coffee for me) until time to go in for school.

I hope they always remember this night.
I never imagined myself sleeping in the backyard with the girls but making those memories with them is so worth it. 

Fall fun that wasn't on our list...
2015 Pumpkin Run

I could probably cross the fall craft off the list but I'm keeping it on there just in case I do something more impressive.


Speaking of art, check out my latest Halloween chalkboard!

As of October 13th this is where we are on our list, 6/15 done.

We didn't manage to cross much off our list this week, but we did cross off a couple of big ones. I'm happy and optimistic that we will be able to finish off our list with no problem.

Today I am linking up with Courtney and some other amazing ladies!

Count Down to Halloween, Bucket List Check-In #1

Hello Monday!

Today kicks off week one of the "official" Countdown to Halloween and we are so excited to join in the fun again this year. I hope to use these posts to keep you updated on our Halloween adventures and to share the details as we mark things off our Fall Bucket List. 

So far this is what we have done:

Visit a Corn Maze

This weekend we went out to Pathways Corn maze. Pathways has became an annual tradition for our family and this year was just as fun as the years before (you can check out last years trip here).

We couldn't have asked for better weather. Sunny 60 something degrees and a crisp fall breeze in the air.

They played in the hay maze.

We took a hayride. Of course we couldn't forget the obligatory family hayride selfie.

Taking a barrel train ride is always a favorite!

Selfie with my guy.

Plenty of photo ops

Lastly there was the corn maze. We keep waiting for the year the girls want to go through the whole entire thing instead of taking the early exit but once again we lucked out and only had to do about 1/5 of it. 

Have a Bonfire and S'mores

Friday night I bribed the girls #noshame. It was something like "if you help clean up the house and your rooms maybe we can make s'mores later". Little did they know I had already planned to make s'mores regardless. The weather was just to perfect not too.

This is how we do s'mores.

Once you use Nutella you just never want to use anything else ever again.

Sitting out there in the cold by the fire watching Russ chase the girls around the yard *sigh*.

My heart was overwhelmed with how very, very blessed we are. 

Pick Apples

Last Wednesday I dished up the details of the first time I took the girls apple/pear picking and how very "helpful" they were.

This was a new item on this years bucket list and it was so nice to load up on apple goodies for months to come for free. 

Attend a Fall Festival

I don't know if it was really a "fall festival" but it was a festival in the fall so I say the hot air balloon festival counts.

I already shared several photos but here are a few new ones!

We also had a spooky story time with our new friend Bones and worked on some crafts this week too.

As of October 5th this is where we are on our list, 4/15 done.

I know at least one thing is going to get crossed off that list tomorrow and hopefully we'll wrap up a few more so we have lots to share with you next week!

Today I am linking up with Courtney and some other amazing ladies!