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?!

The Ghost of Halloween Past

I'm a total sucker for throwback posts. Maybe I am sentimental or maybe I am a gluten for punishment. There is just something about looking back on the past that I love so very, very much.

So that is exactly what we are going to do today as we take a look back on the Halloweens past.
Let's start at the beginning, 2007! The first Halloween picture of us as a family of 3 would be this (Russ might kill me). I was about 5.5 weeks pregnant with Marissa here and mum was the word.
  2008

 Now parents of a 4 month old it was pretty obvious we were excited. We had Halloween outfits and 2 costumes. The mermaid one is my favorite. Her first costume was inspired by her name which happens to mean from the sea. 

2009

Our Elmo obsessed silly girl was a ladybug princess.

2010

In 2010 we were expecting a baby sister, Marissa was clearly obsessed with Russ and her facial expressions were always #onpoint.

2011

Yo, this is my sister!

Since they were now clearly a duo I dressed them as a pair, Little Bo Peep and her sheep.

2012

Probably my favorite Halloween so far. Marissa was the prettiest Cinderella ever. I dressed  her then cried all the tears because she looked so beautiful. Emily was a princess too (Marissa's idea). So funny to look back on almost 2 year old Emily with so little hair. 

2013

 By Halloween 2013 a certain someone was head over heels in love with Minnie Mouse and Marissa jumped on to a different Disney character.

2014

I don't think anyone was surprised when Emily chose to be Minnie Mouse again we changed up the costume with some simple pieces we already had lying around because, hello, she's obsessed. Marissa picked a butterfly so I made these awesome wings from felt.

2015

 ? ? ?

What will 2015 bring?

You'll just have to wait and see.

Don't forget next weeks cookie swap!

Post a new recipe, an old recipe or a round up to links of your favorite recipes. Whatever you want to do. Then join us on the November 3rd Tuesday Talk and link up those posts.

(You will still be able to link up that week even if you don't post about cookies)

Meet the hosts of Tuesday Talk!

Beth - Our Pretty Little Girls ~ Michelle - Grammie Time

Keri - Living In This Season  ~ Christina - Waltzing In Beauty
Lauren - Simply Free ~  Becky - BYBMG
Jess and Katie - Sweet Little Ones ~ Whitney - Polka Dotty Place
Laura - Life Is Beautiful ~ Elizabeth - All Kinds Of Things
Sarah - Abiding In Grace ~ Stephanie - Wife Mommy Me
Emily - Morning Motivated Mom

Now it's your turn to join the fun!
Grab the button in my side-bar and link up for this weeks Tuesday Talk.

An InLinkz Link-up

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!