Happy Slacker Mom Halloween

I'm usually on it when it comes to Halloween but this year I was a slacker for sure. I had all these grand ideas for costumes that I kept thinking of for months and the closer Halloween got, the more and more I realized that coming up with three costumes and all the effort into putting them all together was a little bit more than I could chew off. So it was the Halloween of hand-me-downs. I'm telling you....slacker mom.

 

So the only real effort that was put into this year's costume was Nolan's surfboard which was 100% done by my husband. I know that my girl fish looks like a boy fish so that's why we slapped a bow on her.

 

Years ago we were invited to be on Good Morning Texas for the boys' costumes. So why not reuse them if they got us on tv, right?

There was absolutely no way that anyone was getting that candy bucket out of my baby girl's hands. She was holding onto that sucker even if she had to drag it.

We were fresh out of white face paint and sunscreen soaked into his face. So what do you do in a pinch? Oh if you could have only seen Nolan's face when I told him at the end of the night that he had diaper cream on his nose all night. Priceless.

So as I walk around the neighborhood feeling guilty about how I should've put more effort into their costumes, I look at my sweet babies walking up to each house and guess what? They could have been wearing sheets with holes cut out for eyes and been every bit as happy. Seriously.

Having Gram and Pop here from Kentucky made it even more special because it's the first time ever that they've been able to join us. They stayed with the kids while Justin and I went to New York. I owe them my life for that one!

Here's some fun we carved up the night before Halloween. What fun!

Landry was into it the most, believe it or not!

 

And here are a couple of my favorite. I didn't get one of Campbell. Probably because the kids had to be super still! Which it's a miracle I got one of Landry!

Knowing how long it takes me to accomplish things, I better start working on next year's costumes!

Carving out the good times

I'm trying to decide when it all started. What began my love for fall?  Was it going to football games in high school and college and that chill in the air and sitting in the stands with a blanket? Was it just being a native Texan and being so ridiculously thankful that for the first time in 5 months that I didn't have back sweat from checking the mail? Or even something as simple as my love for all things green, red, and orange?

I can't really pinpoint it but I know that all those feelings have just been building up every so softly without me really noticing. But since I've had the boys, I can't help but notice it. I'm not sure if I love it so much because they love it so much or if they love fall because they see their hyper hypo mom going nuts for it, so they just follow suit. It's that whole, "What came first...the chicken or the egg?" question.

But more than anything I think it's knowing that my favorite memories of my childhood all seemed to revolve around the holidays and there's such a desire within me to fill my boys' hearts with those same memories.

What better fall memory than to carve us some pumpkins? It was decided that Nolan would sketch out what exactly our pumpkin would look like this year.

In years past, we start the pumpkin carving but then we all realize how much work it is and let Daddy finish it...that's me. I have all the ideas, but Justin gets it done. But last year on a whim, I bought one of the pumpkin carving kits for $1.00. Let me tell ya, those suckers really do work! I'm talking it saved at least 45 minutes off our carving time instead of having to use a spoon. Best dollar spent. The boys actually stayed interested in it...well except for Campbell off and on, but c'mon he's 2 after all.



If there's one thing that really gets me going, it's a good excited. There's nothing worse than telling a hilarious story or giving an awesome present and watching ZERO reaction. Ugh...pet peeve, sorry. But if there's one thing that my children have got down, it's a good excited. What's a good excited you ask?

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:



Who knew a gourd could keep them so entranced.

Who knew it could keep them so entertained? The pumpkin hat joke just never gets old in this house.

And neither does chasing them with pumpkin guts...
 

I think the transformation just blew their minds.



My favorite photo of the pumpkin carving didn't even have a pumpkin...well, unless you count the one on Cam's head.

I think Justin did a great job following the sketch. I did realize that Nolan is growing up. Hard to believe that it was just a couple of years ago when he screamed with terror when we put a candle inside our jack-o-lantern.

Fall, you gotta love it.

Carving time

Friday night was carving night. We've been talking about it for over a week with Nolan. He was so ready to get into that pumpkin! I had to convince him that we already have enough pumpkins at home every time we went to the grocery store for the past month. Usually I'm just a bystander in the midst of this artistry but with Justin's hand in a splint thingamajig for the past month, he needed backup this year. Nolan drew the face of the pumpkin and we went with it.

Campbell had no interest in the pumpkin (as you can see in the pictures) until he saw the guts and then was interested for a whopping 5 minutes. I don't remember pumpkin carving taking so long but with one of us handicapped (Justin physically and me artistically) and the other one chasing Campbell it was a pretty long ordeal. Campbell didn't get to see our finished product until the next morning.

Nolan was really into it until we put the candle in it and turned off the lights. That made him think twice about his friendly little pumpkin.

Pimp my pumpkin

Nolan comes by it naturally. He's so creative just like his daddy and he gets his love for fall from me. When we had Aubrey's invitation on the fridge for a month, he kept asking when we were going to the pumpkin patch. Every grocery store trip, he wanted to get another pumpkin. So I gave in and let him get a couple of small ones.

As I was unloading the groceries from the car, he found the sharpie in the drawer and drew a face on it before I even knew he was doing it. Justin, the art critic that he is, examines his pumpkin and can't believe the detail on his teeth that he can draw at the age of 4. Since we just took them to the doctor the handout for development on 4 yr olds said that he should be able to draw a circle, triangle and maybe a square...I'd say we're past that. Genius. We took a quick video of him right after he made his new friend.

I can't wait to see him when we carve a pumpkin. Stay tuned!