Halloween 2011

The holiday season has officially been kicked off with Halloween!

Another teacher and I are Student Council Sponsors at my school, and this was our first dance of the year to host our annual costume themed "Boo Bash." I initially ordered a costume online, but when it came in, it was like every other female costume: way too hoochie, especially to wear to a school function. I decided to go for Plan B, a stolen idea from pinterest. Can you guess what we are?


Paper, Rock, Scissors! :)

Brian was super sweet to bring the boys up to the dance to get their groove on. I was afraid it might be too loud, but Deacon absolutely loved it! (Notice him behind us in the pic above.)

Carson had fun dancing and eating pizza too.

On Halloween, we passed out glow bracelets (from Michael's for only $1 for 15, plus my teacher discount of 15% off ). Deacon stayed with Brian to pass them out, while the neighbors and I took the kids trick-or-treating.

By the time we rounded the corner back to our house, Carson's bag was overflowing, so he had to take off his mask and use it to collect candy in!

He has enough candy to last him a while!

Trick or Treat

Last night we celebrated Halloween by passing out candy and trick-or-treating. My sister and nephews came over and we made tacos for dinner.

Deacon helped me get the basket of candy organized for passing out...

Our boys were ABSOLUTELY adorable in their costumes! And Deacon was sweet to stay awake long enough for pictures.

I love that my boys are still young enough to wear nice, sweet costumes because I know that they will one day choose the scary, gross costumes that my nephews like and there won't be much I can do about it.

Deacon crashed out on a blanket in the yard by the time we took family photos...

Carson loved having matching Mario costumes with his Dad.

We have been projecting movies on our garage for a few years now, and it seemed appropriate to play a Mario themed cartoon...

Ethan and Brian stayed at the house with a sleeping Deacon to pass out candy, while Joni, Carson, Melissa, Caroline, and I made our rounds getting candy. We tried to talk James into going, but he wanted to stay home and pass out candy too.

We did lots of walking and the kids got tons of candy. Everyone thought Carson's costume was hilarious, and would say "Mario" with the Italian accent every time he walked up to a new house to get candy.

It was dark and we were tired and hungry by the time we made our loop back to the house.

Carson ate his taco, and then dug into the candy before bedtime.

Deacon didn't even know the excitement that he missed...

Halloween Parties

We had a jam-packed weekend full of Halloween festivities!

Friday night the junior high where I work had its 2nd Annual Boo Bash. Stephanie and I are the Student Council sponsors and were in charge of organizing it.
The kids decided this year that they wanted a haunted house, so with the help of an amazing parent we worked some magic and made a Haunted Hallway that lead to the dance. Some of our students, teachers, and parents helped out by acting in the house and scaring our students! (I'm hoping to have some great pictures from a mom and our yearbook staff soon!)

It was fun to see everyone dressed up in their costumes and having a good time. We were able to get a picture with our staff too.

Last night our friends parents had a Halloween costume party equipped with a dj and amazing decorations. It was held in their huge garage, and the weather was nice and cool for sitting outside. My sister had Carson over at her house and Brian's parents kept Deacon for his first night away from both of us.

My friend Lindsey (on the left) is 8 months pregnant with her 2nd boy, so she let her belly hang out and went as a white-trash man. I wish I would have gotten her belly in this picture.

Brian and I had lots of fun in our matching costumes. I had to explain mine to a few non-gamers, but was excited when people guessed mine correctly.

Brian thought he would be funny and scare the homeowner by pretending to fish in her pond. Our friends Corey and Stacy came in their homemade plug and socket costume.

We are dorks and had to get one picture of Brian hitting the box to get a coin...

We must be getting old because by the time midnight came we were both partied out and ready for bed, and also so excited to go home and sleep in this morning!

Jumping the Shark

I'm sure I will be posting tons of pictures of the boys in their Halloween costumes next week, but we tried Deacon's costume on him last night to see if he would like it and he is so stinkin' cute that I HAD to share!
We actually bought this for Carson's first Halloween, but he refused to wear it...so it has been in the attic waiting for our next baby to wear.

I have been considering purchasing/making a costume to match Carson's Mario costume, but as time started running out we decided to stick with this one. Next year we will plan earlier so that they can coordinate...

I'm thinking Deacon doesn't mind too much, since he kinda loves this one! :)

Don't you just want to kiss those cheekies?!?

It's FALL Y'all!

This is my most favorite season of the year!! I held out as long as I could, but today the decorations came out! From now until New Year's our yard will be adorned with festive decor, and I couldn't be more excited!

First off, HALLOWEEN!!

While the outside of house is in season, the inside is needing some work matching. I have some projects in mind and am hoping I can start soon and share...

"Trick-or-Treat, Smell My Face"

Yesterday the weather was beautiful, so we decided to start our Halloween off in Kemah. They advertised having trick-or-treating and lots of shows for the kiddos down on the boardwalk, so it was a fun way to start the day.

Before we left both of my boys decided to use some of Carson's left-over "Big Boy Fairy" hair spray to get into the spirit of things. Here they are showing off their blue 'do's:

My parents, sister, and nephews met us down there for the festivities as well, and we decided to enjoy lunch outside at the Flying Dutchman.

Carson is known for being the kid who will eat just about anything, and if he doesn't like it, he is at least willing to try. Brian ordered raw oysters for his meal, and challenged Carson to eating one. Being our little hoover, Carson was more than happy to sample. Anytime a kid tries raw oysters merits photos being taken...

The look on his face in the last picture was the immediate reaction after chewing for about a minute. When he finally got it down, he smiled and said it was "yummy." lol


After we were done with our meal, we headed over to watch a magic show & take our picture by the giant pumpkin. (Somewhere around this house I have a picture of me wearing the exact same shirt when I was pregnant with Carson posing by the giant pumpkin in Kemah. It would be interesting to compare tummy's)

Poor Carson insisted on sitting down, and is camouflaged by mine & Brian's bellies.

After photos, Brian & Ethan went through the haunted house while Carson & I went to all the shops to trick-or-treat. When we were finished, we headed home to get ready for the night.

There is a great taqueria/market by our house that sells fantastic marinated fajita meat. Last year we grill fajitas, projected movies on our garage, passed out candy & took Carson trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. It worked out so well, we have decided to make it our tradition. Brian's aunt & uncle came over, as did my sister and her boys. We projected "Monsters vs. Aliens" on our garage and passed out candy until it was time to go trick-or-treating.

Carson was a still a little tired from Kemah when the party got started, so he napped in the lawn chair until our first trick-or-treaters arrived.

James, Carson's best friend who lives next door, showed up in his fireman outfit! Carson had just woken up at this point and could not be convinced to smile for the pictures...

After more children arrived, Carson was given the job of passing out candy, and took it very seriously!

A few of the kids who stopped by would say, "trick or treat, smell my feet!" Carson thought this was hilarious, except for the fact that he misunderstood them. The rest of the night he told everyone "trick or treat, smell my FACE!" lol It was so cute, and I probably should have corrected him, but everyone got a good laugh every time he said it!

Once the boys arrived, Aunt Debra took over passing out candy, while we went on our candy hunt. We had to explain to Carson that the houses would be giving US candy and not the other way around...he was convinced that we were supposed to take our bucket of candy with us and knock on doors to give them candy. He was thrilled each time he walked away from a house with more candy in his bag, like the people who lived there made a mistake.

We made one huge lap around the neighborhood and came back home to eat candy & fajitas. By the time we got back all of the candy had been passed out, and Brian had improvised by passing out left-over Valentine's pencils to the poor children who stopped by... Luckily, I had another stash in the kitchen he didn't see, but I am wondering if we will get any kids at our house next year or be known as the weird pencil house...lol

As the night wound down all the kids came inside to play and eat their candy, while the adults watch the UT/Oklahoma State game. I think everyone had a great time!

Halloween Luncheon

Today our math department at my school was responsible for providing lunch for all of our staff. Being that it is the day before Halloween, we had a "Spooky/Halloween Theme." Carson also had a party at his school today, and we were in charge of making turkey sandwiches for it as well. For those of you who don't know, I'm not very domestic, but I do enjoy making food for events! I have spent the past few weeks browsing the internet to find entrees that fit our theme & am happy with the results!

Brian had to work last night, so I recruited my mom & Carson to help me make all the dishes. Here is Carson showing off his sticky hands after helping to stir one of the dips.

I am so glad I had them, because with the three of us its still took close to 3 hours to get everything finished and my preggo ankles were so swollen, I immediately went and soaked in the bathtub while my mom graciously cleaned the kitchen.

All the food turned out fantastic and was gobbled up at today's luncheon. I thought I would share a couple of the recipes with you, possibly for Thanksgiving or just so I can remember them next year.

Ingredients:
1 pkg. (2-layer size) yellow cake mix
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin, divided
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup oil
4 eggs
1-1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, divided
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed
1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping
1/4 cup chopped PLANTERS Pecans

HEAT oven to 350°F.
BEAT cake mix, 1 cup pumpkin, milk, oil, eggs and 1 tsp. spice in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Pour into 2 greased and floured 9-inch round pans.
BAKE 28 to 30 min. or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 min. Remove from pans to wire racks; cool completely.
BEAT cream cheese in medium bowl with mixer until creamy. Add sugar, remaining pumpkin and spice; mix well. Gently stir in COOL WHIP. Cut each cake layer horizontally in half with serrated knife; stack on serving plate, spreading cream cheese filling between layers. (Do not frost top layer.) Drizzle with caramel topping just before serving; top with nuts. Refrigerate leftovers.

This one was my VERY favorite & I will be making it again for Thanksgiving:

Ingredients:
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 jar (7 oz.) JET-PUFFED Marshmallow Creme
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

MIX all ingredients until well blended; cover. Refrigerate several hours or until chilled.

Serve with cookies or fruit.

(*As you can see above I hollowed out a small pumpkin to put the dip into)

Pretty much just deviled eggs with green olives for eyes

Sandwiches cut with Halloween cookie cutters

Hope you have a fantastic Halloween & get lots of treats!

P.S. Are you impressed with my photo editing skills??? I heart Picnik!

Pumpkin Patch

Every year we take Carson to a pumpkin patch near our house for pictures. I must say this year he was the most cooperative! He kept running around saying "take my picture here" and then striking a pose. He was also VERY excited to make his debut as a frog.

Carson with the pumpkin he chose