Halloween 2016 {Holiday Chronicles}

This year for Halloween, we were invited to 5 different places to trick or treat with friends. We ended up at 4 of those 5, because thankfully, they all ended up on different days.

Hanley dressed as the same cheetah/kitty for all the events and Conrad had a dragon costume, only Conrad actually never wore his costume.

The first event was my brother's church Trunk or Treat. It was a great time with a huge turnout. Seeing all the different ways the trunks were decorated is always so fun! It was nearly 80 degrees that Sunday and that's almost unheard of for where we live. Hanley didn't have to wear any undergarments under her dress and Conrad wore his skeleton jammies because his dragon costume was so warm with thick fleece.

The next weekend we went trick or treating at my grandma's house. My brother, his kids, and my cousin Lisa and her kids were there too!  We only made it 2 blocks before Hanley said she was finished and wanted to head back. It was very nice day and perfect for trick or treating so I didn't fight with Conrad on wearing his dragon costume.  

The next day we were invited to trick or treat with our friends. It rained for the first 10 minutes of us walking around but it ended up clearing up and was a decent day. Conrad still refused to wear his dragon costume so skeleton pajamas layered over other clothes it was! 

By the final day of trick or treating, Hanleys face was reacting to all the makeup I had been using to draw on her cheetah spots so we didn't give her a kitty face. 

The kids had a blast with all their friends and of course getting loads of candy. Conrad picked up the concept right away and he was absolutely adorable holding out his pumpkin bucket to collect his treats! 

I will most likely freeze some candy and use it for the pinata at Conrad's birthday party next year. 

In addition to all the trick or treating we participated in, Hanley got to dress up for her weekly dance class and Michael and I went to an adult Halloween party at a friend's house. Michael doesn't care to dress up but I went all out. 

Pumpkin Farm and Pumpkin Carving

We took the kids to a pumpkin patch with my in-laws and we all had a great time! There are dozens of pumpkin farms to choose from but we went to the same one from last year because we had such a good time. There is so much to do there and it's not over the top priced, in my opinion. Kingsway Pumpkin Farm.

I'm not gonna lie, I participated in quite a few fun activities myself, (Michael too!). Visiting a pumpkin farm is what really sets off Fall for me. Although I bought our pumpkins at our grocery store prior to going to the farm.

Hanley has never ever been a fan of pumpkin guts so I typically have to scrape them all myself. And this year she asked for a kitty pumpkin and didn't really care to help carve so I ended up doing both pumpkins myself. 

The kids both painted a little pie pumpkin, which we then roasted the seeds from, baked the pumpkins and used the puree to bake pumpkin and chocolate chip muffins!  

Happy Halloween {The Fall Chronicles}

Halloween around here, Ohio, can be hit or miss with the weather. For the last two years, the actual day of Halloween was rainy. Who wants to walk around trick or treating when its cold, yucky, and rainy; am I right!? So for this reason, and because I'm into making my little girl smile (and my husband a little crazy) I had us booked for nearly an entire week straight with various trick or treating, just in case Halloween came around and the weather was too yucky and we missed out all together.

We attended our local zoo's Boo at the Zoo which is always fun. We also went to the mall when they had a trick or treating event and 3 different neighborhood trick or treats (on different days).

I started asking Hanley in the beginning of October what she wanted to be for Halloween, on purpose, in case she flip flopped on her decision. Every time I would ask her, her answer was always Elsa. OK, I can deal with an Elsa, if that's what she wanted - and she told me that for a solid 3 weeks. Then a little over a week before Halloween, she came running to me and said "mom, I want to be a vampire! The most scary vampire in the whole entire world!" Then I started asking her daily and from them on it was always a vampire.

Conrad had a peapod costume and also a spider costume.

Hanleys pumpkin