Trick or Treat 2016

Happy Trick or Treat Night!

Papa Rob is tucked in bed (boo for being

sick on Halloween) and Max is actually

spending the night at Titi's house....so this

blog post will actually be happening on time!

 

We kicked off the evening with dinner.

We're predictable like that.

Max had not napped at school....so when

Mims and Grandpa got here, he was   

wound up and landed himself in his room

to calm down. 

When dinner rolled around - we put out

our spread of pulled chicken, mac and

cheese, deviled eggs, and chips...on

pumpkin plates...and shoveled it in

before the fun began!

(Thanks to Mims for brining our

favorite cookies up from Dorothy Lane Market!)

Even if Max was moody - my Halloween spirit

could not be dampened! I wore my new

LulaRoe ghost leggings proudly. And Titi

wore an actual skeleton costume! If there is

holiday attire to wear - I will for sure be

wearing it. Holiday clothes are my jam.

Leading up to Halloween - Max was all about

the cow costume.  But, after getting to wear his

car costume this past Saturday, he maintained that

he would like to wear it again tonight.

We tried really hard to convince him

to wear the cow....because it was so, so cute....

but it wasn't worth the argument tonight.

And when the first trick or treator (spelling?)

was spotted in the neighborhood - his mood

lifted and off we went!  

Full on cheesing in his Lightening McQueen

costume. Sometimes he will ask me,

"is this a good smile, mommy?" -

I think I made him anxious about

making the right face.... 

You know the one person who always manages

to get a good smile?  MIMS! Or maybe

it's because mommy took the picture?? 

 Speeding down the driveway...vroom....vroom!

We zig zagged from one side of the

street to the other for awhile.

Max did great at first using a sweet

little voice to say "Trick or Treat"

and "thank you"....but as the night wore on...

he would say, "thank you!" before

they handed him the candy! silly boy!

He also wanted Mims to carry the

candy bucket once it got heavy

(which was like after 7 pieces of

candy were in it).

 

We ended up doing both sides of our

street, and the street behind ours...which

took us in a nice loop!

This is the only photo of Max and Mama!

I was really trying hard to be in the moment and

appreciate Halloween with my best dude.

My other favorite guy, Papa Rob, was at home

handing out candy with Grandpa ....and

still recovering from his pneumonia :(

 

 I was surprised at the number of houses in our

neighborhood who really had a lot of yard

decorations, flashing lights...and even smoke!

Max was a little nervous at some of them...but

managed to power through with a little

hand holding from Mims and Mama.

 We were out for about 40 minutes and then came home

for a break.  Max proceeded to hand out candy...and then

did a little costume change (to the cow)!

We promised this time that we would take him

out in the wagon...and mostly just to see the

decorations and hit up a few more houses.

It was dark at this point - and he was definitely over

tired and less cooperative. 

However, we made it back just in time for Mims

to attempt her annual Halloween picture.

 

I'm so thankful this silly crew came out for Halloween!

It was a little harried (my own doing mostly) at the end...

but I was so proud of Max for getting out there

(and I'm not mad at all the delicious candy

currently in my cabinets).  I told him I liked

Kit Kats and M&M's....and he totally

remembered!

Happy Halloween!!

Hallo-weekend Fun!

I know actual Halloween isn't until Monday but I could

not resist using this very clever blog post title :)

Also, it feels good to dust off the old keyboard for

ye old blog post.  Without further ado - I present

all our Halloween weekend fun - starting with Friday.

 

Friday was Max's Halloween party at school

with Miss Jessi. I received this picture at 9:08 AM -

so I can only imagine the level of excitement at

her house! Or maybe she just wanted to get

the crazy sugar rush out of the way? 

Either way - the party was allllllllll Max

talked about on Friday evening - so

I think it was successful.

 I ripped the next couple pics off Miss Jessi's

Facebook account - but I really wanted you all

to experience the level of fun going down.

From ghost suckers, to the "practice trick or

treating" (only one candy each), games,

and silly foods galore! My contribution

was a bag of string cheese (in which I

drew ghost faces on and a bag of Cheetos

shaped like bones).  

 Max also came home with slime (that he

proudly proclaimed was pink, not orange),

vampire teeth, and a new appreciation for

map reading skills. The map reading and

directions were a topic they had worked on all

week with the culmination being a candy

hunt in her house following directions.

 I wasn't sure we were going to be able to

top all that fun - but we were sure going to try

on Saturday by visiting the Grange Audubon

Center's Trick or Tweet event.

We had a last minute costume change because

mommy's water bottle leaked all over the

cow costume (thankfully I realized this in the

driveway and also that we had this Lightening

McQueen costume as back up).

 

 This Audubon Center is truly a hidden gem here

in Columbus.  We had only been here one other time....

but I can assure you - we will go back!  For this event,

we got a paper pumpkin upon arriving and it

had each little station written on it with a stamp

spot for each one. If you completed each

station - including the costume parade and

book reading - then you got a goody bag!

 Max was super into the art station - making

both a Halloween lantern and a hand print ghost!

 

He also played all the games - and LOVED

the ghost bowling!  He is still mastering the

skill of rolling the ball, instead of throwing

it directly at the pins you want to hit.  

We ended with snacks, a costume parade, and

story time!  I couldn't get over how nice it was out -

like mid 70's so ...we ventured down to the wetland

area afterward! 

 

 After searching the wetland for frogs, turtles,

and dragon flies...and climbing the water tower -

we made it to the park!   

 I think he walked more than he ever has

(mostly because I didn't even offer the stroller) -

and so he promptly fell asleep in the car.

The car naps are getting tricky though

because he's so big - we have zero luck in

transferring him to his crib. So - I let him

sleep for an hour or so in the driveway.

Whatever it takes, right? 

 

Our Saturday fun wasn't over yet though!

We left Papa Rob at home (turns out he

has walking pneumonia...ugh!) - and headed

to Titi's house to carve our pumpkin.

Thankfully, she has this old tablecloth

in the garage that we threw down on the

kitchen floor and got right to work.

 Max had exactly no interest in helping clean

the pumpkin guts out - in fact he said "yuck"

when he saw them. He could only be convinced

to touch a pumpkin seed when I said I would

give him a dollar! haha! But, he was more than happy

to offer his advice on what shapes to draw for

our faces and how many teeth should be in the smile.

He also wanted to pull each piece out as we

finished up the carving.  He was like

a little supervisor....walking between Titi

and Mama and making sure things were to

his liking!

 Giving Titi the thumbs up on her design.

 We finished up our Saturday night with

dinner at Bellacino's (I can't quit that place)...

and a jaunt through Meijer for a new toy

for Max to keep at Titi's house.

He passed out on the way home...as you do

after a day full of fall fun ;)

 

Our final adventure this weekend was

on Sunday with the Dotson family (they are no

strangers to this blog :)  Max and Will are just

about six months apart - so when Max finally

warmed up - they had a great time!

The Mama's decided to leave the costumes at home

today because it's just easier. Honestly, I'm sure

Max would have wanted to take his off like

ten minutes after getting there and then I would

have had to carry it.  So, we were fine with

Halloween shirts! Their enthusiasm for all

the candy more than made up for it!

Lynn (Will's mom) told them to make

a scary face.  Max is well versed in this

face (and loves to do it in all pictures).

 

 We hit up all the high points in "Candy Land" -

including conquering the hay bale maze! They

chased each other around and over all the

bales of hay...and could only be convinced

to come out with the promise of candy!

We meandered through North America...including

the petting Zoo, and TRAIN! Both of them

were super pumped about this train ride.

I was able to get them to smile for a picture

only by saying "the conductor can't start

the train until you smile!"

And I had to laugh when Lynn asked Will

what he saw on the train ride, and he

responded "the parking lot"! :)  It's totally

true - while the train if fun - it seriously lacks

in the animal sightings.  

I got to hold the newest Dotson...Baby Jacob!

Oh my gosh...he smelled so good and

felt so little in my arms!  He also

has the best blue eyes and dark brown hair!

I can't even remember Max being that small. 

Jacob was such a trooper...snoozing

through most our morning and happy

to hang in his car seat.

Before finishing up our morning we did manage to see

the River Otters splashing around in their pools!  

I mentioned to Lynn that the Zoo has become

less about the animals for Max and more about

playground hopping.  We bounced around between

the "My House" front yard play yard, to the

train, and finally the Polar Playground today....

but again...I'm not complaining because I

just want Max to get all that energy OUT!

 

Which is why we made one more stop after

the Zoo.....to our favorite park - library park!

Also I was avoiding going home to our

germy house....and quarantining Max and

myself from Rob! :)

 

Max's imagination is really evolving lately....and

he was having such fun pretending with this stick!

It was a sword for bit...and then a walking stick....

and then he was using it to put holes in the leaves

we were collecting! Love that he likes to pretend

and be creative!

I will be sad when fall is officially "over" but

man....we have certainly made the most of it!

Our last adventure will be trick or treating

tomorrow - Max said he is going to 100

houses...oh my!  (100 is his go to number lately).

 

Happy Halloween!

and p.s. - I haven't forgotten to blog our recent trip

to Florida....just still wading through the 600 pictures!

xoxo

Haunted Greenhouse!

Unfortunately, this is not an outing Mama or

Papa go to partake in (because you know, jobs)

but Mims, Grandpa, and Max ventured over

to a Haunted Greenhouse earlier this week!

Yes, it's true!  When trying to describe its

location to Rob, he said, "Yeah I know

where that's at...but are you sure

there is anything to do there?"

Well...turns out there is! A LOT, in fact.

Lucky for you - Mims took lots of pics.

The greenhouse is called Demonye's.

And Mims kept telling me just how well

it was decorated and how clever/creative the person

who set up all the decorations must be!

For the low low price of $8 Max was actually able to

do quite a bit! (It's so nice that they don't

make the adults pay like a lot of other pumpkin places

around her). First up - hay bale mazes and a

giant rocking chair. 

And of course, measuring "How Tall This Fall".

Like I said, I think every place is required

to have one of these signs 

Halloween games....

Haunted Bone Yard/Dig Pit

Mims reported that Max was a little

iffy on the actual "Haunted" part...so

it seems he just cruised by the witches,

ghosts, and other frights.

 

And yes, yes he is wearing his Halloween

glow in the dark bone pajamas.

Mims does not feel the need to enforce

the changing out of jammies rule.

And told us that "lots of people commented

on how great his pants were". 

This place seemed full of photo opps - so Mims wasted no

time getting her picture with Frankenstein!

Not pictured but also fun - Max got to pick and paint another

pumpkin, plant a pansy, make a popcorn hand, drink a juice box,

bounce in (another) pumpkin bounce house, and

play around in the corn pit!

This place seems like such a gem (though Mims

said she couldn't imagine going on a weekend

because it would probably be really crowded).

I can really appreciate all the thoughtfulness

that goes into planning all the kid games,

maintaining the tables and chairs for families

to sit in (much appreciated), and cute little

photo spots.  

I think next year, this is definitely a spot I want

to check out with Max too :)  

After a morning at the Greenhouse - they finished up

with some lunch at McDonald's and crafting

back at Titi's house! Max is on a roll with all his

Halloween crafts - he added a Count Dracula

and Witch to our wall!

Funny story, Mims asked Max if he needed help

with the scissors and he said, "no, I will just take

it easy". This made me laugh :)

 

I'm so grateful that even though I don't get

to go on every outing...that these three get

to have adventures every week! And,

that they always send me pictures :)

 

xxoo