Our Halloween Weekend.

Otherwise known as the longest post in the history of man.  :p
I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend.   Ours was extremely busy, but I think the boys had a lot of fun.

Saturday my husband did yard work while I closed myself off from the world and concentrated on homework.  Trying to keep current with my classes in this last trimester, and now trying to get ahead a tad so things will be easier after the baby has kept me insanely preoccupied.   My new motto is - It will all be worth it in the end.   Someone tell me I'm right!  LOL!

I walked outside Saturday afternoon to see my husband sacking up a million and one pine needles.  Let's just say that some of my ideas aren't always the greatest.  :p  We were officially the trashiest house on the block when we were done transforming our garbage bags full of needles into this:

I even encouraged Brodie to draw creepy ghost faces onto quarter filled bags which I then hung from the trees.

Oh yeah, I went there.   haha.

Honestly, I didn't feel too bad about our trashy look when I saw several trick-or-treaters posing with our trash bags the next evening.  Honestly though, you'll see why this is so funny to me if you could see the yards of our neighbors.  Don't worry... I took photos, they're coming up! 

Saturday evening we took the boys to pick out pumpkins.

Yes, it was the end of October and my boys are wearing shorts and summery shoes.  Gotta love Texas.

Daddy- "Rylan, come draw a scary face on your pumpkin for me."

hahahah... the smallest pumpkin face ever!

I must admit that I really do have the best husband who is the best daddy ever.  While I was busy doing more homework on Sunday afternoon, he carved pumpkins with the boys.  (I did sneak in and take a photo or two).

Sunday evening (Halloween) we took the boys to a local church for their Trunk or Treat.  I was able to get this photo of all four of us before leaving the house.

Now, can you believe these decorations?  We were afraid that moving to a neighborhood with not many kids would be a little dull on Halloween.  Man were we wrong.  These were all ON our street. 

I believe that if we want to hang with our neighbors next Halloween, we'd better started planning now.  haha.

I only hope they get this excited about Christmas!

I hope you and your families had a spookily-safe Halloween!

-Courtney

Trick-Or-Treat...

The best part about Trick-Or-Treating last night?

It didn't rain!

You'd never know it from all the rain today, but we lucked out and had a really great night!

We had to wait for Will to get home from the airport before heading out into the neighborhood, so the kids set up a table, three chairs and the candy bucket...

and had a good time passing out candy and checking out all the kids in their fun costumes!


Ellison took her job very seriously, asking kids how they were doing and telling them how cute they looked...

It was pretty adorable!

The boys' costumes came with scary masks, but they were very kind and decided not to wear them while they passed out candy. That way they wouldn't scare any of the little kids.

Sweet boys!

BOO!

Ellison anxiously awaiting the arrival of more kids.

And then finally, Dad was home and it was their turn to go Trick-Or-Treating!

First, Grandma's house...

where they were spoiled with goody bags!

A few more stops...



and then back home...

to our Hot Dog...

Scout!


I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!

..........................................................................


That being said, can you believe that it is November already?

Where has the year gone?

But I can't say that I'm entirely disappointed.

I hear turkey and cranberries calling my name.

:)

Happy Halloween...

This years objective for Halloween:

make it Spooky, but not Scary.

This was the first year that the boys begged me to go scary with the decor. But with a 4 year old little girl, I just can't do scary.

The compromise: Skulls and Spiders with emphasis on Trick-Or-Treating!


The boys are happy because they are way into the skulls, but Ellison is happy too because none of it is scary enough to be nightmare-inducing!

And that makes Mama very happy!

:)

First, I needed a few candle holders. I lucked out when our local thrift store had these...

A few coats of glossy, black spray paint later and they were perfect for my Halloween mantle...



I found this spidery runner and laid it down first...


Added a few skulls (the boys love this one the most!)...



A free printable from The Graphics Fairy - LOVE her!

And four cute, little bottles with skull stoppers from TJ Maxx...

Some candy corn for color and to reinforce the "Trick-Or-Treat" theme...


A little bit of Spanish Moss here and there...

Candles and Spiders...

And the coolest glittery, black paper chandeliers from Martha Stewart and JoAnne Etc...

I hung one on each side of the mantle...

And Halloween just wouldn't be complete without a few stray crows...

A little more orange, by way of a framed greeting card...

and a Jack-O-Lantern...

And it all comes together to make a slightly-Spooky-but-not-Scary Halloween mantle!

The skeletons found themselves placed around the house, which the kids (and Will too!) love moving into different poses! This one is by Martha Stewart from JoAnne's...

love him - he's a keeper!

Some sticky spiders...

and spider webs...

were just enough to make the house feel ready for Halloween!


It was fun to have the kids fully involved in it this year. Here is how Ellison decorated when we first open up our Halloween boxes...

She was super proud of herself!

:)


And Mummy Pizza's were a huge hit!

Will and I got lucky this year - my best friend hosted a Costume Party on Friday night and it was SO much fun!

Here are a few of us girls...

(my BFF - Medusa)

And now it's dark and the kids are chomping at the bit to get out there and start ringing doorbells!

Off to Trick-Or-Treat!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Be safe!

P.S. I am linking to:

The Inspired Room, Just A Girl, Tatertots & Jello