Halloween has got to be my favorite holiday of the year. I am probably joined in this sentiment only by goths, witches, and mass murderers, but I just can't help getting all giddy when I see the orange and black decorations starting to emerge at all of the stores in late summer. Halloween has only gotten more fun with the birth of our children and this year has got to be our best yet. Gray took weeks to decide what he wanted to dress up as, poring over all of the catalogs we got in the mail. First it was Ironman, then Batman, then Kungfu Panda, so I waited as long as I could before buying one for fear he would change his mind. When Lovie and Papa gave him a Buzz Lightyear costume for his birthday, I thought for sure that would seal the deal and he would be one of the thousands of space rangers roaming the neighborhood. But ultimately, after seeing the Spiderman costume with the built-in pecs, he had made up his mind (thank goodness).
Hayes, on the other hand, seemed to want nothing to do with dressing up. I purchased what I'm sure will be the last costume that I have any say in and was in stitches when I saw my little pink poodle. She immediately tore the chenille puffs off of her arms, tore feverishly at the sequined collar around her neck, and screamed when we put her dog ears on. But thanks to her paci, we did manage to get one decent picture of her in
it and it is one I will always get a laugh out of.
Since Halloween wasn't until Sunday this year, we pretty much celebrated it for 3 days straight (not that I'm complaining of course). First, the kids had parties at their school. Then we went to Katie and Ed's for their annual Halloween bash with all the kiddos.
And Sunday we went to the Whittingtons for their daughter's 3rd birthday party, which was of course Halloween-themed. After wearing his Spiderman costume since Friday morning, Gray was still suprisedly sporting it come Sunday night when we headed over to the annual Northwood Drive Halloween party.We had a great time hanging out with our neighbors and then Lovie, the Kirklands, Aunt Lala, Uncle Andrew, and Cousin Greer joined us for trick-or-treating.
Gray was like a well-oiled machine, moving from houses to house, ringing doorbells, grabbing candy, and spouting thank-you's with the utmost efficiency. Even Hayes had the grabbing candy/"thank you" part down by the end of the night.
It was a great night and we made some great memories. I'm already looking forward to next year's Halloween and it's not even Thanksgiving yet!
We celebrated Aunt Lala's birthday this week with some yummy apps at our house
Lauren's Goat Cheese Birthday Torte
and had a great time visiting and watching the kiddos play. It melted my heart watching how sweet Gray was to Greer, bringing her toys, showing her how to play with them, etc....especially since it's such a contrast to how he plays with Hayes. Gotta love that brother-sister dynamic!
I have been busy working on grants for Visible School and am starting up work on Staxtacular 2011. I can't believe it's time to start planning the event already, but I'm so excited to be a part of such a fun and worthy cause again. I've also been doing some more door signs for people and here are 2 of the most recent ones.
A Circus Birthday Sign for My Friend's Son in Nashville
A Welcome Baby Sign for My Friend's 1st Nephew
Adam has been gone for most of the week on a business trip so we're looking forward to a low-key weekend with the fam, which we are kicking off tonight with lasagna, red wine, and a couple episodes of "Friday Night Lights". We took advantage of his early afternoon return and headed downtown today for a late lunch on the patio at "Lunchbox Eats". It's in a not-so-frequented area of town but I think this restaurant just might change that. If you haven't been, it's a must-try. Anywhere that serves macaroni and cheese as a condiment on a sandwich is on my short list. We also tried the chicken and cheddar waffle sandwich...another too-good-to-be-true combo in my opinion. It was fun to drive around the downtown/midtown area and see all the new buildings, adding sites to our must-see list and restaurants to our need-to-try list. I think we forget about how cool Memphis is when we stay in our little bubble and it was good to be reminded of why we love this place, even with all of its issues.
Halloween has got to be my favorite holiday of the year. I am probably joined in this sentiment only by goths, witches, and mass murderers, but I just can't help getting all giddy when I see the orange and black decorations starting to emerge at all of the stores in late summer. Halloween has only gotten more fun with the birth of our children and this year has got to be our best yet. Gray took weeks to decide what he wanted to dress up as, poring over all of the catalogs we got in the mail. First it was Ironman, then Batman, then Kungfu Panda, so I waited as long as I could before buying one for fear he would change his mind. When Lovie and Papa gave him a Buzz Lightyear costume for his birthday, I thought for sure that would seal the deal and he would be one of the thousands of space rangers roaming the neighborhood. But ultimately, after seeing the Spiderman costume with the built-in pecs, he had made up his mind (thank goodness).
