Fall Parties and Such

WEDNESDAY NIGHT TRICK OR TREATING

Our Halloween festivities began on Wednesday night when all the kiddos at church dressed up and went trick or treating next door at Grant Village. This has become such a nice tradition, and our neighbors next door love seeing the kids all dressed up and passing out candy.

Our kids debuting Luigi, a vampire and an Ice Wolf Ninja.

A couple of fearsome creatures invading Grant Village.

And, a couple of cuties!

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THURSDAY FALL PARTIES AT PLANO

The most beautiful witches at Plano. Karson opted out of her vampire attire simply because it was a little to complicated to pull off at school. The face paint was also starting to annoy her (and me).

A couple of 3rd grader guys. The guy dressed in the wolf costume has called Karson a couple of times. I say to her, "Karson, why is ___ calling you?" Karson says, "we like each other." Me, "What does that mean?" Karson, "we're friends, we like each other." Whew.

These are the boys I would prefer to have calling her, SHOULD a boy call her at ALL. The transformer has been in her class the last three years, and they are the best of buds (and his mom and I are close and swap stories). Luigi's mom and Matt went to school together, and they are the most precious family with FOUR boys--wow. The kid in the brown has been to our house and Karson to his and is so sweet, and I just love his mom. Another bonus, all three boys are HER AGE.

Isaac the Ice Wolf Ninja and his buddy Tommy--love these little guys.

Isaac and Nathan enjoying the cookies they iced and decorated.

The whole class in their get-ups.

And, a special performance for your entertainment.

We also had our Halloween parties at EEP on Thursday. Miles is completely obsessed with Super Mario Brothers lately. My friend Lisa told me about the Super Mario costumes at Walmart, and Miles and I went ASAP. Although he didn't wear the mustache, I thought he looked just adorable in his Luigi outfit.

After attending THREE different parties on Thursday, I was completely POOPED. Our house is already flooded with candy,and we haven't even had Halloween yet.

My sweet little preschool class!

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FRIDAY NIGHT ADULT HALLOWEEN PARTY

Our friends Dax and Katie Evans (below) hosted an adult Halloween party. I found some great afro wigs (wigs are the about the simplest costumes there are), and POOF, Matt and I had a plan. We'd originally thought about going as a 70's disco couple, but once we started getting ready, Matt looked more like a latino, guido and I looked like Gilly from Saturday Night Live.

Here are some other characters from the PAR-tay:

Cousin Eddie and a witch.

A drunk Mexican and facebook friend.

A couple of spooky vampires.

It was a dance party/bonfire/funfest. We're looking forward to spending the holiday in Talbott Place tomorrow afternoon with lots of family, friends and some yummy SOUP.

Jackson's Orchard TAKE TWO

Me and four of the sweetest 2nd grade girls (Karson, MayKayla, Kaylee and Emma) went Jackson's Orchard today to celebrate Karson's 8th birthday. School was out of session today~what a treat!

These four gals were in class together last year and though this year they are separated, I'm thankful they've all remained such good friends.

I was excited when I found out Warren County was out on Karson's birthday which landed on a Friday of all days (the perfect combo). I called my fellow mothers and asked if I could borrow their girls for the morning. I figured Jackson's Orchard would be the perfect place to celebrate such a wonderful day!

They had fun racing down the slides and playing in the play area. I believe the highlight of the day was running around under the tent filled with hay bales. They were covered in hay and lovin' every minute of it.

We made our way over to the cornfield maze. The girls DID NOT want me to go in with them. I told them I wouldn't (but lied) and followed from way back behind. Little independent thangs think they don't need us =).

Honestly, these girls really didn't need me. They were so "grown up" acting the whole day.

Well, maybe not???

Before leaving Jackson's, we picked out pumpkins to take home and capped off the event with an apple slush.

I took the girls to McDonald's for lunch before taking them home. We sure had a great time and are thankful for sweet friends and trusting mommies =).

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Karson got to celebrate her birthday with her classmates at school yesterday. I took in our favorite--GREAT AMERICAN DONUTS--yummo! Karson's class was so polite about everything. I had a couple of them offer to help me pass out things or pour drinks. Almost everyone of them said thank you and were appreciative. What a sweet group of boys and girls! I got Karson a dozen donut holes, got her teacher an apple fritter (I know how to butter those teacher's up), and got the class and assortment of chocolate and glazed donuts.

Can you tell I got them a little sugared up? Miles LOVED every minute of it. Thanks Ms. Pridemore for letting me invade your class and LOAD them up with sugar!

Jackson Orchard TAKE ONE

Apple slush, a cookie and a pumpkin, symbolize the "token" field trip that takes place in Bowling Green around this time of the year. Different schools, programs and counties flock to Jackson's Orchard, one of the loveliest areas in our city

I had the privilege of sharing J.O. with my handsome little man Isaac today. It's a rare occasion that he and I get ALONE time together. I made plans for Miles and decided to make today just about Isaac. Isaac always been such a snuggle bug. I love how he just comes up to me and still plops down in my lap like he's a toddler.

Isaac, being the funny guy he is, has so many friends. Here he is with his buddies Caleb and Tommy.

And Donovan, Logan and Cody. He wants to have a playdate soon and invite all these fellas over. Oh my, I may have to let DAD be in charge of that one, huh.

Class picture at the corn maze.

Isaac lifting up one of the heavier pumpkins. The kids were asked to choose small ones which is fine by me. I can't imagine the teachers having to lug pumpkins this size onto the bus with 20+ kids.

The super fast slides. I opted out of these this year. They are ridiculously fast. I think I flew right off of one last year (much like Clark Griswold on his flying saucer in Christmas Vacation). I like how Isaac is doing a "dead man" pose, arms across the chest.

Another sweet shot of Isaac and his bud Tommy. We had a grand time at the ol' Orchard. I'll be going back tomorrow with Karson and some of her friends to celebrate her birthday, girl style.

October FEST

I love it when my kids birthdays actually fall on the weekend. Miles's birthday was today! Born on a Tuesday four years ago to one crazy family, bless his heart, his life has been fast paced from the get go. Miles is no longer our little pooh bear, he's getting bigger and bigger and no longer WANTS to be called little pooh bear. He needs to relay that message to his big sister who made him the cutest card on Thursday. On Friday before school, she and Isaac took money out of their piggy banks and put it in the card. How sweet is that!

I love my kids. I know every parent says that, but I can't imagine having sweeter, smarter, more loving children than I do. Don't get me wrong, the test me ALL THE TIME with their antics--like when Karson pushed the lid into her birthday cake today at Walmart and messed it up. OR, when Isaac was trying to bite Miles on the head after his party. And when Miles asked me to open his umphteeth present at 8:00 p.m. tonight. Trust me, I wasn't in a loving mood at those points--more like angry, "about to start my cycle", devil woman mode. But they simply get to me with their loving, forgiving, you hang the moon Mommy attitudes.
What's even cooler than that is that I am surrounded by people~family and friends~who love my children as much as I do. A friend at church told me today, right out of the blue, how much she just loved all three of my kids. Talk about making a mommy smile. And, then, this afternoon, we celebrated TWO birthdays with our nearest and dearest who showered my kids with love and generous gifts.

I went with a SpongeBob theme this year. I'm sure you're thinking...Miles must love SpongeBob, and he actually does, but the main reason I went with this theme is because I found some bubbles 80% off at Cracker Barrel and thought that would make a great party favor.

Not sure how SpongeBob tied into it, but it worked for me - a theme was born and an invitation created.

SpongeBob, Sandy and Patrick welcoming our guests on the sidewalk leading up to our house.

Our SpongeBob spread complete with pineapple, fruit kabobs Cheetoes and krabby patties. McDonald's hooked us up with cheap cheeseburgers for the par-TAY. Give them a call if you're looking into burgers for your birthday bash but don't want to cook. Since we had the party right after church, cooking was NOT on the agenda. Heck, cooking is rarely on the agenda at my house party or not.

Our party guests...

including my sweet Pogue grandparents from Louisville.

Birthday guests are the BEST!

Stinkin' wind kept blowing out their candles. BUT, I can't complain because the weather was perfect--a beautiful fall day!

Happy 4th Miles!!!!

Now it's Karson's turn--Happy 8th!!! Her birthday is Friday, and we are out of school that day. It's about time her birthday was reason enough for school to be cancelled =).

TIME FOR PRESENTS

Look at their loot!

Miles was cracking me up while opening his presents. We were telling him who they were from and he was saying, "so and so here's your present." He thought the presents he was opening were for the friends who gave them to him. It was so cute!

My big girl reading her birthday cards.

The day was capped off with a hayride courtesy of the Vernon's. It was the perfect end to one fine party!!!