Trick-or-Treating on Halloween

Yay! It's finally Halloween. Time to gather the candy! To start out our trick-or-treating, my mom met Brayden and me at South Towne mall.

Almost every store had someone out front that was dressed up and handing out candy to the kids. Brayden had a blast collecting as many Dum-Dum suckers and Tootsie Rolls as he could get his hands on.

Once we all get tired of that, we went home to meet up with Craig, Deana and Lucky. After a quick dinner, we bundled up and went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. I was surprised at the quality of candy that these neighbors passed out. I've never seen one little kid with so many full-size candy bars.

As it got later, we drove over to the Matiyasic's (where Deana stayed) and the Shane's to show off Brayden's costume. Our final stop of the night was my friend, Carissa's, in-laws. They live in a beautiful neighborhood that goes all out for Halloween. There were so many visitors, so we had to park out of the main road and walk to the house. Their entire yard was decorated and Carissa's husband and brother-in-law were in costumes on stilts. It was awesome. It was ridiculous how many people there were though. So many houses had already run out of candy before we got there. Looks like this will have to be out first stop next year.

Even though the last neighborhood was almost a complete bust, Brayden still made out like crazy. We have enough candy to keep our little family very happy for a while.

Happy Halloween!

Craig's Bowling League

At the end of August, Craig's bowling league started up their 2011-2012 season. He joined the Matiyasic's team again since Deana still isn't interested in bowling. They get together every Sunday evening (minus Christmas and New Year's) until May when they'll finish up the season in Vegas. Last year, Craig learned a lot about bowling, but this year he has really gotten comfortable with it. He loves the game! Someday, I hope to be able to do this as a family.

Furse's Halloween Party

This evening was my mom's Halloween Party. It was fun to see how much thought and planning she put in to this to make it a success. This first thing we did when we got there was coloring on pumpkins grown from my mom's garden. Brayden isn't one to enjoy a mess, so he really enjoyed decorating pumpkins like this.

After, we played pin the nose on the jack-o-lantern. I was way off, but Brayden's was almost right on. Next we had a pumpkin walk (similar to musical chairs, but the number of pumpkins doesn't decrease). I guess I forgot to take pictures of that event.

Then it was time for pumpkin bowling. I think this may have been Brayden's favorite activity. He got so excited evey time he knocked a cup over.

Dean was the pumpkin bowling king! I think he got three strikes in a row. Quite impressive!

     

Then, while my mom finished prepping the Navajo Tacos for dinner, the rest of us went bobbing for apples. Most got pretty wet, but I managed to keep my hair dry. 

To finish off the evening, the kids sat down for a game of Monopoly. This party was so much fun. I'm so glad Brayden was able to be apart of his own Halloween Party.

Pumpkin Carving at the Shane's

Today, Jan invited all of us over to carve pumpkins and have lunch. When we got there, everything was already set up in the backyard. Thankfully the weather cooperated with us. It was a beautiful day!

After carving on our own last night, I wondered if Craig would be a little burnt out. Nope. Again, he cleaned out my pumpkin for me and then chose a rather complex design for his own pumpkin.

Brayden enjoyed playing around in the shade under the tables, helping wherever it was needed.

This is the final result of the afternoon. My pattern was originally a lot more complicated, but rather than carving out Mickey's face, I just gave him a silhouette. I love it! And Craig's mummy was awesome. It took him quite awhile.

The lasagna lunch that Jan had ready for us afterwards was delicious. Holidays really are so much better with family.

5 1/2 Months Pregnant

I've really wanted to take more pregnant pictures, but the times when I feel pretty and we have the camera out are few and far between. Today we have lots of fun plans with family, so I figured I'd take advantage of the chance to capture a picture with just Ella and me. I'm so excited to hold her. Only about 3 1/2 months left to go.

2nd Annual Pumpkin Carving

Our 2nd Annual Pumpkin Carving went off beautifully tonight. Tyler, Tori and Jen joined us for a Taco Soup dinner. When we started carving the pumpkins Jen left for another party. I was really impressed with Craig's speed. He gutted all three of our pumpkins and carved his angry bird and Brayden's Phineas in the time it took Tori and Tyler to finish their pumpkins. While Craig was gutting pumpkins, I was gathering pumpkins seeds to roast for the movie later. By the way, the pumpkin seeds were absolutely delicious!

Charles joined us towards the end of pumpkin carving.

Brayden found his own way to entertain himself while we carved. Hopefully next year he'll be able to actually help out.

At this point, Brayden was supposed to go to a sitter's while we watched "Paranormal Activity II", but they ended up being sick. This is where Craig and I kind of screwed up. We turned on a movie for him in our bedroom, which was fine except that the movie was "Monster House". I had never seen it before and it was a cartoon, so I didn't think it would be that big of a deal. I was wrong. Within thirty minutes or so, Brayden walked out of our room saying it was too scary. Craig and I instantly realized our blunder and turned on "Aladdin" for him. I'll make sure to watch "Monster House" with him later.

Halloween Party

Just is case you were wondering, it is really hard to find a cute Halloween costume when you are 5 1/2 months pregnant. Luckily, Deana had a black dress that fit, so I turned myself into a witch. On the other hand, Craig has wanted to be Batman. He was so excited to find one that looked good. Now all we needed was a party to show our costumes off.

Our friends, Tori and Tyler were kind enough to let us use their home to throw a party. It was a ton of fun. All of my favorite friends were there. We played games, ate delicious snacks and laughed a lot.

At one point, Craig and Charles had a slight identity crisis.

And just in case you were wondering what would happen if Batman went up against the Queen of Hearts, it looks like Batman loses.