Fright Fest

After a teeny bit of costume drama, H and C finally settled on Woody and Snow White.  And I'm pretty sure they were the cutest cowboy and princess you've ever seen...

So Sunday night we got all dressed up and headed to my sisters' church's trunk or treat.  We actually beat them there, but saw H and C's friends, Miley and Zoey...

It was a little sunny from that angle, so we tried again...

Halloween is definitely not Hunter's favorite holiday.  He becomes increasingly terrified with each semi-frightening thing or person we encounter.  So he was really reluctant to play with the other kids when we got there.  He had to examine all of the costumes first...

Char ran straight for the playground, though...

During dinner, some kids in zombie-like costumes got there.  You know H was thrilled with that.  He did manage to eat his dinner, though, and eventually walked over with Aunt Katie to set up her car.

When it was time to start trick or treating, Hunter stood with me at the front of the line repeatedly telling me that he didn't want to go to the first 2 cars because they were scary.  To his defense, the decorations on the first car were a little creepy.  I reassured him multiple times that I'd hold his hand and we'd skip the scary ones.  He seemed okay with that answer for about.8 seconds and then he'd once again tell me that he didn't want to go to the scary cars and I'd once again assure him we'd skip them.  This went on until it was time to start walking toward the cars.

Once we did start walking, he freaked. out.  I eventually knelt down in front of my hysterical, screaming 4 year old, and when I realized there was no way I could reason with him while he was in that state, I picked up his terrified, screaming self and carried him to the third car.  He was able to walk through the rest of the way without any more screaming, although we did skip a couple of cars because they were "scary".  By the end of it, though, he was exclaiming to everyone that he "got so much candy!"

Tonight we met up with my sisters again to go trick or treating in their neighborhood.  The experience was really similar.  Both kids were thrilled to get candy, but Hunter had his moments of terror.  He and I decided to end a little earlier than everyone because he had gotten to the point where he didn't want to go up to any of the houses anymore because of how scared he was.  When we came to a house with a single spider decoration and Hunter began telling us in the most dramatic, speedy way ever (wonder who he got that from?) that he refused to go because he was frustrated with how scary everything was, I realized it was time to head back.

Before any of that, though we all met at Nanny and Grandad's house...

The kids were being so goofy in the yard...

After a little while, we headed over to V and Z's neighborhood...

Here Hunter is pointing out a particularly scary item to James...

I really do love every eccentricity that Hunter has.  I'm thankful that he knows what he wants, and he's content to be who he is without worrying what others think.  Oh how I pray that he'll hold tight to that.  And although I don't want him to be afraid of things, I'd much rather have this than have him wanting to wear the scary masks.  Hopefully the day will never come when he's the one who wants to wear those gory or scary costumes!

Backyard Campout

In case you somehow missed it, I'm no outdoor girl.  There has been one time in my life that I can recall sleeping in the woods in a tent, and I use the term "sleeping" very loosely.  It was during a sisterhood retreat in college and about 1/2 of my sorority drove back to our apartments in Denton around midnight.  You know I was in that group that drove back home.  I will say, though, that I spent several nights in my dad's deer lease as a young girl.  And I can specifically recall being directed to pee on a tree in the woods.  I think we can all agree that peeing on a tree should definitely be included in the camping category.  So at least I have that on my list of roughing it activities.

Now I can add one more to that list because this weekend we had our own little family backyard camp out.  And y'all, it was my idea. 

I'll pause for dramatic effect.

Not only was it my idea, but I totally helped James put the tent up, which was a huge feat in itself if you ask me.  Putting the tent up was a little overwhelming, so we decided to forgo that rain cover thing...I know, I'm so technical with my camping terminology...luckily our camp out was on Friday night which was the night before the giant hail storm of 2011, so we didn't need that rain cover anyway.  Not that it would've done much good to protect us from the ginormous hail that rained down on Richardson and scraped TONS of paint off of my french doors.  I'm not bitter, though.

The kids loved running around in the tent once it was up.  They were so excited...

James grilled hot dogs, and we decided to eat them in the tent since they loved it so much in there...

After our hot dogs, we made s'mores, which Hunter had been so excited about, but in the end he wasn't a fan of the melted marshmallow...

James and the kids stayed in the tent all night.  I made it until 10, but to my defense, I was sick.  I had left work early that day, and then gone to lecture at UNT, which killed me...I was so feverish and achy when I got home.  Luckily the advil helped me push through our night.  Also, I'm a priss.  There, I said it.  I have no shame, people. 

On top of being prissy, I'm a worrying mother, so I was up a lot during the night worrying that someone would sneak in the back yard and hurt my family, so I ended up going out there at 6 am to hang in the tent for a little while. 

We really did have a great time, so maybe we'll make it a fall family tradition.  And maybe next year I can sleep in the tent all night...or at least a couple of hours longer:)

Boo!

The kids and I decided to make a Halloween craft on Monday, so I started searching online and we settled on this ghost.  We gathered our supplies - and let me tell y'all, cutting a branch off a tree is a lot harder than I anticipated it would be - and got to work! 

It was a really easy craft, and about 15 minutes later, we had this...

Of course the minute I picked it up to go put it outside, the buttons came sliding off the trashbag, but I thought he was still pretty cute...

And Charlotte thought he was spoooooky...

Can you tell she's frightened?! 

More Pumpkins

When I told Hunter we were going to the pumpkin patch today (in my most! excited! voice! ever!), he responded with, "We've already done that."  This is his new thing, to be the party pooper at all times.  He even often says, "I don't want to do anything fun!" while emphasizing every single word in the most stacatto, bratty tone ever.  Not that he's a brat...I mean, he's definitely no Caillou. 

(Which by the way, I happened to say, "Caillou is such a brat." one day while Hunter was watching the show, and now that's his favorite thing to say.  Well that and, "If you don't love God, then you'll go to Hell where Satan lives."  Yes, we've got some superb parenting going on over here.  Someday, my brain will have full control over stopping my mouth from spewing out words that I'll later regret.)

Anyway.

The pumpkin patch.  So we went.  Hunter didn't have a great attitude about it.  We took lots of pictures.  They weren't good.  That pretty much sums it up.  Here's the proof...

As you can see, he warmed up to it a lot after we'd been there a while.  So much that he actually didn't want to leave when it was time to go.  Both kids were really interested in the golf, but since I spent $27 on pumpkins (yes I did), I couldn't spare any more for putt putt.  We'll be sure to budget that in for next year;)

Spooky Cake Pops

Tonight we made spooky cake pops.  I found the recipe in my Better Homes and Gardens magazine from last month and thought they were adorable.  I don't know if that's how you'd describe ours... 

But Hunter was proud anyway...

And more importantly we had so! much! fun! making them:)

Just in case you want to see how cute they were in the picture...

Cinderella's Pumpkin Village

I love fall at the Arboretum.  It's for sure my favorite time of year to go, so today we headed out with the Brooks 4, Nana and Nanny.  My Nanny turned 83 yesterday, so we were so glad to have her come along with us to celebrate her birthday! 

We had tons of fun, and I really tried to get good pictures.  Sadly, though, I'm still not the best photographer...and my children grow weary of posing really quickly (as you'll soon see).

When we first got there, Hunter was so interested in all of the different pumpkins.  I loved hearing his running commentary on it.  Char didn't really get excited until we actually entered Cindrella's Pumpkin Village...

I loved the theme this year, especially Cinderella's carriage that you could pose in - the line was totally long, though, and there was no way I was waiting in it when I knew my kids would much rather explore than pose in a carriage.  Especially my son, who about 3/4 of the way through the arboretum adamently declared, "NO MORE PICTURES!!" and threw himself on the concrete steps.  Okay, okay.  We get it.  But before he got to that point, he loved looking inside the different houses...

This was Cindrella's house...

All of the pumpkins were white or gray and her slipper was sitting in that chair that got cut off by my excellent picture taking ability.

I love this picture...

 ...even though Hunter is starting to grow weary of the camera in his face:)

He perks up here, though, mostly because he gets to climb on the pile of little pumpkins...

That house behind Charlotte is the step-sister's house.  I thought it was so cool!

This was our attempt at a picture with the carriage...Ha!...

And the sea of pumpkins...

The kids had fun learning the names of all of the different kinds of pumpkins.  Clearly, it was much too exciting to sit still for...

Hunter's favorite part of the arboretum is the fish and these toads...

 He loved running under the water.

Just us girls...

 Four generations!

When we got to the area with all of the flat pools of water, Hunter exclaimed, "A pool!".  They both had so much fun putting their hands in the water and throwing money in...

We had such a fun day!  I'm hoping to go back in December for the reindeer!