Third Annual Frito Pie Fright Night

It’s hard to believe we’ve been doing this for three years! You can read here about the 1st and 2nd annual Fright Nights.

The Sullivans offered to host again (which is so great – we love their neighborhood!). This year, the party GREW. I think I counted 20 kids, give or take a few. Dinner was a little crazy. There were kiddos everywhere. A few friends ended up with frito pie on their bottoms as they shuffled around and sat in each other’s plates.

These little guys watched the action from the safety of their blanket. I would love to know what they were thinking about all the shenanigans going on around them!

Once dinner was over, we headed out for the trickin’ and treatin’. Ben apparently had somewhere to be, because he was sprinting like a mad man from house to house. He was so funny leading the charge and shouting “lights off, lights OFF!” as he passed up houses where no one was home. Grace took her sweet time, and Noah was content to just chill in the stroller. I thought that he would surely fall asleep along the way, but I guess he didn’t want to miss anything.

Ben and Grace were both excited to show off their loot. We’ll have candy for weeks!

Cole and Elise are our neighbors and their Mommy & Daddy had to work, so we brought them along with us.  The more the merrier!

Here I am with my two besties (and fellow creators of Frito Pie Fright Night). Please ignore my hair. Thanks, ladies, for telling me that part of my pony tail was trying to depart from my head. So much for true friendship. ;)

Brian and I were EXHAUSTED by the time we made it home. These two were still going strong, though. Gracie sure loves her Noah!

Happy Halloween!

October Randomness

Much of October was busy and action filled. However, we also had our fair share of sweet moments around the house. Here are a few pictures to document how we spent our free time. 

Noah and Army had a play date one afternoon. It was good for them to have some quality time together.

 



We took our fair share of naps.

 

Sometimes we napped with friends.

Sometimes we napped with Daddy

Sometimes we just bounced around in the bed...

Or lounged on the couch. 

We tried out a few new fashion trends.

There was the good...

 the bad...



...and the ugly. 

Ben claims that he thought these were his pants. Right. 

One of the favorites of the month was pumpkin carving. I'll admit, I wasn't too thrilled when Brian brought home this gi-nor-mous pumpkin, but he and Ben did a great job carving it!

Whew... what a fun October! Last thing on the agenda is Halloween. Before we know it, it will be Gobble Gobble time!

Halloween Costumes!

I had a different theme in mind for Halloween this year (think Neverland). Then I saw this football onesie on Pinterest and that was that. It was the most simple costume EVER. Total investment: $4.75 and 30 minutes of sewing!

I know I’m biased, but he has to be the CUTEST football ever!

It was not a hard jump from football to football player and cheerleader. The best part about Ben & Grace’s costumes is that they will double as game day gear for a year or two! I did want to throw in a little DIY for their costumes, too. Gracie got homemade bows (Yay for learning to make my own bows – that’ll save me some cash for sure!). Ben got homemade shoulder pads. We looked into getting some pads for him to wear from the store, but I nearly choked when I saw how expensive they were. The pads I made him were FREE! I used 2 old t-shirts from the rag bucket and polyfil that I already had in my stash. I sewed the two pieces together, stuffed them, and then stitched over the different areas to make the shoulders, back and front sections.

So here they are: my football player and cheerleader. They both really loved their costumes, which is the most important thing, right?!

Halloween has become such a fun tradition around here. I wonder what we’ll do next year…

Maw Maw Ruby

On our way home from Holly's shower, we stopped to visit Maw Maw Ruby (my mom's mom). I got a great picture of her and the kids.


Love you, Maw Maw!



A Froggy Shower

Gavin and Holly are expecting a little boy, so Mom, Aunt Cindy, Aunt Karen & I threw her a baby shower. I chose a froggy theme to coordinate with her nursery. The printables came from an Etsy store and they were PRECIOUS, but oh-holy-night, did it take forever to cut all of those things out. My favorite decorations were the pom poms & the diaper motorcycle (a fun variation of a diaper cake). I had a blast crafting and decorating for the party. There was a great turnout and a few friends stayed well after the official festivities were over. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.



The very excited mommy-to-be



Mom, Aunt Cindy, & Aunt Karen made a TON of yummy food. I was in charge of decorations & dessert. I love how those little pin wheels came out.



The spread was incredible



The water bottles had cute wrappers and we had some coordinating green punch.





The dessert table had cupcakes & chocolate covered popcorn. It also displayed two of my gifts for Holly - the diaper motorcycle and the wooden blocks spelling Michael's name.





Here’s a close-up of the motorcycle. I found instructions for how to make one here.





Aunt Cindy made fun of my chocolate covered popcorn – she said it looked “mildewed”! I didn’t care because it was dee-licious. People were setting up camp next to that trifle dish. The recipe for the popcorn came from here. There are so many options. I ended up using chocolate & white chocolate chips & gel food coloring. FYI - you can NOT use liquid food coloring (or add any sort of liquid, for that matter) with melting chocolate. It becomes a hot mess and you have to start all over.





Here are the pom poms. I think I’ll be making these for all future parties. Thank you, Martha Stewart!





Holly took this froggy cuteness home and hung it in the nursery.





This was a fun shower game. We froze some babies in ice cubes, and each guest put one of the cubes in their drink when the party started. Whoever’s baby broke free from the ice first had to shout “My Water Broke!” It was pretty funny!



Melting babies



Aunt Catherine, Niki, Aunt Karen & Claire

 



Mom & Aunt Cindy practicing their college girl smiles!





I liked all of Holly’s gifts except for the LSU themed ones. Blech.



The favors were really sweet. It was a tea light wrapped in tulle and it had a poem attached that said, “Here’s a candle for you to light once the stork has made it’s flight. With a flicker and a flame, say a prayer in Michael’s name.”



Thanks for coming!



The men and kids kept busy outside.



Gav & Gabe worked on the bikes



 



Gracie got some quality time & snuggles



Ben didn’t stray too far from the action. He really got into playing “My Water Broke!” and he was most likely the first to run off with a cupcake!





Noah made his rounds, too, and got plenty of lovin’ from his cousins. He was, as usual, very serious and taking everything in. Aunt Cindy thinks he is just concerned about the economy.



Wee-wah & Wellie-belle



Noah & Claire

Getting a quick hug from my Aunt Karen.

Congratulations, Gavin & Holly! We can’t wait to meet Baby Michael!

A Tale of Two Wreaths

My Mom is a new home owner and I'm so excited for her! I wanted to make her a housewarming gift, so I settled on a wreath. I decided to do a yarn wreath like this one which I found here.

I also liked the letter on this one that I saw on Etsy for a ridiculous amount of money.

So I gathered my supplies and set out to make my first wreath. I chose some fabric with purple (Mom's favorite color), orange (for fall), and teal (for fun)! I think it came out really cute. Isn't it a sassy, trendy little wreath?

I thought so. Mom did not. At all. Insert slight blow to the crafty self-esteem. Mom said not to worry, though, because she had ordered her a wreath from a local florist. She actually picked it up while we were visiting. Here it is:

In case you are wondering, I'll answer a few questions about this wreath for you.

1. Yes, they did use ALL of the tulle in South Louisiana. If you live in Louisiana and need tulle, you're going to have to travel to another state or come and steal some off of Mom's porch. Wait, yes, that is a better idea. Please just come and take some off of this wreath. There is plenty to go around.

2. Yes, that is a full sized pumpkin.

3. No, I'm not sure why the wreath has a tail, but perhaps it can be used to sweep the porch before and after hangings.

Ok, enough making fun of Mom's wreath (although I do owe her for the sour grapes face she made when I showed her mine.) We obviously have slightly different tastes, right? Luckily my Sister-in-law, whose last name also starts with "G", really liked it. It's now hanging on her door.

I love you, Mommy! I just won't be making you any more wreaths! :)

South Texas Corn Maize

The South Texas Corn Maize offered free admission for public servants, so we headed to Hondo to see what it was all about. The weather was PERFECT! Thankfully, a little cold front came through and really cooled things off. Ben really enjoyed the maze. There were sign posts at different points throughout and we had to answer questions to determine whether to go right or left. Right up the little professor's alley!

There were a few other things for the kids to play with/on, and they had a nice time. I still prefer the Love Creek Orchard Pumpkin Patch, and I’m so sad that we probably won’t make it out there this year. Even so, it was a nice little outing and we enjoyed some quality family time!

Noah was happy to be out in the nice weather!

Grace, on the other hand, started the day off a little on the grumpy side!

There was a nice little play area where the kiddos could climb and jump on stuff.

Noah and I just sat back and watched snuggled.

But then we found some swings and he was able to get in on the action.

Three holes, three kids. PERFECT!

Oh, Noah. I can’t wait until he starts talking. He always looks so concerned. Poor guy.

This was Ben’s favorite attraction! He was a jumping fool!

This picture cracks me up! Love that crazy boy!

And here comes Gracie. Nice form, kiddo!

After lunch I headed back to the van to feed Noah while Brian took Ben and Grace on the hayride and snapped one more photo.

Thank you to the South Texas Corn Maize for honoring my hubby and his fellow public servants with this special treat!