Happy Halloween from my Minions!

My little minions!

This picture cracks me up. So much personality, these two!

For those who don't know what a minion is, these are minions from a movie that we have watched no less than 20 billion times this year. 

source: focus animation

Today was a fun day. Jackson had a Halloween party at school and I was a 'room-mom'! I was there to help, but I was also eager to meet the girl that Jackson has sworn he is going to marry. It made total sense as soon as I saw her-- she was dressed as a Ninja Turtle!

I had collected the pieces from thrift stores over the past few weeks, but I told Derek the other day that I just wasn't interested in putting in effort to put the costumes together. Jackson went as Batman to school today and Belle just wanted to be a princess. Somehow I got the itch to assemble the costumes this afternoon and so that's what I did all afternoon. The costumes cost me around $10 plus some hot glue. We'll get more use from Belle's yellow hoodie (swimsuit cover) and her overall dress. Jackson's overalls were a tad small and I found his hoodie in the teen girl section. It worked for tonight, but we won't be wearing those again! The goggles are just cardboard from the packaging from Jackson's birthday toys.

We visited the fall festival at our church first and then we visited the nursing home where Derek grandma stays. The residents were lined up in the halls to hand out candy and they were thrilled to have kids visit. We got to peek in and say hi to Great Grandma, too. Jackson really wanted to go trick-or-treating so we visited some houses in a neighborhood close by as well as our neighbors close by! By the end, the kids were tired from walking and were whining that their candy was too heavy.

The kids indulged in candy for a bedtime snack. Halloween is a special time so we want them to enjoy their treats!

Candy is fun and we'll eat it a little bit, but I don't want it to stick around for weeks and weeks. We made a deal with Jackson. He plans to sell us his candy so he can add it to his collection to buy some toys he's been really wanting. 

What's your favorite candy? I've always been a fan of plain chocolate (like Hersey's milk chocolate) but I tried it tonight and it just wasn't as delicious anymore. I did enjoy a pack of Skittles (minus the yellow ones!). But as far as candy goes, dark chocolate is my new favorite!

Happy Halloween from Team USA!

Happy Halloween from Gabby Douglas and Michael Phelps!

I have been anticipating these costumes since August!!! And the cutest far succeeded my expectations.  It might be a stretch to say that we have a couple of future olympians on our hands as Jackson hates to have his face underwater and Belle has as much balance as a drunk frat boy. But who knows... maybe they will become quite the little athletes. 

We have plans to go to the Fall Festival at our church this evening and do a little Trick-or-Treating around our neighborhood. We've had to add some jackets and pants to these outfits because it's just not 85 degrees anymore like it was last week! We visited the library this morning. Belle got so enthusiastic about a tootsie roll that she ate the wrapper and everything because she couldn't wait for me to open it. Extra fiber, I guess!

Here's a breakdown of the costume cost:

• biker shorts: $2 - clearance at Target
• swim cap: $6 - ebay
• medals: $2 - Dollar Tree ($1 per package of 8)
• onesie: $1 - thrift store
• gold paint: $1 - Wal-mart 

Total $12 for both! Not bad for some super cute costumes! Fortunately, we picked up the American Flags at the parade last week! Especially considering that the shorts will go into Belle's outfit for next summer and Jackson loves to pretend he's Michael Phelps. He's even worn the swim cap during nap time. Seems like we'll get our money's worth out of it!

oh! and the photos were taken by our wonderful photographer friend at Dani Gillihan Photography. 

Happy Halloween & Go Chiefs

The timing of the Chiefs' Monday Night Football game was perfect for our costumes!! Let's pretend I planned it that way!

 Here's our football player!

And the cutest little cheerleader ever!

{check out these moves-- she's a total natural!}

We went to the Fall Festival at our church! Here's a few pictures of our fun evening!

The bounce house

{do you notice Belle cheering as Jackson shoots?}

We wrapped Daddy up like a mummy

{only Jackson kept saying "like a Christmas present}

Haha. If you lick a marshmallow, it will stick to your forehead. I never knew...

Look at that good aim!

Daddy and Belle 

{after Derek said "She's too cute to be in the stroller!"}

We had a fun night. Jackson is so excited about all of his candy {mommy and daddy too}. It was a beautiful evening outside and we would have taken Jackson out trick-or-treating but he wasn't feeling to well {read: he was super cranky and uncooperative} so we just stayed in to watch the football game. Go Chiefs!

I love looking at kids in their costumes! Leave a comment with a link to your blog post of your kiddos all dressed up and I will go check it out!

Train, Bonfire, Zoo and Candy fun!

We had a very action packed weekend, which of course means it was super fun! Here's what we did:

Thursday Night
Celebrated Jackson's birthday at Fritz's Railroad Restaurant. Basically, lots of trains everywhere and even a train to deliver your food. Chacey (and her mom) joined us, which made the night pretty much perfect for my little two-year old!

We sat next to a ginormous train track! Little boy heaven!

 Jackson was less excited about having to stop looking at the trains to take a picture.

Friday
My parents, sisters (and "ack" aka Zach, Ashley's boyfriend), Derek's parents, and Grandpa came over for a little bonfire to celebrate Jackson's birthday. It was perfect weather and everyone had a really nice time!

Saturday
Mom had free tickets to the zoo, so we headed out to Boo at the Zoo on Saturday morning! The costume I had planned for our Halloween festivities wasn't warm enough to wear outside for the day, so I had to improvise. Thanks to the overalls that Grandpa gave Jackson for his birthday the night before, we had a great farmer outfit!

The hayride with Grammy and Aunt Laura

Yes, Jackson. Please eat the corn that hundreds of kids have touched all over today.... not to mention that it's dried out and really just a decoration.

So, here is the conversation I had with Jackson at nearly every animal exhibit we saw....

Hey Jackson, Look, A Polar Bear!!!
Water!
Yes, but it's a bear!
Water! Water!
What sound does a bear make?
RAARRHH!! Water! Water! ......

Can you see the Hippos Jackson?
Water!
Yep, they're in the water. Can we count the hippos?
Wet!
Yep, they're wet.......

Seriously, kid!? You're so excited about stinkin' water!? We did get to ride a train (really, just a tram) and that was probably his favorite part. Whether he enjoyed seeing the animals, I'll never know... but we all had fun and that's what counts!

Sunday
We celebrated at the Fall Festival at our church. I love that our church has activities on Halloween. The kids enjoy playing silly little games and getting lots of candy, but we aren't out surrounded by lots of scary costumes or crazy people.

Check out the cutest little Danish soccer player that you ever did see!! (along with his cute little bee-friend!)

Eating a donut from a string

Making Fruit Loop bracelets 

Snack time-- Fruit Loops!

The bounce house that Jackson absolutely loved.

And squirt bottle races (I'm still not sure if I like the idea of him knowing how to work those things...)

Not all of the fun was about Jackson. Julie and I got to meet up with a friend for dinner on Saturday night and went to see the movie Secretariat, which is a great movie btw. Both Saturday and Sunday night, friends came over to roast s'mores, only we used our wood-burning stove instead of a bonfire. It was a wonderful weekend!