I am hoping to be a better blogger in 2012, and to ring in the new year I'll give a few highlights that I didn't get written before my blog hiatus for the last 2 months. (it's going to take several posts...I didn't realize how much we'd done these past 2 months!)
First let me tell you about about all things Halloween.
We love fall activities. It's our pack everything we can before it gets cold time. It was a warm fall this year, so we enjoyed it even more.
We went to Gardner Village to see the witches with Becky, her sister-in-law Jessica, my friend Amy and all of our kids. We didn't think about the fact that it was UEA weekend and it was PACKED. It was so crazy busy. And it was surprisingly warm. We had the brilliant idea to bring lunch and eat and wander around. Apparently everyone had the same idea because there wasn't a seat to be found so we ended up sitting on the ground to eat which was a little crazy, especially considering I had a 4 year old who was NOT happy to be there. He was just plain not happy that day (the pictures are deceptive because he was smiling, but I've just trained him well.)
Roman and his friend Katelyn.
All the kids that were there except Katelyn and Jason.
I thought this was too cute of the kids looking into the water. (Kaylee, Anna, Roman and Gabby.)
Hudson was just snuggling into Noelle.
Roman's sucker face
Next we went to the Haunted Hallows which was a halloween event at a local park. I didn't know what to expect but knew we should get there early (I have learned, if something is free, go early because it's going to be crowded) so we went right as it started and got out right as it got really busy. They had a bunch of little booths with activities for the kids, Roman loved it. They had bean bag tosses, fishing, free pumpkins and balloons, candy, crafts, and a firetruck with a ladder doing a pumpkin drop every 15 minutes (which Roman was not a fan of, why would they destroy perfectly good pumpkins? Hudson on the other hand thought it was cool and watched them drop several with Spencer.)
Roman found the perfect pumpkin.
They even painted his face for free...of course he chose Superman!
We heard about a "Spook-a-paloosa" from a friend and it sounded fun too, so we convinced Becky to go too, and she convinced Tiffany to go, then my friend Heidi that told us about it wasn't able to make it. They had a little trick-or-treating ally where they mostly got coupons for local restaurants and area attractions, they had bounce houses, face painting, and all sorts of fun things for the kids. Hudson even loved the bouncy slide and bounce house.
Becky caught this picture right as we were coming out of the Trick-or-treat ally.
Hudson was excited to see Becky and even ditched his monkey so he could run faster. That's huge for him. He won't drop Funky Monkey for just anyone.
Superman and Batman (Corbin) having a balloon sword fight.
Roman wanted to get his face painted again...and once again he chose...Superman.
Hudson and Gabby in the bounce house. Hudson was loving it.
We have gone to the same pumpkin patch the last few years, but no one was going to go with us this year so we decided to try one that was a little closer, smaller, it was just at a nursery, but it was also less expensive. We didn't know what to expect because I just bought it on a deal website, but the boys loved it.
They had a huge corn box that we spent most of the time in. Roman was doing flips into it, diving in, flopping on his back, burying himself, driving trucks in it, Hudson was content to just sit and let it run through his fingers. They also had a little hay maze that Hudson was surprisingly good at navigating, a bounce house, and a little train ride. And of course, we got our pumpkins.
This was the huge corn box. Hudson wasn't quite sure about it yet.
This is my favorite picture, look at him screaming as he goes right into the corn. So much fun!
Somersault!
The only picture we got of the bounce house. They weren't too interested in it. Too many other fun things to do (like the hay maze!)
Checking out the hay maze.
This picture reminded us of when Roman was about this age. We went to a pumpkin patch with my sisters Becky, and Marla and our friends Steven and Tiffany. Roman was walking through the patch (it was an actual patch that year, the pumpkins were still on the vines even) and Roman found the perfect pumpkin. He looked around and saw Steve a bit off, it was the first time he said Steve's name and he yelled "Steve!" then hit the pumpkin and kept yelling for Steve until he came to help him with his pumpkin.
Roman and Hudson with their pumpkins.
The following Monday we had our pumpkin night. Pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes for dinner with cinnamon syrup then pumpkin carving.
Hudson was more willing then Roman to help us gut the pumpkins. He was happy to stick his hand, arm, even his face right into the pumpkin, Roman was a bit more leery of it. It was gross. He was happy to look but didn't want to touch.
Hudson was more willing then Roman to help us gut the pumpkins. He was happy to stick his hand, arm, even his face right into the pumpkin, Roman was a bit more leery of it. It was gross. He was happy to look but didn't want to touch.
Roman wanted to have his be Superman and we just did a jack-o-lantern for Hudson.
Finally we are to Halloween, the actual day! I had the cutest Clark Kent/Superman and Lex Luthor around. Roman had school that morning and they had a cute little parade then the kids sang a few Halloween songs for us. I ran out of space on my camera card while they were singing so I couldn't get everything.
After that we went to Spencer's office for trick or treating and lunch. Roman loved tearing open his shirt showing everyone he was really superman. He even perfected the tearing open his shirt while throwing off his glasses. It was too funny. Hudson's head was too small for the bald cap, so it was kind of saggy, but he had a great time trick-or-treating as soon as he realized there was candy involved. Once it was time for lunch we had the boys eat in Spencer's office, in an effort to actually get them to eat. Hudson was content to sit on the floor and eat, but Roman claimed Spencer's chair, and decided it was a nice place to lounge with his feet up on the desk.
That night trick-or-treating was so nice. It was in the 60's which is unheard of for Halloween here, the last two years it's been cold and drizzly, we were out for 3 hours including the time we at at the neighbors for their weenie-roast/marshmallow-roast/pulled pork dinner. It was such a great evening. Roman was mostly polite (but still a little embarrassing) as he made sure to tell just about everyone at he was allergic to chocolate and couldn't have any. There were a few people who even went back into their houses to find something different for him. By the time we finally made it home and handed out glow sticks to a few trick-or-treaters it was time to get boys bathed and to bed.
They were so wound up I was sure they were going to be up all night, but they were asleep the minute their little heads hit the pillow. Being a superhero and a villain is exhausting!
