Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween 2009

I LOVE Halloween! We started the morning off with a quick trip to our local Dunkin Donuts for a breakfast treat. The kids wore their Halloween pajamas, it was Halloween, why not?

We came home and I made them yummy chocolate milk with whip cream and Halloween Sprinkles. Not the most healthy breakfast in the world but who cares. I think Halloween should be the one day of the year when they can indulge in everything sweet, and boy did they indulge. I had no problem dealing with their sugar highs because I knew running up and down the streets later that night would definitely wear them out.As a Trick or Treat surprise, Dunkin Donuts gave each of the kids a Halloween box filled with a couple of Munchkins which Cole loved.After nap time we got the kids ready for the big night out. Chance got into his Elvis costume and I used Charlies hair stuff to slick back his hair. He looked ADORABLE!Cole picked out the perfect costume, Black Spiderman. His favorite thing about it was his "muscles". He wore this costume every night from the moment we bought it until Halloween. It would be the first thing he would ask when we walked in the door at night, "Can I wear Spiderman?" and then he would come running down the stairs shooting webs at us, the dogs, the cat, anything and everything that crossed his path.Kadee had a very hard time deciding on a Halloween costume this year. We went back and forth from every witch, fairy ans scary cheerleader costume you could imagine until she finally decided on a super cute witch costume. Her favorite thing about dressing up this year was actually getting to wear make-up. I did her eyes with sparkly glitter and blue eye shadow and she turned out to be a pretty cute witch!Chance was a hit in his Elvis costume!We decided to start the night off at Town Square. All of the stores were doing Trick or Treat and they were also having a special appearance from one of the dinosaurs from "Walking with Dinosaurs". Naturally Cole loves Dinosaurs right now so I really wanted him to see the dino on display. We met up with our friends Dallas and Chi (who was dressed up as a really cute pirate).Town Square was packed with Halloween revelers.We headed over to the dinosaur display a little early so Cole and Kadence could get an up close look at the dinosaur. These things are so AWESOME. We went to the show last year and were all mesmerized by how real they look!
Cole was the lucky one in the crowd to get a kiss from the dinosaur. I think he was a little scared at first but then realized how cool he was and loved it!

After Town Square we headed back home (after waiting an hour and a half in traffic!) so we could get some trick or treating in before it was to late. Charlie stayed at the house passing out candy and Julie, Cody and I walked the kids around the neighborhood trick or treating. I was very impressed with our neighborhood this year, they went all out from one house having a great haunted house set up in their garage to another having a live band in their garage! The kids got a ton of candy and had a really good time.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

A Costume Fit for a "King"

On one occasion when I took Chance into work, someone commented on all of his hair and mentioned he would make a great Elvis for Halloween. Well the idea stuck with me and I talked my mom into helping me make an Elvis costume for Chance. It wasn't going to be easy but I knew between the both of us we could whip this puppy up. We hit JoAnn's looking for fabric, decorations and other ideas and luckily stumbled across an adorable pattern for none other than an Elvis Costume!My mom, bless her heart cut out the pattern from white fleece and then tried to sew together a mini version for Chance. She was up to her eyeballs trying to make a 2T costume fit a 6-12 month sized baby. She did it though.Julie came over to help and thoughy to herself, "I think my sister has finally lost it"My dad sat in the observation seat and thought to himself, "I think my daughter has finally lost it!"But two days later we had an Elvis costume on our hands, and it turned out pretty darn cute. My mom did an AWESOME job sewing it together and adding an attached cape as well as a belt to go along with it!We tried it on Chance and he thought it was pretty cool too!
After a little hard work, we did it, Chance, I mean Elvis was ready to leave the building (and go Trick or Treating of course!)

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Kadence & Cole's Bowling Birthday Party

For some reason or another, this year has been CRAZY! It just seems like I can't catch up. So to try to simplify things we did a joint birthday party this year for Kadence and Cole. I threw out a couple ideas to them and they really seemed to like the idea of having a bowling party.

Kadee invited some friends from school and naturally we invited our friends and family to join in the fun. We had it at Wildfire Lanes. We did an hour and a half of bowling and the kids had a "ball" bowling. For some of the little ones, it was their first bowling outing.

Kadence and her friends from school (Heather, Madison, Trey, Jhovea and Serena) shared a lane and gave it their all to beat one another, and sometimes just to hit a pin :)Cole launched the ball down the lane, I was almost afraid he was going to leave a dent.Charlie decided to help him (and the bowling alley) out by using the rack to shoot the ball down the lane.Madison gave it her all too! The parents enjoyed watching the kiddos aim for the pins.Chance hung out with Grandma and Grandpa and just enjoyed chewing on Grandma's purse. He is teething like no other!After our time bowling was up we moved into the party room for pizza and birthday cake. They had a Wii set up as well so the kids continued bowling on the Wii which was projected on the entire back wall of the party room.

To finish the celebration we enjoyed cake and cupcakes!
We all had a great time and were so glad all of our friends could come enjoy our special day with us!

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Italian Fest at the "M"

One of our new local casinos, The M, hosted an Italian Fest and we decided to check it out. Me, my mom and sister took the kids and met up with Clarice and Kaitlin. The entire outside deck/pool area was set up with tons of Italian food booths. They also had face painting, airbrush tattoos and balloon animal designs for the kids. We decided to let the kids take advantage of the fun activities before we ate. Kadee and Cole got their faces painted. Kadee went with a pink sparkly skull (she loves skulls, as long as they are cute). Cole opted for flames that turned out AWESOME!
The kiddos posing for pics to show off their faces!They all got tattoos as well, airbrushed tattoos that is. Kadence and Kaitlin had matching hearts and of course Cole got Spiderman, he's obsessed!
Naturally we walked around the entire food court trying to decide what we would eat. I had a meatball sub from the Kiwanis Club's booth that was delicious. The kids shared their favorite, pizza. Then it was time for dessert. Sure I should have had Italian Ice but there was a booth I could not turn away from that served everything dunked in chocolate. I had a hard time deciding between the cheesecake on a stick, chocolate dipped brownies or the apple covered in carmel and white chocolate. I went for the healthiest option, the sliced apple drizzled in white chocolate and carmel...can you say HEAVEN :)

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Hawaiian Fest

On my way home from picking pumpkins I noticed they were having a Hawaiian Festival at the Silverton Hotel. Immediately, I thought to myself, maybe they will have my favorite Hawaiian dish, Garlic Shrimp! When me and Charlie went to Hawaii we rented a jeep and drove around the island and discovered the shrimp trucks on the North Shore and their famous "Shrimp Trucks" We shared an order of Garlic Shrimp and I have craved it ever since. So when I got home I told Charlie that we had to go, if anyone is going to have it, they should!

Upon our arrival, we immediately went to the food section and scanned through all of the booths. We found one that had something similar that we decided to try. It was no where near as good as the shrimp trucks but it at least settled the craving enough to get by. The kids shared a Hawaiian BBQ plate which was really yummy!After dinner the kids decided they wanted to go down the GIGANTIC inflatable slide. Trust me the picture does not do this thing justice. It was HUGE. But both my little daredevils insisted on riding it so off they went. With a little help from the slide operator they made it to the top and slid down. First was Cole, my camera doesn't zoom that great but the look in his eyes on his way down was priceless. The little shit was scared to death, but once he hit bottom he realized that it actually was pretty darn fun!Next was KadeeBug. She too had the fear of God in her eyes the whole way down but it quickly turned to excitement when she reached the bottom and realized she made it okay.On our way out we watched the Mermaids dance in the aquarium and then browsed through the Bass Pro Shop because we LOVE this store. Charlie helped the kids at the shooting gallery. Cole though he was pretty tough shooting his rifle!


It was a good time...however, the hunt continues for Garlic Shrimp!

A Pumpkin Pickin We Will Go

We decided to go pumpkin picking at Gilcrease Orchards this year. Clarice had gone last year and they had a blast so we all decided to meet up this year for a day in the orchards.Cole loved the rows and rows of dirt and made sure to cover himself head to toe, which any good boy should do! He did manage to get a couple pumpkins while he was at it.Kadee found a couple she couldn't pass up and lugged them by herself across the orchard to the truck. It was hilarious watching her run from one to the other. She is just like her mother, she had to check each one out to make sure there was no better ones then the one she had.After all that work Kadee and Kaitlin took a little break in the back of the car. They both managed pretty smiles even though they were worn out!Chance just hung out in the stroller. It was his first off-road adventure in a stroller! Pushing him through those orchards was a work-out in itself!We decided to explore the rest of the crops and found some corn fields surrounded by peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes.Our final destination was the apple orchards. Kadee searched each tree so carefully for apples. Cole couldn't stop eating the apples. They were delicious! I think I probably left there owing more than I paid, he ate quite a few while we were picking them, he absolutely loved them!
I got some great pics of the kids together!
This is my favorite!