Halloween Highlights

We've had a very Halloween/pumpkin filled week and it's not even Halloween yet!  Both kids have Halloween parties at school today, a costume parade for the kindergartners, Halloween charcuterie and we will go trick or treating this weekend.  For some reason, our town always trick or treats on Oct 30th AND 31st.  We usually go out one night and pass out candy the other night.  I hope the weather cooperates for a fun weekend!

The best parts of our week were:

1. Mr & Mrs Bones

We have had the best time playing with these silly skeletons.  I added them to our charcuterie board and they're hanging out in my kitchen window right now.  The kids think they're hilarious.  Amazon for the win!  We had this Halloween charcuterie board for dinner last night and I've made TONS of Monster Cookies to sell.

2. Aldi Pumpkins - I was so happy to see that my Aldi was fully stocked with these decorative pumpkins.  I think we had three displays of them.  I loved the classic black and white check.  They were just $4.99.  The quality isn't as great as TJ Maxx or Hobby Lobby Pumpkins - you can see some of the sloppy stitches, BUT they're still really cute.  They had velvet, plaid and mini pumpkins in assorted colored bags.

3. House Ornaments - I was searching for gingerbread cookies for my last grocery pick up order at Walmart and these mini house ornaments popped up as an option.  They're so cute and so inexpensive.  I got two sets and think they'll look so cute on our Christmas tree this year.  They're called mini ornaments but they range from an inch to probably 3 inches for the bottom houses.

4. Moms of Littles - start saving those fruit squeeze pouch lids!  They're so fun for toddlers to play with.  My big kids love to stack them.  Leo loves to have them in a bowl in the kitchen to cook with them.  I give him a whisk and other kitchen utensils.  Free fun!

5. It was a busy week for these two!  LOTS of fun things at School.

Pumpkin Decorating Contest - Olive insisted in a black cat and Fletcher really wanted a spooky spider.  We spent a lot of time on Sunday making these together.  They were SO proud of them.

Red Ribbon Week - the both had a theme to dress up for each day this week.

Parent Teacher Conferences.

As a former teacher, I always look forward to going in for conferences and hearing what the teachers have to say about the kids.

Olive's teacher said // Olive is the model student.  Works well with anyone.  Is always on task.  Works very hard.  Asks questions.  Confident reader.  Right on track if not above in many areas.  Getting better and better at writing and loves school.

Fletcher's teacher said // Fletcher is such a sweet guy.  Always on task.  Lots of friends.  She lists him as the helper any time she has a substitute.  He loves to clip up and works hard to encourage his whole table to follow the rules so they can clip up, too.  Math is his thing.  He's got all the basic skills down really well so now it's time to push him to do new things with reading and spelling and sounding out words.  He loves school and loves his teacher.

We are super proud of both of them and it makes us so happy to hear about them succeeding at school.

6. Ghost print!  I was really happy with house our three ghost prints turned out.  I smile every time I see this on display in our kitchen.

7. Grocery Store Pumpkins - We ran out of time this month for an exciting day at the pumpkin patch.  Leo and I grabbed pumpkins for all three kids at Kroger.  I felt a tiny bit bad/sad about this, but then the kids were totally thrilled to have pumpkins to carve.  They didn't even care we'd picked them out for them.  It ended up being a win even though I was nervous about it.  We'll get busy and carve them tomorrow.  That's more Kevin's department than mine.

8. Matchy PJs always and forever.

9. Pumpkin Nachos.  We'll be making more of these this weekend.

10. I can't wait for Monday!  November 1st = time for the Christmas sheets on all of our beds!!  I wash them and change them out for everyone while they're at work/school.  Then when they head to bed that night they're surprised to see some holiday cheer!  I don't do any other Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving.  What about you?

I hope you have a great Halloween weekend!

Linking up with Momfessionals

Ghost Prints

Look at these cute ghost foot prints!

I love documenting these tiny hands and feet and try to squeeze in holiday projects whenever I can.  We did some ghost prints this week.  I asked Olive if she wanted to join in (since she's getting older) and she did.  We just barely squeezed all these cute ghost prints onto a chalkboard.

I always prefer foot prints over hand prints because they're much easier to do.  I added the date to the back with a Sharpie.  Last year I recapped all of my favorite Halloween hand and foot print art from the past 8 years.

The kids think it's very tickly and silly to get their toes painted.  I had to call in help for Olive to hold Leo's hands back.  It was pretty funny.  I painted Olive's first, then Fletcher's and Leo last.  It's tricky to make sure not to touch the wet paint as you keep stamping.  Do one generous coat of paint on each foot, stamp and then press down each toe and touch up any spots that didn't stamp well with your finger. 

Let the white paint dry completely.  Add black paint faces.  I just flip the paint brush over and dot the black paint faces on.  Olive saw the ghost faces and promptly requested I add a bow to her ghost's hair :)  Done!  I'm also laughing because their prints reflect their personalities - Olive likes things neat and tidy and the boy's prints were a little smeary and messy.  I love the finished product and would definitely recommend doing prints on chalkboards.

Trick or Treat Yourself

We headed to the country club to trick or treat the golf course on Saturday.  The weather was PERFECT.  There was a chill in the air and we snuggled close.

The boys love all things military so that's where our theme came from this year.  Fletcher had an army birthday party back in March and Leo LOVES pointing out planes.

Leo = Air Force Pilot (that refuses to wear his hat)

Fletcher = Army guy

Olive = Space Force

 

They were thrilled with their costumes.  And I love a good theme.

 

We started off with a yummy dinner on the patio and then headed out for a private hayride.  That totally happened by accident, but it was cool for it to be just us on a tour of the fall leaves around the golf course.  We headed in to grab some golf carts.  This was the year we officially couldn't fit on one golf cart.  Last year I wore Leo in the Ergo and this year he's a big kid :)

The boys went first in their cart and Olive and I followed close behind.  It was SO FUN to drive around the different stops on the course and get candy.  The kids got to practice their manner and candy eating.  They got lots.  They loved coming home to trade candy.  I got all the Twizzlers and Heath Bars and they were pretty happy collecting everything else.

We came home to watch Notre Dame beat USC!  What a night :)

Olive // Sweet big sis.  She's growing up so fast and her dream of letting her hair grow is happening!

Fletcher // He's so silly and sweet.  Cracks us up all the time.

Leo // Have you ever seen a cuter pint sized pilot?  He LOVES his costume.

Kevin was fresh off the golf course.  He played in a tournament all day and then we met him there.

Hay ride time!  Also Fletcher wants to give a peace sign in every picture.  We could all use a little more peace and smiles in our lives.

The members set up stations all around the course.  Some go all out and decorate.  This sweet spider lady gave out bouncy balls that were a big hit.

That was a good warm up for read trick or treating this weekend!

Halloween Pumpkin Nachos

Happy Halloween week!!  

I've got a really easy, fun nacho idea for you this week.  It could be an easy snack or a fun appetizer to go with dinner.  It's quick and cute!  My crew loved it.

You just need

tortilla chips

your favorite cheese

face making supplies - black olives, sweet peppers, sour cream, green onion and salsa for dipping!

 

Customize the toppings for your family!  

It's so easy -  put your chips in a circle around the plate - leave one out on top for the stem - melt your cheese, add your toppings and enjoy.  I served it with a bowl of salsa on the side. 

 

I think next time I'll let give the kids the supplies to make their own face on the pumpkin.

 

Would your family like some pumpkin nachos this week??

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday, Friends!  I hope you've had a great week.  Life is moving fast over here.  We're loving the Fall weather and are gearing up for all things Halloween.  I'm in charge of planning both kid's Halloween class parties, Fletch has a kindergarten costume parade, we've got our traditional trick or treat the golf course event next weekend and then trick-or-treating our neighborhood.  Plus lots of Halloween baking!  We still have a few costume details and to dos to work out before all those fun events.

Let me tell you about my Friday Favorite moments...

1.  My favorite fall combo - plaid, jeans, ADVDesigns leather earrings and a bright lip - for a dinner meeting with friends at McAlisters.  I hadn't been to McAlisters in ages.  It was yummy!  Sign me up for any restaurant that serves giant cups of lemonade.

I picked up this cute plaid top from Walmart this week (and the striped yellow down in the next picture).  They're so cute and soft and perfect for this time of year when the weather is cool in the mornings and warm in the afternoon. 

 

I also started using a new frizz cream on my hair from Ulta.  It's Living Proof No Frizz Nourishing Cream.  It's pricey, but so far it's the best frizz cream I've tried.  Last week they were doing a 10% off coupon code if you ordered for curbside pick up.  It was SUPER handy.  I'll definitely do it again.  I noticed that it's also available on Amazon!  Yay!  Here's my affiliate link for it:

2. Mystery Reader Mom - I got to surprise Olive and be her class mystery reader.  She was suspicious that the clues her teacher revealed each day might be me, but I pulled off the surprise.  We read Sir Simon Super Scarer (SO CUTE!!) and I left Reese's Pumpkins for the class to eat later.  I LOVED being back in a 3rd grade classroom for a few minutes.  It gave me all that teacher nostalgia.

This striped top is also from Walmart!

Here are my Amazon affiliate links to our family favorite Halloween books.  

We LOVE these 4!!

3. Matching Jammies!

I just can't get enough of these 3 in matchy pjs.  They're so cute!!  They'll wear these through Thanksgiving (and longer probably) and then I'll surprise them with matching Christmas pjs at our North Pole Breakfast in early December.  I have been really happy with the prices and print options from Carters for holiday jammies this season.

Did you see my Halloween House Tour earlier this week?  I love classic, happy Halloween decor.

4. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Mini Bundt Cakes

I did some recipe testing this week and these mini bundt cakes were so good!!  My whole family loved them and we shared some with our neighbors.  I'm baking and selling them in my shop through Thanksgiving.

I'm also dipping LOTS of Halloween pretzels for gifts this month.  I love all the different chocolate and topping options.

5. Picture Day

The kids had picture day and Fletcher's teacher sent me this shot of him.  He's so sweet.  He was NOT thrilled to be wearing a dressy shirt with buttons, BUT he survived.

6. I was working on the computer and looked over to see this!!  Sweet snuggling brothers.

7. Family Treat from Culvers

I posted this on IG stories yesterday and got lots of messages.  Yes, you can cash in your kid's meal ice cream tickets at once.  I save ours up and always have them in my wallet.  We went through the drive thru after school, got an ice cream for each person and then popped them in the freezer for an after dinner treat.  It's so delicious and is a fun "free" treat for the whole family.  Do you have a Culvers??  It's our favorite!

8. I love light jacket weather!

We've been playing outside a lot.  Who looks happier about that - Kevin or Leo!?

I hope you have a great weekend!  See you back here on Monday :)

Linking up with Momfessionals

Halloween House Tour

Welcome to our Halloween house tour today!  The big kids loved helping me decorate for Halloween over the weekend.  Leo isn't much help so we tackled the decorating project at nap time.

My polka-dot pumpkins from Kirklands last year and still my very favorite!  I loved mixing striped, gingham and polka-dot pumpkins.  And I'm super traditional with black and white and orange decorations for Halloween.  

Leo woke up to the house decorated and was very curious... we tried to put most things up high and out of his reach.  Then the Halloween books and non fragile decor lower.

I framed this oil pastel pumpkin Olive made last year and loved decorating with it.

My parents made me these cute ghosts when I went off to college - a little holiday decor for my dorm room and I love them so much.

Some of my most favorite hand print art is our collection of Halloween hand prints.  It's not really a favorite holiday for me, but the hand and foot print options all turned out so cute.  I started with the tiny candy corn hand print Olive's first Halloween and have come up with cute ideas most years for hands and feet.

The kitchen is pretty simple this time of year.  A few pumpkins - edible and fake.  A stack of Pottery Barn Kids Halloween plates that I've collected over the years and lots of Fall baking supplies.  I've baked pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, monster cookies, chocolate dipped Halloween pretzels and these mini pumpkin chocolate chip bundt cakes. 

Some boney saland tongs, pumpkin muffin pan and Halloween colored spatulas.

These Halloween cuties had way too much fun with their vampire teeth.  hahaha

Leo was not interested in those silly teeth.  BUT he was obsessed with this singing Snoopy.

And I had way too much fun picking out matching pjs for the kids.  I've always done holiday pjs for them, but matching pjs was a first.  I loved these Carters pjs so much that I already ordered their Christmas pjs.

Is your house decorated for Halloween?