Trick or Treat :: Transformers + an M&M

We had another fun year of trick or treating in our neighborhood! This year, we had 2 Transformers and a green M&M :)

Aiden knew right away that he wanted to be Bumble Bee. It really surprised me because I thought he was going to be Captain America {see his 7th birthday}. But apparently the Avengers were out, and Transformers were now in. Now, you have to understand that my children know most of their characters from reading books at the library. They have not seen any movies or shows. He read some books about Transformers and thought they were the coolest thing...hence the Bumble Bee costume.

And because that costume looked super cool, Eli decided that he wanted to be Optimus Prime! Because why not also be a cool Transformer and have a cool costume, complete with face mask?!? The duo were pretty cute awesome, if you ask me :)

Maddie was not at all interested in Transformers, but she also knew exactly what she wanted to be. She immediately asked to be an M&M! I knew I could make her costume, and it was fun to take her to Hobby Lobby to pick out the felt. I think it turned out perfect, and she was pretty adorable. 

We had great weather {though it was a little windy}, and we love our neighborhood. So many neighbors make it fun for the kids, and so many people are out and about, so it's a great way to be out in our community. The kids, of course, had a blast! They made out like bandits, with many full-sized candy bars, and it was a fun night of memories. 

As we were getting ready for bed and saying prayers, Aiden prayed, "thank you, God, that candy was invented." Amen.

{iPhone Rewind} :: October

Eli decided he wanted to learn how to crochet too. He picked it up pretty quick, and like in most things, he was very serious about it :)

We learned about the Mayflower and built some of our own!

The kids were rolling down the hill, and a herd of deer came walking through, completely unbothered by their antics. We were able to get the kids to stop and watch them, and it was so fun how close they came!

Snowball fight in math! Because why not make it fun? :)

The Chronicles of Narnia are a big favorite around here

I love it when we get the first glimpse of the change of season!

So focused...

Kisses from my crew :)

The cooler weather = s'mores!

A sweet welcome home from my loves

We got to enjoy our local high school's band competition!

I took the kids with me to vote, and we made it an entire history and civics lesson. The polling place was really great, including the kids in the entire process. 

Maddie wanted to be an M&M for Halloween, so I pulled out my sewing machine to make it happen! :)

I want to pause this stage of our lives, when every surface of our house is covered in sword-wielding LEGO men :)

"Look Mommy! I can touch my nose with my tongue!" Haha

Trick or Treat :: Grandparent Edition

This year, everyone was healthy and we had great weather for trick-or-treating. Plus, we had all 4 grandparents in town, so we had tons of fun dressing up and scouring the neighborhood for treats :)

This year, we had Pooh Bear, a Tiger {not Tigger}, and Sleeping Beauty!

We made sure to make it to the neighborhoods in our cul-de-sac. They are all so kind and generous to our kids, and they all had {a lot of} treats waiting for our kids. And then we made it down one of the main streets, and our kids made out like bandits!

Everyone had a great time, kids and grandparents alike, and it was a fun night to be out with our neighbors!

Trick or Treat :: To Each Their Own

We had 5 wonderful years of matching family costumes {we skipped 2020 because of COVID and because we were driving across the country to move to Virginia!}...but alas. This was the year that my children decided that they were done with family costumes. I tried and tried, bribed, begged, pleaded...but we just couldn't land on a theme that everyone could agree on and be happy with. And so... I did the mature thing and let it go. I said goodbye to the matching costumes and let my children choose their own random costumes. Haha. 

But I will look back on our matching family costumes with loving memory:

Pooh's Corner

Lion's and Tigers and Bears...Oh My!

Our Circus

Cars!

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes

So what did they choose? This year, we ended up with a Roman soldier, Belle, and a T-Rex!

We missed out on walking the neighborhood because of sickness, but my kiddos had great attitudes about it! We did a little mini trick-or-treating at home with Grandma and Papa {as well as with our sweet next door neighbors who dropped treats in their buckets so they could still participate}. And we rounded out the night with It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. We still got to hand out candy, and I honestly think the kids had WAY more fun watching for the trick or treaters and waving hi to everyone at the door haha! 

Trick or Treat :: A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes

Mommy went all out on the DIY costumes last year, but I didn't have quite as much time this year. But I was just thankful the kids let me convince them to do another family costume haha! I don't know if I will get any more family costumes out of them, so I'm thankful for at least one more year :)

This year's theme: Cinderella!

Maddie {obviously} wasn't hard to convince. But I couldn't get either of my boys to be Prince Charming. They were, however, excited to be Jaq and Gus Gus! They both think the mice in Cinderella are hilarious, so they thought it was the most fun thing to dress up as the silly mice. So that meant Daddy got to be Maddie's Prince Charming {super cute and fitting}, and Mommy got to be the Fairy Godmother. 

Maddie LOVED being Cinderella to her Prince Charming! She loved it even more when she got to dance with him. Queue all the Mama tears!

Gus Gus wanted a picture with Prince Charming too ;)

Preparing to embody their characters haha

While most of our costumes were pieced together from Amazon, Etsy, or Little Adventures {the most adorable dress up!}, I was able to pull out my sewing machine to make the boys' mouse ears and tails :)

He's such a goof!

I watched a few Pinterest videos to see if I could pull off some Cinderella hair...definitely not ballerina-worthy, but not too shabby for a first try...and it stayed the whole night, so I call that a WIN! Maddie loved everything about her costume...from her dress and hair to her gloves and slippers. She really did make an adorable little Cinderella :)

We were not sure if we would get rained out, but it held off just enough for us to fill our buckets! We were able to go trick or treating with our friend C again this year, and the kids had a BLAST. Though, toward the end, Aiden became the first kid ever to say, "I'm tired of getting candy" haha!

We're thankful for a fun neighborhood and the ability to be out with our neighbors. The kids have already started talking about next year :)