My Little Witch

I am so far behind on my posts. My goal was to write one per blog each week. That is totally not happening at the moment. Work has been extremely busy, but I am hopeful that it is calming down soon. Need to be thankful for the periods that make you realize how nice you have it. My job is usually very flexible and allows for me to have a lot of family time. This last month not so much, but I am grateful that most of the time it does.

These pictures are from October. Seems like ages ago. I love watching Meli play when she does not know that I can see her. She gets lost in her own world of make believe and it is just magic to witness. I love her playful, creative, imaginative side. I am glad that the kids get so much use out of their costumes well pat October. Totally worth the money.

She was playing "potions". Meli loves to use my kitchen items to play pretend with. Yes, there is a bottle of beer in the picture. Yes, she was playing with it. It is part of our Halloween decorations. We have collected over the years some cool fall/Halloween beer and wine bottles.

                                                            ~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~
                                                                    The B Family

Witches, Pirates, and Candy!

Both of our kids love Halloween. Meli probably puts it right up there with Christmas. That makes complete sense for a kid who wears some kind of costume at least a few days a week. Yesterday, I came home from work and she was still wearing the kitty ears that she had on when I left early that morning.

Colin usually knows right away what he would like to dress up as. Meli changes quite often and starts planning once she sees the signs for the local Halloween store. COMING SOON. Well, she actually starts planning earlier than that. She has already started her ideas for next year.

This year, we were going to be two pirates (Will and Colin) and two kitty pirates (Meli and I). Meli was torn between wanting to do a family thing and really wanting to be a kitty.

I convinced her to be a witch. Each year, I take the kids south after the school day ends to enjoy trick-or-treating where we used to live. They close the downtown area of all traffic and all of the businesses get into it. They have bounce houses, games, and lots of candy. They even have a haunted house (well...haunted martial arts dojo).

We usually meet up with MiMa for trick or treating. She loves Halloween just as much as Meli!

We make it back home in time for passing out candy and going around our neighborhood. Poor Charlie was scared of the costumes. I thought it would be easier for little Char-Char if I set up in our driveway. Avoiding the doorbell ringing constantly. I actually scared a few kids sitting there in my witch costume! Will had the fantastic idea to play Halloween music. We were one of the more lively houses!

Our friends came over to trick-or-treat with us. Odin (who is almost 2) was the wolf and his mom was Little Red Riding Hood. So cute.

Pictures from their school Boo Bash.

She even got to put some (washable color) in her hair. 

Then they had a neighborhood party.

Halloween Day!

Will managed to avoid any pictures...again!







                                                      ~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~
                                                               The B Family

BatDog Love

Meli picked out a Halloween costume for Charlie. Batdog to the rescue! She wants us all to be a superhero for Halloween. Will was beyond thrilled...then she says, "well I really want to be a kitty". Colin thought we should all be pirates (we do have more than enough "piratey" things for all of us to be one). Meli then added that mama and her could be kitty pirates. This will be interesting I am sure.

Charlie met his first female dog today...and blew it. Poor guy.

We have all been sick off and on the past two weeks, so poor Charlie has so much puppy energy and no one to play with. He has been acting out a bit. It is maddening but also kind of hilarious how toddler-like dogs can be.

Will told me the other day that maybe Char Char needed a friend! My mouth basically hit the floor! He said that maybe he is a dog person and just never knew it. He was even thinking of a lab or something. Oh. My. Goodness.

The kids wanted to have a chance to name one if we got another. Last time we vetoed Chewey and Blue Claw. Will said maybe Scott. No one really liked my Homer, Walter, Harvey, Otto, Francis, Atticus, Walden, or Alfred. Well Atticus and Alfred were put as maybe's. I love names that were popular in the 1880's - cannot help it...and some favorite authors/literature characters.

We will see if the B family adopts another family member. I do love seeing Will treat Charlie like one of his babies. So cute.




                                                   ~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~
                                                              The B Family

Passing out Candy is so fun!

On Halloween, I decided to work a half day this year. It has been an adjustment for the kids to have me working again. So, I really wanted to take the kids down to Cottage Grove for the downtown trick-or-treating. That way they could have some mommy time.  The town closes off the roads to traffic and it takes place right after school. The kids enjoyed running into their friends that we have not seen since we moved. We also stopped by the Elks Lodge that had tables set up in their big room for trick-or-treating. There was also a haunted maze that Mi-Ma took them thru.

Once we got back home, the kids were ready for Dad to take them around our new neighborhood. Apparently, there was some very impressive houses. I love when neighbors get into the fun. Once they got back Meli and Colin helped me hand out candy. I think Meli had the most fun doing this. She was so amped up on Halloween vibes and just having a blast. She kept singing “this is Halloween…” and saying “Happy Halloween” to everyone… Literally. Every. Person.

A group of teenagers came by with a boom box that played the Ghostbuster theme song. Meli flipped out! She started yelling, “I love GHOSTBUSTERS!!!!” Then she acted like she was just blown away. She actually fell backwards on the sidewalk. The teenagers thought she was hilarious. It was also neat that one of the girls was dressed as Pikachu too!

Colin was Max Steel and also had a great time handing out candy. He thought it was his job to make sure everyone got enough candy. He also wanted to make sure no one was allergic to peanuts. Colin may have a slight allergy to peanuts that we discovered a few months back. He told me that was why he hated it so much. His body was telling him that it was not good for him. He really has never liked it. He can smell it from the top floor and gets grossed out. I did not like it as a kid, but nothing like that. I actually did not start liking it until I became pregnant with Meli. I find that funny, because she LOVES it! She must have passed on some of that love to me.

I was planning on doing a little more for a costume this year, but time got away. I did wear my rainbow wig and witch tights – so I kind of was a witch…Minus the broom and hat. I got some compliments from several teenagers that liked my wig. Kudos to me! Not always easy getting teenage compliments. I had a younger kid ask me if was my real hair, because “that would be awesome!”.

This year was a blast! I am glad it all worked out. The next day, Meli was ready for Christmas. I personally love the idea of Thanksgiving and November in general. So no decorations yet…but I am getting very excited for Christmas this year. Usually I am a little better at waiting.

                                           ~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~
                                                   The B Family

Halloween Past

My memories on Facebook had several Halloween costume pictures of the kids, so I thought it would be fun to take a gander to past Halloweens.


Colin:

Kindergarten - Batman

Preschool - Ironman

Almost 4 years old - Knight

2nd Grade - Robin

Almost 3 - Spiderman

Almost 2 - Superman

Almost 1  (first Halloween) - Tigger

1st Grade - Wolverine

Meli: (I think I am missing her OSU cheerleading one.

3 - Fairy

First Halloween - Kitty

4 years old - Rainbow Dash

1 - grumpy witch

Will and I:

Vampire 

Gypsy

Pirate

Pirates

Just went with a neon theme 

                                                   ~ Love, Hugs &  Kisses ~
                                                           The B Family

A Hayride & Haunted Pumpkin Maze

Colin joined Cub Scouts a months ago and has been loving it! The pack put on a Halloween get together for the whole family. On Tuesday we went to a farm to go on flashlight lit hayride and a haunted pumpkin maze.

The hayride was fun. It was so muddy, I thought we were going to get stuck a few times. It was nice to ride through the trees. We started just when it started to get darker and by the time we got back it was totally dark. Perfect for the maze. They provided us with mini flashlights, which we only needed in the beginning. Once you got to the next section it was lit up by Jack-o-laterns. It was very neat looking! They were carved in so many different faces and pictures. Here were some of our favorites. Excuse the picture quality, I was walking while taking them. The kids were too excited for me to stop.

~ Love, Hugs &; Kisses ~ The B Family

A Fall Tradition: Pumpkin Carving

This year pumpkin carving had a somewhat bad start. The kids (well Meli) almost lost it. She was just so grumpy and probably ready for bed even before dinner. I think she may be fighting off a cold. We are very fortunate that the kids have a pretty strong immune system. It can be difficult to know right away that they have something. Meli's tale sign is her moodiness goes to a whole new level. She was crying at everything and just very easily upset (more so than normal).

She was able to pull it together (I did sing ABC's to her and gave her a pre-dinner snack) - so she was able to do one pumpkin. Our second white one has to wait.

Colin did our face design this year, Will carved, and the kids scooped. Normally, I help in that piece but I got home later from work (I was in Coos Bay that day), so I was working on dinner and pumpkin seeds!

I want to make a pumpkin pie from scratch this year - but have never done so. Hmmm....possibly.

Anyway, we had the Halloween Pandora station playing. We have been listening to it all month. There is not a lot of variety to the song choices. The kids love it though.

Their reaction when the song from Halloween came on. They have never seen the movie but it is still creepy nonetheless. 

~ Love, Hugs &; Kisses ~ The B Family

A Need for Speed

Flash for his last soccer game - I think I did fairly well

This year, both kids chose to dress up as speedy characters: Rainbow Dash (My Little Pony) and Flash. Well, I guess Colin only painted his face as the Flash for his last soccer game. For trick-or-treating and his classroom party he was actually Robin (Batman's trusty sidekick). Robin is probably fast too. He is still sticking with the superhero theme that he has done since birth practically. Only two exceptions; his first Halloween, I dressed him up as Tigger (adorable) and once when he was three he chose to be a knight. I tried to convince him to be a mad scientist, but he told me next year. It would be a perfect choice since he wants to be like eight different types of scientists.  I was glad that Meli stepped away from the princess scene this time. I am sure we will be back on it next time around. She probably only took the break because she is constantly wearing one of her princess costumes. She did ask for an Elsa dress. "Mama and Grammie can make me an Elsa dress for Christmas". Next sewing project, I guess. Actually the next one is a reading tent for both kids (Ponies and Batman) with a comfy cushion to lay on.

Will did a pumpkin for Mae

This has been a super busy week. We had some friends visiting from Virginia. It was so nice seeing them again. They were some of the first people we met while living there. I missed being around them. The kids loved having them around for Halloween. Will's band had three gigs in a row! John got to play guitar for all three gigs. It was great seeing the two play together again. They were in a band together when we lived back east. One of the gigs was at the WOW Music Hall in Eugene, which is awesome!!! They opened for a band that was recently on Queen Latifah's talk show! OMG...seriously.

Robin - we sprayed his hair black which he thought was aweseome

Colin's school party was fun. Mae and I both went to help out. The 2nd grade teachers were "rock, paper and  scissors". Very cute. Another grade was characters from Wizard of Oz. I love that they did themes. Our town had the downtown trick-or-treating on Friday. It thankfully did not rain while we were down there. I love our small town! It is so sweet all that they do for the kids. Colin and Mae had a blast!

Rainbow Dash

Saturday evening we headed to a friends house to get some trick-or-treating done. Honestly, I was a little over it since we did it the day before...but the kids love it...so of course I had fun! It was raining though. By the end it was a drizzle, which is not cool when you straightened your hair that day. I did come home with curly hair. Magic.

My dad and Michele came out to support the band

The kids loved going around the neighborhood with their friends. By the time we got home, they were ready for Charlie Brown and Jack Skeleton with Grammie, and I was ready for a night out with friends listening to Will's band. I am so proud of myself, I wore a wig!!! I cannot stand hair once it is off a head. Weird, I know. Fake or real, just cannot do it. In my 30's, I am trying to not let things hold me back. So, I cut my hair (short). I had been talking about it for years.  I also wore a wig. I got one with pigtails and very bright. I took the pigtails out and could not do it. Not sure why that made a difference, but id definitely did. Small steps.

I may have to try neon hair!

Will's band did an awesome job! It was such a fun night with friends and strangers! I hope everyone had a fantastic and safe Halloween!

My drummer hubby