The Brown Brick Road

Halloween Fun

November 2, 2015

Well, we had a fun – albeit very soggy! – Halloween! Before the rain came on Saturday, we had a fun day on Thursday with Maxwell’s Halloween parade up at school! That morning, when Maxwell put his costume on for school, Spencer wanted to get dressed up too so I threw Samantha’s hat on as well and we actually got a cute picture of all 3 dressed up!

Lions and Tigers and Pigs! Oh my!

halloween

I was really proud of Maxwell’s costume. I found the neat mask and tail on Etsy. We tried to just buy a tiger costume but…the colors didn’t match and that was not ok with Maxwell! So, I searched high and low to find an orange shirt and pants that matched and cut all those tiger stripes out of black iron-on fabric. Unfortunately, the fabric didn’t stick that great. Fortunately, GJ was in town and came to the rescue by sewing on all the black stripes. I thought he looked AWESOME and he LOVED it so it was a win-win!

tiger maxwell

Since Maxwell was a tiger, Spencey decided he wanted to be a lion! I ordered him a similar mask off of Etsy and then we found a lion costume at Target. The mask was hard for Spencer to see out of so, again thanks to GJ, he had two options for Halloween. He could either wear the custome as it came above with the face on the hood. Or, he could wear the mask with the face of the lion removed from the hood….

lion spencer

For Halloween, he ultimately decided not to wear the mask but I was glad I got a few pics of him in it anyway!

tiger and lion

Rooooaaaawwwrrrr!

lion and tiger
The parade up at school was only for the 4s and 5s and it was precious. It took all of 10 minutes but it was a pretty cute 10 minutes!

Maxwell had the best costume, if I do say so myself! 🙂

tiger

I thought Blair’s birthday cake was pretty cute too!

blair cake

Here he is getting mad at me for taking too many pictures. Typical.

tiger

After the parade I went to pick up Maxwell from his classroom and could tell right away that he didn’t feel good. By the time we got home, he was burning up with fever. A trip to the doctor on Friday morning confirmed strep. Ugh….but very easy to treat! He looked like this on Friday…

bedroom

But a few doses of some pink bubble gum amoxicillin and he was no longer contagious and ready to go by Halloween! Pictures of the main event tomorrow! See you then! Boo!

BOO!

October 30, 2015

We’re ready for Halloween!! Earlier this week, we went up to The Club for pumpkin carving and face painting. It was chaotic as always but plenty of fun too!

With a little Starburst bribe, I was able to get the kids onto the porch for a picture….

halloween

and even managed to get this! All looking the same way! Hooray!

pumpkins

My tiger and my shark had fun at The Club….

halloween

and I even managed to carve a tiger Jack O’Lantern – with ears! – that Maxwell thought was awesome. Go me!

halloween

We also listened to the Ghostbusters song on repeat last night and the boys think it’s pretty cool. We’re ready for Halloween and we ain’t afraid of no ghosts!!! BOO!

9 months old!

October 29, 2015

9 months old already?! What?

9 montjs

I know…I can hardly believe it either. But, it’s true. My sweet, happy, kissable baby girl is 9 months old!

samantha

Spencer at 9 months (please go look at his eyelashes even then!)…

spb 9 months

and Maxwell at 9 months…

mbb 9 months

It’s fun to go back and read the 9 month updates on the boys because things are so similar now. Samantha naps 2 times a day – 9:00 and 1:00. She goes to bed around 6:45pm and we get her up around 6:30 am. She has her pacis and her lovies and couldn’t be happier in her crib. We always say she’s having a party in her bed! She’s nursing 4 times a day and is starting to eat real food despite having no teeth yet! So far, bananas have been the biggest hit but she’s also gobbled up butternut squash, muffins and a variety of other things.

9 months

She’s a crawling machine. She can get on all 4s and will get across the room in no time. Her favorite thing to go get are her brothers’ stinky dirty shoes on the floor! eew!

9 months

She really is happy all the time. Well, except when someone besides me tries to hold her! 🙂 She’s definitely on a momma kick and I don’t mind one bit. She’s my best girl.

9 months

She’s developed the cutest little giggle and laughs the most at her silly brothers. Spencer can especially get her going. He loves it when I put her in his bed with him. He’ll get right in her face and always say “tap tap baby!” I have no idea what that means but it’s really cute. Both he and Maxwell just think she’s the best thing in the world. They’re very protective of her too and help me watch her to make sure she doesn’t get herself into trouble. I hear “no no baby!” a lot!

9 months

Hanging with Honey Bunny!

9 months

Her best trick right now? Waving bye-bye! She waves all day and it is precious! I think she even said bye-bye the other day while waving! for real!

bye bye

Every day with this bundle of love is better than the last. We are so, so thankful to have Baby Mantha in our family!!

9 months old

We love you sweet Samantha!

All other monthly photos.

Halloween fun

October 28, 2015

Halloween season is busy! Busy but fun! We went up to Boo at the Zoo on Saturday night. We (meaning I) decided it would be best to save our real Halloween costumes for the main event so I had two little Spidermen with me.

spidermen

This one was killing me with his big muscles. The cutest.

spiderman

I even decided to go along with the spider theme a bit!

boo at the zoo

I also talked GJ into going with me and we sure were glad to have her along for the ride!

boo at the zoo

We left Daddo and Robert at home with Samantha to watch football. Robert kept trying to tell us Samantha REALLY wanted to go to the zoo but, we didn’t bite. 😉

boo zoo

We got to the zoo around 4:30. They weren’t supposed to let people in until 5:00 but we got on in around 4:45 so I was glad we got there early. We bought our tickets online in advance and that saved a lot of time too!

boo zoo

I can see how everything would be even neater later at night when it is dark, but we enjoyed being the early birds! The boys got their fortune told, rode the train, went down the inter tube slide (even spence!), went on the hay ride, trick-or-treated in the hay maze and finally rode the carousel!

boo zoo

Thanks to GJ, the boys even came home with some loot from the gift shop. That’s what grandmothers are for, right?! 🙂

zoo

We were home by 7:00 and honestly had a great time. Realizing I had somehow dropped my driver’s license at the zoo that night? Not so great. But, I called the next morning and someone had found it and turned it in. Hooray! I’d say we’ll go back to Boo at the Zoo again next year.

On Sunday, after soccer, we drove out to our church’s Fall Festival. The kids got to decorate a pumpkin and get a little face paint. They had a bluegrass band and you could make s’mores.

fall festival

Maxwell got his marshmallow a little charred!

fall festival

It was a fine time. I think the kids enjoyed it but I’m not sure if we’ll make the effort next year.

fall festival

Halloween fun all around!

more birthday fun

October 27, 2015

More birthday fun – just not our birthdays! On Friday we all got to go celebrate Sally’s 3rd birthday! She had a cute train that took the kids down to the end of the cul-de-sac where they picked out a pumpkin to decorate back at Sally’s house.

sally party

Spencey was waaaaay into decorating his pumpkin! He sat there forever and was quite proud of his finished product!

sally party

It was a beautiful (and hot!) afternoon to hang out with friends…

saly party

sally party

babies

The boys got cool glitter tattoos (which are still on 4 days later!) and Samantha ate some goldfish (her first!) off the ground. Awesome.

sally party

These next pictures make me laugh. Spencer and Max were standing next to each other while Sally blew out her candle. Go from left to right and see how Spencer checks out Max’s hat, then he decides to touch Max’s hat, and then Max sternly tells him to get his own hat! ha!

sally party