Sunday, November 1, 2009

Happy Halloween... and Onto November!!!!

We had a GREAT Halloween this year. I think its probably because Maeve is 2 and she totally gets it. She loved her kitty costume and her pumpkin costume... and she adored her "Winnie the Pooh" candy bucket. She has also mastered saying "trick or treat." We started our Halloween celebrations on Friday night... we stayed up (ALL 3 of us) super late carving pumpkins- why do we save things for the last minute?? But they turned out cute and Maeve had a blast "cooking" the pumpkin guts. While Ryan and I did the knife work, Maeve sat on the floor with a giant mixing bowl full of the guts- she was serving it up to us on her princess bake ware. When Ryan and I kindly refused to eat it, she started stuffing it in the dogs lips- by the end of the carving session both dogs had dried guts all over their faces :)



Along with carving pumpkins on Friday night, our plan was also to go trunk or treating at Polly's. Unfortunately, it was like a monsoon outside and the event got totally rained out. Instead of Polly's we went to "Crazy Cowboy" with my parents and dressed Maeve up like Minnie Mouse. She absolutely ADORED that costume. She watches "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" every morning so she thought she was part of the crew :)


Saturday morning I had planned a Halloween breakfast. My mom always made a HUGE deal out of holidays and birthdays and so I think I got that from her... I had been collecting little Halloween odds and ends throughout the month of October to stuff in one of those plastic pumpkins for Maeve on Halloween morning. It was full of mostly stuff she could use for Halloween- pumpkin socks, a pink pumpkin torch (for trick or treating), a Halloween Mr. Potato Head (which has been a HUGE hit- its gone everywhere with us for 2 days now) and a "spooky" book. Unfortunately while I was taking a shower, Maeve found the pumpkin and Ryan let her open it- WITHOUT a camera or me! :( While Maeve played with her goodies, Ryan and I made a huge breakfast- and pulled out our waffle maker for the first time since we got it for Christmas! I'm so glad we did because it made some amaaaazing waffles- its one of those turning ones like they have at hotels and buffets. I HIGHLY recommend getting one! :) I used some pumpkin pancake mix I found at Trader Joe's and am thrilled to use it again for Thanksgiving morning- it was SO SO SO good. Instead of syrup we sprinkled cinnamon & sugar & butter (very healthy...) on them. Mmmm.mmmm.



After breakfast we got Maeve in her pumpkin outfit to go trunk or treating at Meijers & Seymour Chevorlet... I wanted to take her trunk or treating at least a couple of times because I knew we wouldn't really make it out of the house on Halloween night because of the VERY kid populated neighborhood we live in. Meijers was AWESOME- we most definitely will be participating in that event next year (hopefully they'll do it again!!). It was sooooo kid friendly and Maeve had an absolute blast. We went from station to station all over the store, eating, doing arts and crafts, Maeve even got her picture taken in the photo dept. (ALL FREE!) Maeve's favorite part of the event was decorating her spider cookie and eating it. She thought it was a hoot :) Mom & dad's favorite part? The free lunch! Maeve got an apple, PB & J, pretzels, juice and a brownie... how nice is that? And of course at every station there was candy... we were really impressed with the event.










Since we had such a great time at Meijers, we thought we'd end the afternoon with MORE trunk or treating at Seymours. UGH. We will NOT be doing that event next year (or ever again for that matter). Where do I start with this one? I guess we should have just kept going as soon as we saw the THOUSANDS of people and cars parked along the road leading up to the dealership. We thought it just hadn't started yet and as soon as they opened the doors to get in, the giant mobs of people would disperse and it would be fine. OH MY GOSH. Hardly! We stood in line for 45 minutes to get into this thing- not to mention the entire time I'm standing in line there is this MAMMOTH woman (and I'm not talking width wise- she was HUGE- like heads above Ryan & the rest of the crowd) who was chain smoking like it was her job. Maeve and I seriously had ashes being blown in our faces for 45 minutes. Ridiculous. What was even more ridiculous was her language- I thought for sure any second Maeve was going to spit out the "F" word. Some people are just so unbelievable- I mean, it was a family/kid event- drop the cig and clean up your mouth! After we finally got in, we were literally in the middle of a car warehouse type thing- I had to hold Maeve the entire time (she wouldn't let Ryan hold her) because there were poisonous fluids and huge machines and other junk all over the place. AND- half the cars there handed out fliers- yes, my 2 year old really appreciated the flier for 15% off an oil change. Anyways we got out of there as soon as we realized it was a bust. Unfortunately it was soooo past Maeve's nap time that by the time we got home, she was off schedule and not going to take a nap. This made for an incredibly grumpy pumpkin... especially when we didn't let her take her candy bucket into her bedroom (I know- call us crazy right???)

I spent the rest of the afternoon making chili and spiderweb cupcakes- both of which came out really good- I hadn't ever made either one before (I KNOW- I had NEVER made chili!!!) so I was pleased that everything was edible. My parents came over around 5 and joined us for dinner. After dinner, we took Maeve to 3 or 4 houses- just enough that she could get the idea of trick or treating. She was a pro! And she used her manners :) I know I've raved about Old Navy's Halloween costumes before, but really- they're the best! She was so warm, she was sweating in her kitty cat outfit! And not to mention they're super adorable... and durable. I took lots of pictures, but I wish I could've gotten ONE thing on videotape- her reaction to this skeleton costume she saw. Maeve is a really huge chicken when it comes to "spooky" things- and if you've been around us in the past month or so, you know that almost everything is "spooky." All day long I hear "Momma look! Spooky sky!" or "Momma! SPOOKY pumpkins!" So when she saw this glow in the dark skeleton walking towards her she had a complete meltdown. She dropped her winnie the pooh pot (the whole thing exploded all over the road) and ran into my arms shaking- it was so sad! :( After the skeleton walked past us she started shouting really loud "BYE BONES!!! NO MORE BONES!" Dang I wish we had our video camera with us! :(






Maeve finally hit the sheets around 9 or so- still crying for her "treats." And surprise, surprise, this morning when she woke up the one thing that was on her mind were her TREATS. We've hidden the bucket of candy but she knows its around here somewhere... :)

I can't wait until next Halloween- I've already come up with some really cute brother/sister costume combos!!! :)

And to end this post... IT'S NOVEMBER!!! I CAN OFFICIALLY SAY I AM DUE THIS MONTH!!!!!!!! WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

2 comments:

Jessica Perry said...

Maeve was an adorable kitty cat! Jordan woke up Sunday morning saying "candy, candy" as well. Glad you guys had a fun-filled day:)

Chelsea said...

Lauren's costume was from Old Navy too (she was a tiger) and I totally agree! Not long into treating, she was complaining because she was so hot and we had to eventually stop and peel layers OFF her! Yay--I win!