Fun Halloween Weekend

We had such a fun Halloween this year!

We started with a party at Julia's best friend's house. Her mother went all out! There were several stations for the kids, such as pumpkin decorating, cookie decorating, flashlight projects, play dough, pumpkin sticker projects, etc! And she had fruit, cold cuts, and juice. But I must say, the best part of all was the "Grown Up Cooler", complete with several variations of beer and wine for all of the Mommies and Daddies!

Julia, the "Midnight Fairy", Hayden "The Joker", and Brandon, "Batman"

There were at least 15 kids at the party who all had a very good time! Once everyone left at dusk, we went Trick or Treating with our friends. Julia had a blast with Megan, and Hayden enjoyed running with his buddy, Mason, who is his age. Brandon caught on quickly to the concept, and tried his very best to keep up with the older children. His bucket became very heavy after a while! I must say, this was the first time I had ever been Trick or Treating with my kids while bringing along a glass of wine for myself, but this added a whole new element of fun. Be sure to check out the full gallery of Halloween pictures on my Smugmug website (link is to the right sidebar) and see if you notice how many of the adults have an alcoholic beverage in hand! Other parents commented that they wish they had thought of that!

Once we were done, we stopped by to see Aunt Di, and luckily, our cousins Jackson and Matthew were there too, and very eager to pass out yet more candy to my kids. Once we got home and turned on the porch light to indicate we were open for business, we had a grand total of two doorbell rings! I foresaw this and only bought one small bag of candy to pass out this year.

All of the kids slept in late Saturday morning, which was very nice. Then it was off to Hayden's final game of the season. Hayden played very well, with each at bat resulting in a hit. Always a crowd-pleaser, in the second inning after his hit, while sprinting to first base, Hayden rolled up his sleeve to display his massive "muscle bump" in his bicep to the adoring crowd. Once the game was over, we moved over to the pavilion to celebrate the Bats fantastic fall season with a party. The kids had pizza, cupcakes and trophies! Coach Joe congratulated Hayden on being the team's strongest hitter!

Thanks to Nina and PawPaw, Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Jenny, cousins Baileigh and baby Jackson for coming out to support Hayden and cheer him on!

Saturday evening was date night for Mike and I. We were invited by my boss to attend a gala held at the dealership to Champion the Cure for Cystic Fibrosis. There we had fantastic food provided by some of the best restaurants in our area. We even shook hands with Houston Astros pitcher Woody Williams. It was fun evening and we had a great time hanging out together. We are so very blessed that our children are healthy.

Today is Sunday, and we're looking forward to relaxing with the kids and finishing up laundry. Michael is planning some of his famous baby back ribs for dinner tonight. Aren't you SO jealous????