Chocolate for Breakfast

That's what I ate. I gave Isaac fruit and yogurt (because I'm a responsible mom like that), but I kept sneaking little snack-sized Kit Kats from the trick-or-treat stash every chance I could. Pathetic, I know. I have no self-control when it comes to sweets. Even if it means stealing from my own child.

I asked my mom this morning if she used to steal my trick-or-treat candy when I was a kid, and she admitted to mowing down all my Almond Joys back in the day. I must get it from her.

Here are some pictures from the trunk-or-treat/chili dinner at our church last night.

Who would have guessed that the temperature would be in the 70s on October 31st? I sure didn't when I bought Maddie's costume last year on clearance. She was toasty warm, to say the least.

Little Georgie and Maddie were born a month apart and had identical costumes

They didn't like the idea of this photo as much as we did

Jenni made the most amazing chili I have ever tasted. I would have eaten that for breakfast if I could have.

Getting excited for more candy

Ryan started out by taking Isaac to the different trunks...

...and Maddie and I passed out candy. As you can see, she wasn't quite as excited about Halloween as I was. I'm sure she'll change her mind soon enough.

Good Bye Halloween, Bring on Thanksgiving!

Beggar's Night

Here in Iowa we go trick-or-treating on the 30th instead of the 31st, and it's called Beggar's Night. It was about 70 degrees today--perfect for trick-or-treating. I took Isaac to my friend's neighborhood while Ryan stayed home and kept Maddie company. Here are a few pictures from tonight as well as the Halloween party at Ryan's school yesterday. Isaac liked his monkey costume for about 2 minutes, and then he'd had enough. Here's my little monkey (who had climbed on top of the kitchen table) attempting to take the costume off.

Feeding Mammie some of his banana

Taking a bite himself (sorry, Kelly! I'll make sure to wash it before I give it back to you.)

Family photo at the school's Halloween party

That's my boy!

Trick-or-treating with the other kids. He was a little bit skeptical of the whole idea for the first few houses, but it didn't take him long to get the gist of the whole "begging for candy" thing. By the end of the night I had to stop him from taking handfuls of candy instead of just one.

The idea behind Ryan staying home with Maddie was so that he could get a little studying done...didn't happen.

Check out this link to see my favorite mother/daughter costume. Isn't my niece adorable?

Stay tuned for even more Halloween pictures from tomorrow's Trunk or Treat. Have I mentioned that I love Halloween?

Crazy Eights

My friend Amy tagged me. Here goes...

Eight TV shows I like to watch:

1. The Office
2. Biggest Loser
3. Lost
4. Cash Cab
5. American Idol
6. Today Show
7. Nightly News
8. Sunday Morning

Eight restaurants where I like to eat:

1. Red Iguana
2. Cafe Rio
3. Zuppas
4. In-n-Out Burger (thanks for reminding me how much I miss this one, Amy!)
5. Cool Basil
6. Subway (How can you beat the $5 foot long?)
7. Thai Siam
8. Sweet Tomatoes

Eight things that happened today:

1. woke up
2. exercised
3. fed my kiddos
4. changed diapers/got children dressed
5. sewed Maddie some new leg warmers
6. ate soup for lunch
7. comforted little Isaac after he fell while playing at a friend's house and got the biggest goose egg of his little boy life
8. checked my email

Eight things I'm looking forward to:

1. Cooking club tomorrow (are you coming??)
2. The Halloween party at Ryan's school on Wednesday
3. Trick-or-Treating on Thursday (they do it on the 30th here in Iowa---not sure why)
4. Trunk-or-Treat at the church on Friday (can you tell I love Halloween?)
5. Thanksgiving
6. Christmas
7. Kandis's visit to Iowa next month
8. Seeing our family in less than two months!

Eight things on my wish list:

1. Being able to make it home for Christmas
2. cookie sheets (the midwest humidity has made all of mine rust)
3. memory card for the camera
4. a yard with a swing set
5. a date with my hubby (hopefully next week!)
6. a garage (Iowa winters can be brutal when you have to scrape the 3 inch ice off the wind shield...even though Ryan does this for me...I just hate to see him suffer in the cold, it's really hard on me)
7. Cafe Rio Pork Salad
8. Being able to make it home for Christmas

Eight people I tag:

1. Corey Ellen
2. Lisa
3. Shauni
4. Krystal
5. Shannon
6. Liz G.
7. Laura
8. Aupreille

It Runs in the Family

Here is video of Isaac just we took just a little over a year ago.

And here's a little clip that we took of Maddie this afternoon (Isaac is making the background noise, saying "Mas Mammie!" which translates to "I want to see Maddie in the view finder")

Is it just me, or is there a slight family resemblance?

Gearing Up

We are gearing up for Halloween and all of the candy that comes with it (I love having a toddler who can trick-or-treat! It's like being a kid again.) We celebrated with some friends last night. We ate soup and chili and made haunted houses. Ryan constructed the house, I decorated it, and Isaac ate it (or tried to, at least). It was a lot of fun and got me really excited for Halloween. Little Oakley decorating her house. There was some intense decorating going on with Mark and Aupreille. I couldn't keep up. Carter decorating with his mom, Shauni. Isaac, the opportunist, taking advantage of the "casa" made of candy. It was right at this moment that Ammon put the kabosh on Isaac eating his house. The family with our finished product. This is what I caught Ryan doing later that night after Isaac had gone to bed.

Maddie received a package in the mail the other day from her cousin (thank you!). This tutu was inside.

Isn't she the cutest little ballerina you've ever seen? (aside from your own little girls, of course). I forgot to put pillows around her as a safety net and didn't see this tumble coming until it was too late!---looks like our little ballerina will need to practice her balance before she heads out on the dance floor.