Happy Halloween!

We had a fantastic showing of Trick or Treaters at our house this year and all our full-sized candy bars went fast. Brent had to dig into the back up stash. Brigitta completely skipped the Halloween festivities and focused on setting up her Christmas decorations (she'd been looking forward to transforming her room for weeks). Sydney hit the streets with a friend and amassed a lot of candy- she was pretty proud of herself. The flapper costume wouldn't work for a chilly evening so she donned her cow pajama onesie which worked perfectly! Ireland also went trick or treating with friends until dark while Liesel stayed home and worked on college applications (which she completed in the nick of time!).

Due to building scheduling, the ward Halloween party was actually on November 1 so it was a Dia de los Muertos party. Brigitta and Sydney made good use of the flapper dresses I'd bought for family photos. Liesel went as Fantastic Mr Fox. Ireland worked hard on her costume from the children's book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. She found the overalls, made the ears and cookie and did her own makeup! I don't even mind that she borrowed my slippers. 

Liesel and Ireland peeled off early to go to parties with their friends but Bishop handed over the camera remote for Sydney and Brigitta. They definitely had some fun with that!

People brought family photos for the ofrenda and due to weather, the Trunk or Treat was inside. I had some large bedding that I needed to take to the laundromat so I wasn't there for the entire party. Honestly? I was glad for the excuse to slip out. I have so many years under my belt of going all out for Halloween (Costumes! Pumpkin Patch! Corn Maze! Apple Picking!) that I'm ready for a season of life when it is not the huge production it used to be. 

October Tid Bits

 Not long after I started my new job, I discovered the massage chair.

Have I mentioned the incredible view of Chicago we get?

Like this?

Speaking of incredible cities, Gita took her DC trip. She loved it! The Holocaust Museum in particular left an impression on her. 

Me: Do any of you wish you had a brother?
Sydney: I do! Because he'd be my bestie.

Gita: He wouldn't like that. 

This is probably my favorite bouquet ever. This was a few days after I arranged it when the roses and tulips had opened up and were showing off their full glory. It smelled amazing and made me smile every time I walked by.

Another lovely bouquet!

This is my new favorite way to eat a banana. I dip it in trail mix which helps cover the taste.

Ireland has an incredible Girl Scout troop but her troop leader was running dry of ideas. A few parents (including Brent and I) stepped up to throw out some suggestions and then we hosted the girls to help plan the year.

We don't use our fire pit nearly enough and it was good to have people gathered around it again.

The girls voted for their favorites using these, I tallied them and bada bing bada boom- we had a year of troop activities planned!

Picture in a picture.

It's funny- I don't even have a picture of my birthday. I was just so relieved things had calmed down a bit. As I close out my 40's I'm hoping a lot of the drama in my life will dissipate as well!

HoCo

 As always, let's start with the dress. Working again brought out the sucker of a mom in me and Ireland had mentioned she really wanted to find her HoCo dress. She wasn't interested in any of Liesel's old dresses so I offered to take her to Gipper Prom where we checked out a few options. Believe it or not, these are some of the more modest styles.

A little dowdy with all the ruffles?

Incredible but way too expensive!

Fit like a glove but the color was all wrong.

They happened to have that last one in another color and she looked fantastic! There was kind of a 20's theme and I happened to own high heeled Mary Janes in exactly the same shade.

As HoCo time drew near, Gita and noticed large groups of girls in pajamas and silk hair bonnets lined up at Trader Joes before opening. The usual Saturday crowd is incredibly polite when selecting flowers but these girls went at them like a pack of hyenas. I finally worked up the courage to ask them- what they were doing? Turns out this is the new HoCo tradition: sleepover, skin care, heatless curls, then making a whole day of creating bouquets, brunch, getting ready and photos in various picturesque locations. I asked Ireland if she wanted to make bouquets with her friends and she loved the idea! To beat out the crowds, I picked up flowers from the Trader Joes by my work on Friday so they were ready to go on Saturday morning.

Ireland's little crew of cut ups looked so great! The photos weren't half bad either (I am NO photographer!)

Fantastic 4!

6 7

Weezer

The bouquets turned out really cute and they had fun putting them together. 

Ireland looked beautiful in her dress. After photos she took off those high heels and slipped into Converse- apparently that is also the thing to do these days!

I love having teenagers!

Liesel wasn't interested in going but she was sweetly supportive of Ireland. After the dance, they all went to IHOP where everyone noshed on pancakes with all the other high school kids dressed to the nines! Ahhh it cracks me up what becomes tradition but I am here for all of it!