Happy Halloween!

I know everyone posts Halloween pictures this time of year, but some of these are just classic and I had to share. We were in Disney the week before Halloween so I wasn't very prepared this year - I kind of thought in the back of my mind that somehow we would miss the holiday all together and then I realized while we were away that we would be back just in time. We got off the plane in Grand Rapids at 3pm and were ready to trick or treat by 6pm. Luckily, all I had to do was borrow a Superman costume from our friends across the street for Dylan, unpack Ella's princess dress from her suitcase, and dig out a chicken suit for Mady from our costume bin downstairs.

Our little princess.

Superman.

I asked Dylan to take a picture of Mady and me. He took one, looked proud of himself and said, "I got everything except your eyes and your forehead."

Second try (handed the camera to Matt this time) - Mady really wasn't this happy. She was still exhausted from our trip but she tolerated the chicken suit as long as she was being held.

We introduced the chicken to the bear -

love Ty's expression...so calm...Mady...a little dramatic.

Our kids + our favorite neighbors' kids - an adorable bear and Batman.

Take One: the chicken tries to escape.

Take Two: that's a little better.
Happy Halloween everyone!

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween this year - pretty laid back and the kids had a blast so I guess that's the whole point! Dylan LOVED being a race car driver and Ella was adorable in her monkey costume (a hand me down from Dylan...sorry second child...maybe next year we'll let you be a princess!)

pumpkin party!

We had our (kind of) annual small group pumpkin party tonight. This first photo is from the party 3 years ago - six kiddos, including three tiny ones (Ella was still a month away from making her appearance into this world). The second photo is from tonight - we're up to 12 kiddos now and they are still as cute as ever. Dylan is the monkey in the first shot and Ella is the monkey in the second :)

Halloween!

I've enjoyed seeing everyone's Halloween pictures either on their blogs or their Facebook accounts...thought I'd share our Halloween shots too. We were on vacation this year, so it was a different sort of Halloween but the kids were still able to do a little trick or treating on the cruise ship. Dylan was a soccer player along with cousins Isaac and Nicko - my parents picked up these outfits when they were in Spain earlier this fall. Ella was a cheerleader - if you know anything about me you know that I was a cheerleader all through high school and then coached for three years before we had kids. I just can't help influencing her costume "choice" while I can :)





More vacation pictures coming soon...

Zoo Goes Boo!

This morning, Katie and I took the kids down to the zoo for Zoo Goes Boo (the guys were at the MSU/OSU game). I've never been there for this event before, and we ended up having a really nice time. The weather was perfect, and they had tables set up around the zoo (usually sponsored by a company) that were all handing out candy, books, coupons and other goodies. It was a little crowded but it wasn't terrible. The event goes next week Friday and Saturday too if anyone is looking for a little family fun.

Dylan dressed up as a lion and Ella was a frog, however, these aren't their "official" Halloween costumes (Dylan wore the lion costume last year and the frog was a random clearance item that my mom had lying around). We will be in Florida this year so I wanted costumes for them that they could wear in warm weather - Dylan is going to be a soccer player and Ella will be a cheerleader - but I was glad we had some warmer alternatives to wear today.

Happy Halloween!

A crabby chicken and an uncooperative lion...what a pair!