Halloween Parties 2015

Samantha and Amelia lucked out this year and basically celebrated Halloween all month long with their friends. It was pretty much non-stop spooky fun from the time we got back from the wedding in Utah until actual Halloween. I was kind of over the holiday by the time it arrived, but the girls STILL haven’t stopped talking about their costumes, my costume, candy, etc. like it’s going to occur again in the near future. It’s funny what they remember and how they process things!

Ever since Ms. Megan announced the My Gym party, the girls talked about going every day leading up to it. Every night before bed for two weeks, they asked me if the “My Gym Halloween Birthday Party” was tomorrow. Talk about a bribing for good behavior opportunity.

The girls were excited to try out their full costumes for the first time.

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Samantha shows off some Bat Girl super powers.

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We are here to protect you, fair citizens of Gotham.

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To the Bat Cave!

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Detour to the bars.

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Strength..giving…out…

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PLOP.

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Let’s get this circle time show on the road so we can get our treat bags.

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Stickers and pretzels. It’s the simple things in life.

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The girls were especially excited because Daddy got to take them to the party since I was at Bru Grill that evening for a Mom’s Night Out: Baby Sprinkle Edition at Bru Grill.

Thank you so much to our sweet friend (and super busy mom of four– don’t know how she does it), Sheela, for arranging such a fun mom’s night out/baby sprinkle for Phi and me! Thank you also to the amazing Sarah and Francie for picking out the best flourless chocolate cake ever from Susie Cakes!

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Sarah and Francie went cake tasting just to find a yummy gluten-free cake for me and Amy, even though I told them not to go to the trouble. You would have never known it was flourless– we were all licking our plates.

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Thanks to the fun ladies who came to celebrate and chow down! Everyone there is a busy mom and it was so nice to relax and get out for a night! It was also a special occasion for our friend, Jessica, who was celebrating her first night out to herself since her first little cutie, Owen, was born. Between feedings and utter exhaustion, it’s so hard to get out during those first few months– I’m sure the sleep-deprived, exhausted mama in yoga pants opting to stay home and sleep vs. go out for dinner will be me very soon! I feel that way already, and I’m not even sleep-deprived yet.

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While us mamas were indulging in chocolate fudge cake, Samantha and Amelia were on a Daddy Daughter date at Souplantation. Their meal was definitely a lot healthier than mine!

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The week before Halloween, the girls’ music teacher, Ms. Elena, asked if we wanted to come to class in costume, and of course, the girls were all about it!

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Samantha and Amelia jamming next to their friends, Gavin and Miss Sheela.

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Last year at the community center music class!

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It of course would not be Halloween without Crystal’s 2nd annual neighborhood Halloween party. The girls loved the little touch-and-guess boxes she set up with creepy crawly things like worms (spaghetti) and monster eyeballs (water beads) inside to feel!

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I don’t know how Crystal finds the time to make homemade pumpkin pie scented play dough for the kids, but they had a blast!

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S and A single-handedly managed to spill out all the scented rice from the sensory bins. Inviting 15+ toddlers over to your house for a party is no small feat for sure– thanks, Crystal!

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Cupcake decorating with Kennedy.

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Samantha shows off her planking skills.

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The week of Halloween, we had friends, Maliyah and Allie, over for our third annual Halloween playdate. Jodi always brings the best sugar cookies– can’t get enough!

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Our first ever Halloween playdate with the girls and Maliyah, 2013:

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Halloween playdate 2014:

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I feel lazy looking back at last year’s food selection– I opted for just pumpkin oranges this time around.

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Amelia never spends too much time decorating– she’d rather be chowing down.

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Cupcake decorating last year. The girls are getting pretty professional these days.

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Sweet Allie with her toppings.

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Allie last year!

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Craft time.

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More paint please!

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Amelia crafting, last year.

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Let’s practice trick-or-treating!

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These girls and their adventures…

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Just for fun– Samantha Cindy Lou Who with Aunt Sarah on Halloween Year One!

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Lots of love,

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Tanaka Farms with Cousin Noah

Now that he’s a little older and can do more things, Samantha and Amelia have been excited about taking their cousin, Noah, to some of their favorite places. They couldn’t wait to go with Noah to Tanaka Farms this year.

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The girls decided upon a fairy and princess dress up outfit for the occasion.

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Watching the pumpkin launch from the wagon ride with Great Auntie Lynn, Great Uncle Steve, and Cousins Allison, Zack and Noah.

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Kisses for Noah!

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Picking out pumpkins. Samantha and Amelia opted for some unique looking ones this year!

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Three little pumpkins.

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Not sure what the maniacal grin on Samantha’s face is about.

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33% looking at the camera= success.

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Amelia hoped her pumpkin would turn into a carriage to take her to the ball.

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Angry faces.

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Picking out some carrots and radishes from the U-Pick patch was their favorite part.

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The girls wanted to chow down on their pickings right then and there!

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Look what turned up in the crop this year!

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Sister hugs.

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Fall pickings. Best of the patch!

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Thanks for another fun pumpkin patch outing, Cousin Noah!

Lots of love,

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Fall pumpkin patches

Earlier in October, we spent a festive Saturday morning with our friends, Michael, Phi and Parker, plus Todd, Sheela, Lily, Avery, Owen, and Gavin at the Irvine Regional Park pumpkin patch. The OC cross country championships happened to be going on there that morning, so we had to be bussed over from another parking lot due to the crowds.

Pretty much every parent with strollers and young kids could be heard grumbling about the lines and hauling everything onto the bus, but to the girls, riding a REAL BUS was a total bonus! Highlight of their morning!

The girls decided to wear their Doc McStuffins and Princess costumes to the park that day. Because why not?

 

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Avery was such a cutie and offered to drive Amelia around on the tractor.

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The ladies were cruising!

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Owen sweetly offered to drive Samantha around, but she decided she didn’t want to ride at the last second, so Owen drove his little bro around instead. Meanwhile, the sweet Lily tried valiantly to entertain Samantha over at the bounce house, but Samantha was just too upset!

She changed her mind again and REALLY wanted to ride the tractor after all. Every time we went over to the tractor race to let her on, she had a complete meltdown since she wanted to drive it by herself. Judging by her driving skills on Parker’s toy mini cooper in the neighborhood, this was not happening. Poor Samantha gets so worked up sometimes, she just can’t calm down and make rational decisions. That girl shows her emotions like no one’s business!

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Flash back to last year’s outing to Irvine– the girls were desperate to drive one of the tractors then too!

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Fortunately, the train was sure to put a smile on her face.

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Yet another failed family selfie.

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The three little piggies: Lily, Avery and Amelia.

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Panning for gold.

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For some reason, there were several sets of twins there that day. I talked with two moms of twins outside the maze while the girls ran around inside; one had three-month-old twins and the other had nine-year-old twins. It’s always nice to chat with other twin moms at different stages, especially the ones with older twins. It gives me hope that if they can do it, so can I! It was also fun to see the baby twins– oh how I remember that Snap ‘n’ Go twin stroller with the two baby carriers… seems so long ago!

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Even last year seems like forever ago.

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The girls are ruined for life after going to so many fairs and carnivals over the summer since they know Daddy will eventually cave and let them play one of the carnival games– especially when they pronounce it “carvinal.” He melts every time. Thank goodness for the “Everyone’s a winner!” games. Jake has been known to waste a minimum of $20 trying in vain to knock down milk bottles in order to win a stuffed animal that likely cost 50 cents.

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Samantha and Amelia slept for three hours after our morning out with our Phi and Sheela’s families in Irvine, so I’ll call that a win. Thanks, friends, for a fun morning!

Our pre-Halloween line-up also included a girls’ playdate with my friend, Susan, and the girls’ fellow birthday buddy, Grace, at Tanaka Farms.

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Susan and I went on a Monday morning and pretty much had the place to ourselves.

The same birthday triplets!

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Private tour of the farm.

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Admiring the scarecrows.

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I had a few mildly terrifying moments thinking I had lost the girls in the maze. I am so used to mazes I can see over, that this one threw me off as the girls ran amuck. These days, me running is not a pretty sight.

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All three girls decided they had to climb over every single pumpkin to get to the top, ignoring the pumpkin-less path up the hay bales.

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Despite my best attempts distracting them every time we walked past, the girls eventually found the petting zoo. I guess that’s what hand sanitizer and washing machines are for.

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They of course had to pet every sheep and goat there, all while serenading the animals with rousing renditions of Baa, Baa, Black Sheep.

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My, how they’ve grown!

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Amelia is always asking to hold Samantha’s hand, but Samantha rarely wants to. Good thing Grace loves hand holding as much as Amelia does!

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These two are such cuties!

More fall fun with friends to come!

Lots of love,

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Halloween 2015

Between all the neighbors’ decorations going up extra early this year, the Halloween themed parties, pumpkin patch outings, and chances to wear costumes, this Halloween seemed to last ALL of October. Samantha and Amelia talked about trick or treating every day leading up to actual Halloween, and in their toddler sense of time, it must have seemed like forever in coming. I was happy when it was all over!

In September, I asked the girls what they wanted to be this year and after making their selection, they regularly changed their mind every hour thereafter until Halloween. Samantha vacillated between a caterpillar, a butterfly, a princess, and a bunny, while Amelia was undecided between an owl and a snake.

This doesn’t even include every time we went in a store and thousands of new costume ideas popped into their little brains. One day in September, we happened to be in Costco and the girls were drawn like moths to a flame to the princess costumes placed strategically/evilly at the front of the store. Since they were cheap, I let the girls each pick out one for dress-up clothes in the hopes that they would get sick of them by the end of October and opt for the halfway homemade costumes I had originally planned on, Batman and Robin!

Despite talking about their 50,000 different costume choices all month, the girls ultimately warmed to the idea of being superheroes (especially when they found out Daddy was being one too) and ran around all of Halloween pretending to fly with their capes. The tutus on their costumes sealed the deal since they have never been known to reject wearing anything with a tutu!

On Halloween, before our neighborhood block party began, we went up to the park to take some pictures of the girls in all their superhero glory!

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A few weeks prior to Halloween, I showed the girls their costumes and had them pick out which one they wanted. Thankfully, there were no fights, and Samantha chose Batgirl, while Amelia chose Robin. After hearing me call Samantha a “bat” all day, however, Amelia decided she REALLY wanted to be a bat, too. So thereafter, we referred to them as the “Black Bat” and the “Red Bat.”

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Up, up and away!

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Couldn’t resist a flashback. 2013 as Thing 1, Thing 2.

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2014 as Madeline.

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2015 as Batgirl Black Bat and Robin Red Bat. Poor Bandit is the same Skeledog every year.

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Crimefighters or partners in crime?

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Samantha and Amelia 2013, 2014, and 2015. They look so grown up now!

halloween3years  The cutie patootie Amelia in years past.

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Precious Samantha! Where did my babies go?

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My superheroes! Jake’s costume was easy since all I had to buy was a superman t-shirt. He even already had those dorky glasses, which were perfect for Clark Kent.

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I went as Catwoman this year, or as most people called it, the pregnant cat.

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Samantha ready to take on the world.

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Red Bat to the rescue.

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Even superheroes need to be comforted by Daddy when they fall off the playstructure.

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Contemplating their next move.

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Me and baby girl on the hunt for chocolate.

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Block party time! Our awesome neighbors, the Abbotts, invited a bunch of neighbors over for a Halloween feast with catered Las Golondrinas Mexican food. Yum! Other neighbors brought crock pot queso, crock pot pulled pork and tons of other fall-ish goodies. It was just what baby wanted!

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Isabel and Bandit were both skeletons this year.

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After stuffing ourselves at the block party, it was time to hit the neighborhood.

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Family costumes throughout the years. In 2013, we had two different costumes, one for a 20s themed party and one for actual Halloween.

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Neighborhood friends Maya, Parker, Camdyn, and Addison. Amelia was fascinated with Logan’s homemade Ironman costume.

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Cutest little ladies of the neighborhood! Amelia, Samantha, Kennedy, Jadyn, Addison, Camdyn, Maya and the precious baby Quincy.

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The girls were a little bit timid going up to doors last year, but this year they totally had it down and went all by themselves. About every ten minutes, we kept asking if they were done so we could go home. This did not go over well.

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We trick-or-treated our neighborhood by ourselves for a bit before catching up with the big kids, Parker and Jenny.

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The girls with Parker, Halloween 2014. They all look like such babies!

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Some of the neighborhood decor was a wee bit frightening. There were definitely a few doors Samantha and Amelia decided to avoid.

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We stopped by Logan’s house to take a picture of his dogs, who were also dressed up as Batman and Robin.

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Only half way done– the night was still young!

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Phi and I showing off our Halloween bumps.

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After an hour, it was obvious that Samantha and Amelia were getting tired, but in typical toddler fashion, they still begged to keep going. I let them choose one piece of candy to eat that night, which definitely gave them a second wind.

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Amelia the zombie.

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After the girls started complaining their candy buckets were too heavy and asking us to carry them, we called it a night and the girls finished out their lollipops of choice at the block party with our neighbors.

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Somehow, Amelia snuck two more lollipops out of her candy bucket and clutched them for dear life. She was asleep before she could finish any of them.

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I’ll trade you lollipops, sis!

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Last year, the girls were too little to really be interested in candy at all. This year was a different story. My plan for the candy stash was to let them have a piece or two and then let them know that the Candy Fairy was going to stop by our house that night. If they chose to leave out their candy for her (to be distributed to other less fortunate boys and girls around the world), she would leave them a present in return.

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Despite the awesomely over-sized Costco special that the Candy Fairy’s husband had picked out for them, the girls were NOT having anything to do with it! They clutched their candy buckets all the way to bed, terrified that the evil Candy Fairy would come to take it away from them!

So the Candy Fairy was a FAIL.

Or so I thought.

The girls were exhausted and cranky after their sugar high wore down and went straight to bed. In the morning, the girls asked about the Candy Fairy again and I told them the deal was still on the table if they so chose. And they did!

The Candy Fairy was even magnanimous enough to leave them some of the healthier juice boxes, crackers, granola bars and fruit gummies some people had given out. By then, the girls had completely forgotten about the candy and were happily engaged in art projects the rest of the day. Honestly, the Candy Fairy probably didn’t even need to stop by our house with any gifts, since I think the girls would have forgotten about their candy stash after a few days anyway. Live and learn!

Still, not having to deal with the less-than-pretty after-effects of two sugar-crazed toddlers is a Halloween win in my book.

Here’s to a festive and sugar-reduced Halloween 2015!

Lots of love,

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