Halloween.....Stinson Style

Happy Halloween!!!

It's finally here! Hunter has been practicing his "chick or cheat" alllllllllll weekend!......

We go to McDonalds and he yells, CHICK OR CHEAT!!!,....We go grocery shopping and he is yelling at everyone passing by, Chick or Cheat, Chick or Cheat, Chick or Cheat!!!!!!!

....poor passerbyers....they probably were scared to death thinking they were gonna get mugged by my 2-1/2 yr old......

In any case he is definitely ready for it!

We pretty much stay in our neighborhood for trick or treating. We are pretty lucky in that everyone here seems to LOVE halloween as much as we do.

The houses and shrubs are decorated with orange and white lights...glowing jack o lanterns light up the side walks, cob webs hang from trees and door ways...but most important, EVERYONE is out trick or treating.

We have the radio flyer wagon cleaned and ready to go! I bring it to:
1. dump candy into and 2. have it so hunter can jump in when he is tired of walking...its sooooo much easier

Hunter is going to be a garden gnome like Gnomeo and Juliet...Super friggin cute if you haven't seen it....I figure this is my last year to pick what he is gonna be for halloween and then the independent boy is gonna kick in next year and it will be goblin, ghoul, or superhero city from there on out...so I'd better get the ootsie cutesie stuff in while i can.....i haven't been to harsh on em...he was a lion the first year.....

and Yoda last year....

...Well in any case we have definitely enjoyed "Preparing" for halloween this month....What do I mean by preparing???....weeeeeelll I'll show you...

Forgive all the craziness your about to see...I am an ABSOLUTE NUT for the holidays and Halloween is our second christmas.....welcome to halloween.......Stinson Style.

Remember the patriotic cafe I should have opened on the 4th of July?...lets open another one and call it Crafts and Bakery de Stinson.

We started out the month making halloween favors for the house...This is the first year I have done this one and will keep it up next year..

We made plaster molds of our fingers!! EEEEWWWWWW

Grotesque....YES.......Fun??............................. Even more so!!!

So then I made wreath for the front door...

The spiders are covered in black glitter. I even found a large one for the bow..

Are you scared yet?! This one was actually pretty simple...10 minutes max...I say that because this is what I made last year..

It's still in tact too! I took this picture just for the blog today!

This one wasn't hard,.. just painful and long....2 or 6, 3rd degree burns later and your ready to go!.....jk...kinda

I don't sit still very well...never have...I figure I'll put my restlessness to work and after a couple of years we will have a lot of memories!

With all the crafts going on, I wanted to do some stuff that hunter could help with too..he LOVES suckers and loves to help so I thought this would be neat,

He loooooves this thing....(its not a real pumpkin....the sticks would get soggy...)

and another one that we did together was make halloween suckers!

well, he ate more of the project then anything so i guess he liked it!

mommy was being a dork and had a lil fun with this next one...



Man being attacked by Giant Cat!!! AAAAAAA!!!

(like i said,...big dork)

Now remember this is all spread out through the month of October...jeesh I'd never get the kid to bed if this is all in the same week.....

.......So by the 2nd week of October I start Hunters goodie bags for halloween...

(i start them early in case they end up taking some time and I don't have to stress...I love doing this stuff and stress kills so why do that?.....just enjoy what you do)

I ended up finishing them that day...lol....last year they took me a month.....

they took me a month because genious CRAZY mommy made hand painted / hand made ornaments to tie around the goodie bags that matched his costume........yes, yes I know.....no need to say it...i'm well aware

Here they are,

(they were actually a lot of fun to do...we do similar stuff at christmas)

so this year I saw this and thought it was just great to make for his goodie bags!

(now lets just pray one of the kiddos doesn't stab their eye out with the broom stick handle....maybe i should attach waivers to sign????.......)

Now would be a good time to take a break from reading all this if you need one.....No we're not done.......Are you kidding?! I warned you!! i said Crafts and Bakery de Stinson!!.....ooooooh yes, there's more.....

pause...................................................................................................

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ok ok enough with the break,

Well if I haven't mentioned it before, I'll say it now......Hunter LOVES LOVES LOVES cupcakes.

Any kind, any shape, any color....just cupcakes...

Well, with it being halloween and us reading all of his lil halloween books, I thought he might get a kick out of these,

boo!! its a witch!

(I promise there are SOMETHINGS I made that aren't all sugar...)

for instance, I made pumpkin bread...

and there's more but I won't bore you with this stuff...just had to show proof..

It's not just about treats, we love to decorate the house too...

from the hallways,

to the fireplace

(the outside has some too but I think we are going to focus on that next year...if i can stop making all this stuff dang stuff for the interior..)

My work also had its annual halloween carnival! They do it for the kids...It is SO much fun...I volunteered to help with the cotton candy....i think I ate more cotton candy than actually got on the stick...

and here hunter actually wore his hat for more than 10 seconds!! not much more but I'll take what I can get....now I just gotta get him to try the beard....

all in all it was a GREAT October...we wrapped up the last weekend pretty much in the same style as alllllll the previous this month...

We made mini caramel apples....and chocolate frogs with witch's brew...

(hunter JUST hated these....can't you tell.....)

and yes I said chocolate frogs above...

chocolate frogs filled with peanut butter that is!!

I got this frog mold when the latest harry potter movie came out....I didn't get a chance to use it then but thought it would be great for halloween!...well, the mold shoulda came with a warning.....

just because your told they are both female frogs....don't put them in the same cage....uh I mean plate...

why????

because then you got alotta frogs............................Frogs!! frogs everywhere!!! AAAAAAA!!

JK.

These guys are going to get us started before trick or treating! we are going to serve them with witches brew......(sparkling grape juice for the foam with a floating plastic eyeball.....hunter thought this was a RIOT)

the only thing thats a little morbid on the frogs is the eating part....well the way hunter eats them anyway...he loves to hop the frog around and say "Ribbit Ribbit"...

Weeell, then he bites their head off but continues to jump it around saying "Ribbit! Ribbit!"....This poor chocolate frog is hopping, headless, all over the table spewing peanut butter from its neck........

All I can say is at least i didn't fill it with raspberries...........

From our home to yours and wishing you all our love from Texas!!

Happy Halloween!!!





This one is dedicated to hunter's future wife....

Dear future wife....Aren't you a sucker.

.. for fallen for his lines..you know he learned it all from his father?..Well, I must say, I fell for it too and still fall for them everyday.(rightly so)

Well, should this attempt to keep everyone abroad informed on us stinsons' still be intact (aka...the blog) then at least I can say you had fair warning when he bats those eyelashes at you.

Don't get me wrong. I've tried and tried.

So many times our words have gone unheaded, unnoticed, unwanted,...and well lets just say it..flat out ignored.

For instance, just look at our laundry lessons. Now, now, don't get me wrong...I will always encourage hunter to think outside the box, ......break the box, .....tweak the box, ....and even question if it really is a just a box. But what does he do...

he turns the "laundry" box ....into a bed.....

Mmm Hmmm...are ya comfy in there?! The goal here was to fold laundry....I promised him "the box" (laundry basket) will get plenty of use later!

So then being the maniacally inclined mother that I am, we move on...I don't give up...we move on to gardening.

I love gardening. (when there is time..) Each year I do a little bit more with the time that I have. My favorites that have bloomed now 2 years in a row.....my hydrangeas... Now don't be crazy..... He is not going near my hydrangeas. the Magnolias, yes....MY hydrangeas.....Hhummph..Remember honey, your the sucker...not me

So he starts out like a champ. Watering all of the trees so intently. (They are learning about plants at school so he is excitedly telling me about the leaves, stems, and dirt.....I have no idea where the boy gets his excitement from...)

I ask him to run and shut off the water....this was my mistake. I needed to say.. DO NOT JUMP, STOMP, HIT, SWING, SPIT, SCOOP UP, PAT, RUN AND DIVE, OR MAKE MUD PIES, with the water...

I'm learning.

So then lets try grocery shopping...well just look at the ride to go get groceries...

Does he even remotely look interested at what we are going to purchase this week on our nicely organized grocery list......nooopes...what he IS interested in is the baby donuts ( he calls them baby donuts...they're donut holes)  that are occasionally waiting for him at the beginning of the shopping trip.

Do we let him get away with all of these schananagens...OF COURSE NOT!...but in our humble defense when we try,...This is what we get....

He acts soooooooo innocent...

Now there are those good days when he is not trying to nose dive off the kitchen table and is ADORABLE. (temporarily...hee hee)

Like in the afternoon he wanted to watch his cartoon with his toys...

Yep..all the favorites are here...turtle, elephant, and horsey... These guys may still be in the "gang" when you come around..... watch out for elephant..he has tusks and they HURT LIKE A B when you step on one.
then there is his cuteness when he is just horsing around...maybe i should say sheeping around..

or when he is sleepy and startes to snuggle up...

but what will really get you is when you think you can't get any madder...guess what.....

you really can't because then he brings out the big guns and comes to see you like this..

Well, I've warned you, gave you examples, told you how he kills ya with cuteness... everything except give you videotape....(that, I'm sure, is forthcoming) and still here you are....

Well good luck to you.....Your gonna need it.... 

2 cents from hunter

BOO!
Its officially the month of All Hallow's Eve and one of our favorite times!

The halloween decorations are hung and batteries refilled (for the motion activated decor).

Well, by now Hunter's halloween books are setting on the table by the sofa. (age appropiate of course)

We are flipping through them one night and we get to the one that is a pop out book. Each page has 2 flaps that something pops out on.

We come to the last page, we turn the sheet and this big witch with a broom stick pops out! Hunter cries out loud, "momma! she's cleaning!! she's cleeeeaaaaaning!!!!"

now i know what scares him.....Muahahahahahah (insert evil laughter here...its funnier if you actually do this part out loud...)


well, funnier for anyone that is around you...

Whooo Hoooo Fall ......and Oktoberfest!

We started the month of October off with a bang.....the good vacation kind.

We started trying to do something together every 6 months or so...just the two of us...so we still get our couple time together....this is a GREAT thing. Don't get us wrong...we love love love our family time..but daddy and I need a recharge weekend every now and then.

We still have the traditional date nights once a week...either dinner together or a movie when our lil one goes down to sleep...the rules to date night are simple...no laundry..no house stuff....no work....just dinner or a movie at home...the hubby and me...ringers turned off....it is one of my favorite nights of the week...

For this 6 months, the hubby and I decided to have a weekend to ourselves. We rented a cabin in Fredericksburg for Oktoberfest, shopping, and some much needed R&R.

Fredericksburg is located in the hill country. It was originally settled by German immigrants so the town appears very European in its character.

The drive was long but gorgeous with all of the trees changing for fall.

It is one of those small kind of towns where everything is basically located on one street......that would be Main Street.

Our cabin was AaaaaMazing. It was about 2 miles away from Main but the serenity, quiet, and coziness made up for the location. We checked in Friday and were welcomed by Koi ponds, pomegranite bushes, and white lights hung from every tree (visible at night).

  

 

The cabin was stocked with milk, juice, and water in the fridge...supplies for smores if you decided to make a fire.....(um hello still summer so no fire....but that didn't stop me from eating the smores...of course) and homemade granola, blackberry stuffed croissants, muffins, and scones wrapped in linen in a basket for breakfast. We were absolutely spoiled here.

We went to a winery and walked down Main to do some shopping on Friday, visiting all the fudge shoppes...they had like five!.....yummo. We had some of the BEST pumpkin pie fudge....it was so good I think I may have to attempt to make it...and i had my first Dublin Dr. Pepper for all you texans out there!!!! let me explain for all the other just as cool peeps...

Dublin Dr. Pepper is made in Dublin Texas. It is made with 100% cane sugar...non of the artificial stuff..I'm not a soda drinker but this stuff is GOOOOOOOOOOOOD....so good i came home with 4 cases...mmmm hhmmm i know, i know....its for the those days when you just need a treat...

Saturday was Oktoberfest!!!!! SO SO SO much fun!! We had never been before. It's one of those things that we SAY we are always going to go and somehow never do..this year we actually did!

I would have never thought of bringing kids there (i guess because we went for the food and beer) but it was an extremely family friendly thing..They had tons of stuff for the kiddos to do...who would have thunk.

There was a caricature artist there drawing portraits. I have ALWAYS wanted to have one drawn so we grabbed our drinks and stood in line for a bit. The hubby was sweet enough to even do a couples one with me! (i think this means he loves me...wink wink)

By the end of the day we needed a wheel barrel to roll us out of there...From the roasted corn, german hot dogs, german potatoes, opas sausage, funnel cakes, streudel, and ooooohhhhh the beer....we would have been happy to not eat or drink again for a year. (excluding holidays...thats what elastic is for....again...JK)
 

(Pooped back at the cabin later that day) Later we went to a brewery..

Wish I had thought of sunscreen..my shoulders got a little crispy but all in good fun....(i know...I am the queen of sunscreen and brought none....hhhhmmmph)

This town was just the best. We are gonna go back to do some camping with hunter.......hunter?? where was he you ask??? eh...we left him on the side of the road and picked him back up on our way home...

haha, NOT REALLY.....

He had his own lil vacation with Aunt Jenn and Uncle Gerred.

This was also a big weekend because it was the first time us crazy first time parents have ever left our lil bambino for more than a day....(i know i know...please note i said crazy first time parents)

He was in excellent care though!...they had ronald mcdonald friday and they went to the zoo! hunter was in parent free heaven...(they are SO amazing....he is very much loved...)

(i'm assured this thing was a statue and not real.....phew....i believe mommy's words were..."uuuhhh aunt jenn.....that better not be real!!???" apparently the look of terror on my face was enough that before I could even get the words out...aunt jenn was rollin with laughter saying "..statue momma...its only a statue.."

All in all a great start to October......this is my FAVORITE time of year....the holidays are kicken in gear, the weather is cooling down and the leaves are changing..(well for the most part..turn on hocus pocus if you are in lack of leaves in your area...it helps)

Its time to get the halloween decorations out!! have I mentioned halloween is my 2nd christmas? (more on that later...)

Cheers to you and may this fall be a happy one!