This is Halloween.

Ever since Ben's third halloween I have always made/bought him a couple of costumes. There are always so many parties and activities and I don't want him wearing out his real costume before the big day. We kept things pretty low key this year and our only other activity was a little downtown trick or treating. I put together a very simple Frankenstein and mad scientist costume for the boys with some stuff we already had. I also glued some fake florals to a little beanie and cut out some felt leaves and had a beautiful little flower just like that. It was so fun to watch Jackson this year loving trick or treating. We also spent our October watching a halloween movie together on Friday nights and may have scared him a little bit with the movie Coraline. It was even scary to me. Now whenever I ask him if he wants to watch a movie he says, "no, it's scary."  Poor kid. We've moved on to Christmas movies so hopefully he will get over it soon. 

I decided on the theme the nutcracker for our family costumes. I did manage to pull off a ballerina look for the ward Halloween party but James was a Scrooge this year and didn't participate due to the World Series. I loved how the kids costumes turned out. I'm becoming a much more confident seamstress and sewed Ben's entire costume from scratch. With no pattern. I thought it turned out great. For Jackson, the Rat King, I made a simple king's cape, and for Elle I sewed her leotard, and embellished a headband and her tights. They wore these costumes at the party and then the boys wore them for trick or treating in Utah. It was a bit different this year, having spent the last four halloween's in Los Gatos. But we found a beautiful neighborhood in Orem, UT where they were giving out tons of full size candy bars. Score. Another great Halloween. Now bring on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Both are going to be so fun this year.

Fall Festivities

Fall is definitely my favorite season. I love the weather, the colors (both in nature and in fashion), the food (soups and slow cooker anything), and the holidays (Halloween, hubby's birthday, and thanksgiving). Here's what we've been up to so far.

We hit up a couple pumpkin patches. 

Celebrated James' big 30th birthday with a Pinterest fail Oreo eyeball cake, pumpkin carving, and a Giants World Series victory! 

And I had fun playing dress up with my little pumpkin.