Halloween Prep...

OK, I really want to get through these next few months so I can be caught up and share all of our Christmas fun that we are having right now. So, back to Halloween (boring!) :)

I busted out the decor at the beginning of the month. I think it is so much fun to decorate my house in new and fun and holidayish things. Whatever the holiday. So, that we did. We were in the Halloween frame of mind all month long with all of this surrounding us:

Even at night, with the skull lights. Totally scary!

Kathryn invited us up to carve pumpkins, and we had a great time. I love the look on Tuck's face! :)

Kathryn & Jon...

Taylor got to color on hers:

So did Tucker, I guess... :)

Our family of Pumpkins...

And with Jon (notice Taylor's hand around Jon, she loves him!)

Dance Party to Halloween Music. Looks like Jon's got the moves!

My kids are always very weary of this skeleton that Kathryn puts in her front entry at Halloween. We, of course, love to scare them with it! :)

 

We also had to decorate pumpkins. Since my sister had to work on the night we carved pumpkins, we decided to have a girls night at my house while Ben was at Young Mens and do some of the ideas we had seen on pinterest. Here were the supplies:

The kids were Nakified and we got to work painting!

Kenzie got really excited when she started painting. Maybe we have a future artist on our hands.

She got very passionate! And started swinging that hand back and forth so hard! :)

She enjoyed it so much, she decided to do my walls...

And my chair...

Thanks Kenzie!!!

We then put in a movie for the kids and got to work on the grown up crafts.

Here is Kathryn's cute pumpkin...

I had grand plans for this awesome green pumpkin that I had painted and had set out to dry. But when I wasn't looking, Taylor got a hold of it. ( I swear she was brushing her teeth!!!) It was already ruined at that point, so I let her have at it!

And here is what she came up with:

I tried some duct taped mini-pumpkins...

We had gotten all sorts of different duct tape designs...

And here are our final products:

Not too shabby, if I do say so myself!!! :)

Finch with the Kids...

Like I've said before August, September & October were SO packed with photo shoots, that I rarely had a night to spend with my kiddies. One particular day, I had an engagement session scheduled at Finch Arboretum  A beautiful Arboretum on the West side of town. It is just gorgeous in the fall and the perfect picture spot. Kathryn met me right by the park and was going to take the kids to run some errands with her for an hour or so during my session. After I dropped off my kids, but before I got to the park, I got a call from the couple, well, from the girl. Her fiance had been out hunting the night before but promised to be back by the time of the photo shoot. He wasn't back. They had to cancel. I can't say that I was TOO disappointed. :) I quickly called Kathryn, who hadn't gotten too far, and she turned around and dropped the kids back off with me. Instead of going home, I decided to spend the beautiful fall evening taking pictures of my own kids (which I don't do enough of). It was such a fun time with my kids and I was SO grateful for the cancellation. I'd much rather spend a few hours with these two any day!

Tucker had to go, and when ya gotta go, ya gotta go! Luckily he had Taylor to stand watch for him!

And of course, a spontaneous dance party happened...

Then they found the cool old tree (that I always take clients to-really cool textures and angles)

Sliding down the big roots...

I *tried* to get them to sit down for some actual quality shots during the course of the evening. Taylor of course, refused, but I got this one to actually sit down and smile for me, at least! :)

I love his cute laugh:

What a fun evening with my kids! I need to take them out more often and play and take pictures of them like I play and take pictures of the families I photograph!

Cooking with the babes...

Of course, one of my favorite things about the season changing to fall, is the hunkering down at home, cozying up with some warm soup or hot chocolate, and it for some reason turns me into a cook. (which by nature is not one of my specialties!)

Taylor and I made banana bread chocolate chip muffins for Tucker while he was at school, for his after school snack. It's a family favorite.

I had a hankering for some no bake cookies. It took everything I had in me to let the kids spoon out these cookies themselves. :) But they enjoyed themselves, and that's all that matters, right! :) (not the fact that some of the cookies were bigger than my fist and didn't set all the way through...)

I finally had to tell Taylor to start a new cookie! :)

Ben was gone for a weekend at the beginning of November, to Seattle for a Seahawks game, and daddy being gone, means mommy doesn't cook. :) Luckily I had just bought these frozen Little Cesars Pizzas from my nephew for his school fundraiser. We had a great time making our own pizza for dinner one night! And they were actually pretty tasty! I'll for sure order some more next year, Keyton! :)

Now if I could only get that sauce stain out of her pants, I'd be one happy mama! :)

Love me some fall cooking & baking!