A Team Week 58: A Spooktacular Week

This week started off where last week began, enjoying the Spooktacular fun of the Fall season.  After the boys worked on cleaning out our pumpkins the previous weekend, we spent Tuesday night after work carving them.  We did one for each boy and since Avery isn't old enough to decide what he wanted on his, Asher decided for him.  The results: Frankenpumpkin and Bobbobaran (what Asher calls a Minion).

Eric planning out the Frankenpumpkin.

Avery enjoying some treats and a good view of the action.

Wow!!

PeekABoo Asher!

I was having a hard time seeing the holes I poked in my pumpkin for the Minion...thus the headlamp.  (A sign that I am getting old!)

Checking out the final results.

The boys were in awe of the glowing pumpkins.  :)

Frankenpumpkin & Bobbobaran

The next day, was my day off with the boys and we continued our Spooktacular week together...starting with a breakfast date at IHOP, where Asher got a Funny Face pancake!

His goofy facial expressions make me laugh!

The funny face.  It looked yummy but had WAY more sugar on/in it than I had anticipated.  The picture showed little dots of whipped cream and a few chocolate chips.  This is what we got....PLUS the pancakes had LOTS of chocolate chips IN them, which I had not been aware of.  Oh well, Asher was happy and it was our special date together.

Avery shared my berry medley french toast with me.

When we got home from breakfast we had a little time to kill before heading to church for playgroup.  What better way to continue our Spooktacular fun than by watching Monster trucks?

At a little after 10, it was time to head over to church for a special playgroup...a costume party/scavenger hunt!  The rain that had been going on all morning broke in time for us to walk over and we grabbed the costumes and went.

The kids played for a little bit while we waited for everyone to show up.  Then, once everyone was there us moms forced them to take an adorable group picture before we could go on the scavenger hunt.  Considering we had 9 kids ages 4 and under they did very well!

Asher, Zach, Addison, Etta, Violet, Asher, Kennedy, Elias & Jaxson

Video: Costume Cuteness in Video Form

For the scavenger hunt, Allison did a great job of hiding pumpkin balloons and clues around the church and then each of the moms brought a surprise to place at one of the sites for the kids to find.  They had an awesome time running around the church to find all of the treats!

When our scavenger hunt was over we all headed back to the nursery to finish off the fun with a pizza party lunch before heading home.  It was a really great time.

The rest of the day continued to go well with great naps and playtime with my favorite little monsters!

Video: Avery Learns to Ride a Horse

That evening we enjoyed our family dinner together, and as we did so another scary moment happened...While we were sitting at the table Avery farted and then laughed at his own fart!!  We were caught so off guard that we couldn't help but laugh too and that made things even scarier when we realized that he not only thought his own fart was funny, but also understood that we thought it was funny as well. With this knowledge came the scariest moment off all when he proceeded to attempt to make fart noises from his mouth to make us laugh some more!  Honestly, they're gross, but I love having boys!!

Later that evening the boys enjoyed baths before bed and then I decided to take Avery's 13 month photos while I had him in his diaper.  As soon as Asher saw the calendar he insisted I take some pictures of him too!  It is crazy to see how big he is now on top of that!

Thursday night held probably the only truly monstrous part of the week: Avery got a haircut and boy was he NOT happy about it!!!

Friday we had some fun play together before bed and then it was the weekend AND Halloween!

Side Story: This morning as we got ready to go to work, I watched quite amused as Asher put gold doubloons in his rocking horse, pretending it was Sandy the horse at Meijer!! :)

Now, I am by no means a fan of Halloween.  For years I debated if I even wanted to have my kids participate in it.  However, the more I thought of it, I decided to let them take part in the fun (none gory/scary/death-centered) things as I didn't want them to be the ones feeling left out on that day.  Thus, Saturday (Halloween) started off just as Halloween should...with a deliciously sweet and chocolatey donut.  :)

Its funny...maybe it is all the chocolate on his face, but I see a lot of myself in Asher in this picture!

We enjoyed a lazy morning, naps and then it was time for trick-or-treating.  Although the weather wasn't perfect, the rain mostly held off and it was fairly warm for the end of October (low 50s?), so we had a pretty good time.  We walked down our street, down one side of the park and then around a block or two on the North side of 60, which included a Trunk or Treat at a nearby church.  It was fun, but I have no idea what to do with all of the candy sitting around now! Even though Avery won't be eating much of it, trick-or-treating with two kids means double the candy!

Avery very interested in our candy bowl for those to visit our house.  He dumped them all out.  Then picked them all up and then dumped them out again! :)

My adorable boys walking together!

Searching for a Treat

Ooooh..

Take note of the orange drool.

Even though Halloween was over when we woke on Sunday morning, our Spooktacular week was not over yet!  The boys enjoyed a morning running around in their capes and then we had some family fun time playing in the leaves that evening.  It was truly an amazing week with my loves!

What is more adorable than a baby in a cape?  Apparently he believes this gives him the right to reach new heights though!

Where did Asher go?

Finally, the most Spooktacular part of the week was that Avery learned how to give real kisses and now gives them all the time.  He comes at us openmouthed with a twinkle in his eye and plants them right on our lips.  They are wet, slobbery, disgusting kisses...but also absolutely perfect, heartfelt and treasured!

Video: Averys Kisses