About that time

It is getting to be about that time of the year for us... when we look at the calendar for the rest of the year and realize there's only one weekend without something planned. After a summer of free time and doing things around the house, we're in for big scheduling changes!

This past weekend, we were so lucky to be invited to a children's Halloween party put on by my friend from work (Jeanine) and her husband (Art). Mind you, Jeanine and Art don't have young kids of their own. They throw the party for their grandchildren and 45 of their closest friends... just because they love Halloween so much! In fact, when we arrived, Jeanine showed us around the house. Her Halloween decorations are impressive... she almost puts Cosmo's to shame!

Luke decided a couple of weeks ago that he didn't want to be Mickey Mouse after all. Thankfully for me, I hadn't bought any costumes yet. He was happy to choose himself a Buzz Lightyear costume. Stepping out of the Luke-mandated Donald Duck role, Will ended up with an Army soldier costume. And Matt has a costume that makes me laugh just saying it - he's going to be a garden gnome.

But with the ridiculously cold weather this past weekend, the aforementioned costumes just wouldn't work - too thin! So we wracked our brains for what to do, and realized that we had some oldies but goodies (and warmies!) in storage. So Luke dressed up as a policeman and Will as a fireman for the third year in a row. But who's counting?! They were happy and warm. Success in my book. And so what that the pants were a little high :)

And Matt got to wear the cow costume that Luke (mad cow) and Will (happy cow) rocked back in 2008. He was none the wiser about his hand-me-down status. Jeanine and Art live on a bunch of property and have a big red barn to boot... somehow I managed to get it as a background in this photo, which I like to call "Escape."

There were amazing fun kids games and activities planned. Will and Matt really liked the hayrides.

Luke excitedly picked up a bat and took a swing at the Halloween pinata, and did his best to throw his baby pumpkin the farthest in the pumpkin toss.

Matt wanted to take part in a lot of the bigger kid stuff, but couldn't quite do it himself. I helped him take a swing at the pinata. He did pretty good considering the bat weighed about as much as he did! And rather than throw a pumpkin in the pumpkin toss, he ran around and picked up everyone's pumpkin at the end.

Will loved riding around the property - the kid loves bumpy rides. And he even met a fellow firefighter and enjoyed showing off one of his toys around the fire (which was increasingly necessary as the party went on, the sun sank lower and the temperature dropped!).

So much fun! It is a truly rare occurence these days that all 5 of us have a great time somewhere, but it definitely happened at the Halloween party 2011! We can't wait for next year!