The Halloween That Almost Wasn't

Happy Halloween from my little Monsters {even the furry one}....

 

We had a great evening, especially since the rain passed just in time for trick or treating!  Maggie was an M&M {after a much expected dramatic costume change}, Lucy was Evie from Disney's Descendants and Jack is pretty self explanatory.  Gotta love tween humor.

Thanks to everyone who made it possible {ha!}...like Grandma who took little Lu around and Jack's buddies who stuck together and had a night of tween trick or treating and my neighbor who toted Maggie around on her golf cart so she could hang with her friends.

All the while I had the luxury of hanging on my front porch with other mamas.  Not bad, huh?  I'll take another one of these next year.

For a Halloween that was almost wasn't {due to an extremely stormy forecast}, it turned out pretty awesome!

Pumpkin Painting

Oh geez, this weather.  Rain, rain, and more rain! 

It's become tradition to carve our pumpkins on Halloween Eve.  {lesson learned many years ago from rotting-bug filled pumpkins}  But, wouldn't you know the weather had other plans.  I offered the covered back porch to the kids, but instead they gleefully suggested we paint them.

Sure, why not?  Much less mess than carving, right?  Well, not really.  Did you know that washable paint won't work on a pumpkin?  So, I dug into my stash of acrylic paints and the rest is history.  Like my rug is history, my shirt is history, several of my dish towels are history...and so on.

But we managed to get some pretty cute pumpkins out of the messy deal. 

Lucy designed a strawberry and a unicorn, Maggie made a splatter paint design, and Jack painted a vampire.

And to add to the pumpkin parade, Maggie carved her large guy.  {yes inside and yes it was a mess}

So here's to a rainy Halloween Eve and from what I've gathered a rainy Halloween tomorrow.

Back To The Patch

I didn't know if we would make it back to Southern Belle Farms this year for our annual patch visit.  There were a few factors that played into my uncertainty.  One, holy moly, October weekends were filled to the rim this year.  And second, had my kiddos grown out of it?  Is that possible?  After last year I was questioning that.

So when I mentioned the patch this October, I got mixed responses.  A resounding yes, from my littlest, a maybe from the middle, and a no thank you from my oldest.  Hmmm...what to do?  So what could I do but offer to take Lucy on a mother daughter outing.  And what I thought would be pure joy, was a crest fallen face.  Lu did not want to go without her big sister and brother.  

After a sorrowful plea, Jack and Maggie caved and here you have it...maybe our last year to the patch as a family.  And I might note, the two bigs had a great time!

Every year that we visit, there seems to be some new improvement. This year it was the potato sack slide.   I was itching to take a trip down myself.  You know that looks fun.

And of courses, some old favorites... the cow train

the duck races...

the corn house...

 the corn maze...

the pig races....

the petting zoo...

and of course, I made the kids take a few pictures for nostalgia sake.

Our last stop was the patch.  This year it was lacking in the pumpkin department, but the kids managed to find a few.  White seemed to a big hit this year between the girls.  And Jack opted for a little guy...curious to see what he has in mind.  We also grabbed a few biggies, just in case.

Since the pumpkins were scarce, there really wasn't anywhere to take those infamous pumpkin patch pictures.  They are getting older so it seemed like an appropriate year to change things up.  How about this fence?

And one last stop at the country store to grab something for our favorite furry brother.

Thanks for another great visit Southen Belle...hoping it's not our last.

Fall Break: Ponte Vedra Beach

After about a 2 and half hour drive, we made it to the beach!  The girls wasted no time going to check out our beautiful back yard for the next two days....clothes and all!

We stayed at the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club, the same place Jon and Bailee were married.  We couldn't help but reminisce and check out the special spots on the property where we had celebrated nearly 5 years ago.

The next morning we woke up to a gorgeous Florida day and headed over to see Uncle Jon and Aunt Bailee's new house.  And with that new house came the cutest two year old ever!  We got a tour and then took a golf cart ride over to their neighborhood pool.  The weather was perfect and the company was superb.

I tried my best to get Brecken to take a picture with my kiddos, but like I said, he's two.  We did get some giggles out of the experience though.

We let the little guy get his nap in while we headed back to our place on the beach.  And since we couldn't take the family with us, we took their dogs instead.  I was having some serious golden withdrawals, and Ruckus and Poppy helped to fill the void.

I honestly don't know who had more fun, the Cibula Kids or the pups.  I'm so sorry Shelton, your turn is coming.

Come evening, also known as post toddler nap time, we all met back up for more beach play and dinner at the Inn.  The restaurant was a short walk down the beach so we made plenty of stops to collect shells, splash in the waves, and admire the beautiful sunset.

And once again, this is about how well I did of getting a picture of Brecken and his cousins.

After a lovely evening with family, we all retired back to our own beds...dogs and all.  The next morning was departure day, but we couldn't leave without making a trip down to Mickler Beach.  The night before, Uncle Jon and Aunt Bailee gave us the scoop on an amazing shark tooth hunting spot.  You better believe we were on it.

It was pretty unbelievable to see the shell beds on this beach.  They went on forever and I can't even begin to imagine how many shells were actually there.  It was a pretty awesome sight.

And although we only found one shark tooth, apparently we need Bailee's expertise-she is known as the expert, the experience was completely worth it.

So we did it..even with two schools and two different schedules, we managed to squeeze in a mini vacation.  The kids had a blast and I loved having them all together {minus the occasional arguments😉).
Now back to reality and waiting on Fall.