Halloween festivities

We definitely live in the best neighborhood!

Our kids are surrounded by buddies which leaves us parents time to socialize!

It's a win-win!

On Sunday, we got to be a part of a neighborhood pumpkin carving party.

(Love these Mamas...and Noah, of course!)

When I told Matt we'd need to carve a pumpkin for the party's contest, he was oh-so-thrilled.  I searched high and low for an inspiring idea that would be creative, original, yet minimal work.  

See Matt & I compliment eachother in many ways in our relationship, but the way we do projects is very much different.  I like to keep it simple, keep it fun for the kids, and do more "eye balling it" than worrying about perfection.

Matt, on the other hand, likes to measure, use precise calculations, and has a harder time 'winging it.'

But we survived the family project!

And our 3rd place winning Whale was complete!

Seriously, doesn't every kid wish they had this many neighbor friends?!

Connor bobbed for apples for the first time & pulled one out with ease.

Then Monday after school, we all suited up for Trick or Treating!  My adorable Harry Potter let me tag along as his gal pal, Hermione.

And then there's these handsome boys.  With God willing, Noah kept his Gecko mask on all night.  Daddy wore his Catboy costume proudly with his sidekick.  I'm grateful to have a husband that goes along with my crazy ideas every Halloween.

The group we ventured around the neighborhood with this year.  This was mere seconds before Hell broke loose & the kids took off all over the neighborhood, while us parents tried desperately to keep up with our fun faces on.

We made it home before bedtime and the boys were thrilled with their earnings!!

My BABY...

is turning E-I-G-H-T!!

Make. it. stop.

I remember when he turned 5 and I thought it was painfully old.  What I wouldn't give to make him 5 again!

In a way to celebrate my sweet boy before his birthday, Connor voted on a family weekend trip to Universal/Islands of Adventure instead of a friend party this year.

Both boys had an amazing time, we well behaved, and even the adults enjoyed it all! 

We survived 3 hours in the car with two crazy boys in the backseat, Connor ordered his first meal from the adult menu at dinner, FSU rocked a nice win, and Noah smothered Bo like usual.  Our trip was off to a great start!

After wrangling all the family first thing in the morning, pushing through herds of people, and splurging for the Express passes to avoid waiting in lines all day, we were ready to go!

Noah was so easy to go to Auntie K and Uncle Eric, which is a huge compliment to them as he's usually hard to win over at first.

Our first stop was Seuss land!

We sweet talked the Universal workers to allow my 39 inch tall child to ride the 40" or taller ride!  Ironically, once we were on it, it broke down when we were half way done.

The best part of it all was that they gifted all of us free passes to any rides in the park, which was a huge score since there were a handful of rides our Express passes wouldn't work on.

We hopped off the broken ride and were greeted with this fun gang for a photo op!

It's amazing how much my two boys are different.  My Connor is big enough to go on almost every adult ride, yet I'm often holding his hand and reassuring him that the scary stuff on rides is just pretend & he can close his eyes if he's afraid.

Then there's Noah.  The kid who wants to ride every roller coaster over and over and over, without fear.

He was able to do mostly 3D rides, where me & Dad planted ourselves in the "Stationary rows" with our oh-so-cool motion sickness that adddddores those darn 3D motion rides.  We'd do the 3D rides & Noah would just beg to go on another roller coaster instead.  He did rock the 3D glasses like a champ though.

I was excited to explore the Harry Potter part of the parks for the first time with my cute Harry Potter fan.  Noah got on the roller coaster in this area without a problem & it was a big, full blown roller coaster.  As I held my breath on it as I watched my baby in the cart in front of me fly around on each wild turn, we got off the ride to see Noah cry begging to go on it again! Haha!

While Noah napped on Matt, we all hopped on a quick ride together.  When we got off, we happened to be in the right place at the right time and ran into Jimmy Fallon!

I don't get star-struck, but my sister, however, was THRILLED!

{He's currently waving at her as she says, "I love you Jimmy!"

He then gave her a high five and said he loves her too!

The boys did excellent during our marathon day at the parks!  We ended the day with supper at TGIFriday's.  Well, we had supper, while Noah had M & Ms.

{Side note: Here's a classic Noah face.  It's more like a "I'm a walking middle finger" face.}

Annnnd now...my baby turns 8 tomorrow.

Martial Arts!

Connor's school has a Martial Arts program financially supported from Korea.

So every Monday at PE, he was perfecting his adorable Martial Arts skills & we were asked to come see their "show" to see all he's learned.

It was something he'd never sign up for outside of school, but he loved it & did such a great job---with memorizing the words, moves, and the best part---

He 'ninja chopped' a board in half.

I usually show my happy mom face with just about everything with my kids, but when my 7 year old pounded a tiny board in my hands... my face said it all.

I love his face.

Not as thrilled with mine. Haha!

Not sure who was prouder.  I love him so!!