Wild Thing, I think I love you

Many of you have wondered if everything is ok with the Ford household because I haven't been blogging (so sweet of you to ask by the way). Not to worry, all is well, I joined Instagram and that has met my friend/family sharing needs for the most part, BUT not everyone is one Instagram, in fact some of my best far away friends are not on Instagram.  And this blog is my only form of journaling so I keep thinking about my poor kids won't know the details of this time of their lives unless I start blogging again so I guess I have a lot to tell you about.

But instead of playing catch-up today, let's talk about how magical this Halloween was.  Both of my boys love the book Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.  This year the fates aligned because not only does Ollie fit into the Max costume that I made for Creed a few years ago, but Creed was happy about the idea of being a Wild Thing.

I kept Creed's costume simple knowing he would need to be able to put it on himself for his school costume parade. I made the top a jacket (I lust after these beautiful coats by LittleGoodall and tried to come up with something similar, but I wanted Creed's face to be the Wild Thing's face) and I just sharpied scales on some old pants.  I bought a new crown for Ollie from my friend Annie, and we were good to go.

I've been wanting to schedule a children's portrait session with Ashley Thalman, and I figured why not let them have a wild rumpus in their costumes?  I called her up last minute and even though she had a busy weekend, she worked us in.  She sent me these photos the very next day (and many more. I know this seems like a million, but I had such a hard time cutting it down to just my very favorites).  I hope you don't mind me over-sharing; I just love them so much! It wasn't anything formal, just the two of them tromping around the yard, being themselves, and I think that's why they are so great.

Thank you so much Ashley!

I hope all of you had a Halloween as magical as ours.

Don't let the pigeon Steal Your Candy

 Creed started out Halloween as a bee at our neighborhood preschool and he was stinking cute. He decided on his own to take a break from being a pigeon. We have a lot of dress-ups to choose from, but instead of a shark or airplane or doctor, he opted to wear this slightly too snug bee costume.  He regularly wears it around the house so I guess it was ready for its public debut.

 By the evening he was ready to be the pigeon again.  He waited oh so patiently for the rest of us to get ready to go trick-or-treating.

 This year we made it to more than five houses, we made it all the way around the block. I'd like to credit the company of friends and the wagon ride for this great accomplishment.

Who knows, maybe next year we'll make it to two blocks?

Don't let the pigeon drive the bus, but a pony ride may be ok

It's not even Halloween yet, but we have been busy, busy, busy with Halloween happenings.  Creed has an amazing memory and kept asking me when he'd be able to go to Barnyard Boo at Thanksgiving Point to ride a pony.  This was not a wear your costume kind of event, but Creed insisted and who can resist a pigeon on a pony?

 This year instead of having a punch-pass, you could do any activities you wanted and I though tit was much better.  Creed loved all the not so spooky games.

 On the way there he asked me if I knew there was a real witch who was not pretend, and I figured out he was talking about a witch who did storytime last year and talked about growing up as a witch with Glenda as her best friend.  He really believes she is a witch and he was so excited to see her again.

 Ollie on the other hand, just loved running free and checking out all the animals.

 He loved the wagon ride and kept pointing to the horses with a big grin.

 We also headed up to Red Butte Gardens After Dark again this year.  We arrived just at dusk.

 We learned the hard way in the past to paint your pumpkin first so it's dry when you take it home at the end of the night.

 I love that they have a different theme every year so never know what to expect.  This year's theme was "Light up the Dark" and they had glow-in-the-dark decorations and blacklights all over the garden.  You tour around the garden to do different activities and crafts.  Creed loved coloring an owl mask with a highlighter so it would glow.

 Creed would have stayed in the snake maze in the children's garden all night.

 Since everything was glowing in the dark it was hard to take many pictures so I gave up after a few like this.

 One really cool thing Creed loved was this sheet they covered with glow-in-the-dark paint and then let the kids "color" on it with little pen lights.

If you have the chance to go next year, I recommend it.  Maybe we'll see you there!

If you see a monster, call the police

Creed was giving me some advice to stay safe this halloween season and he asked me to film it and send his advice to all the neighbors so they'll be safe too. I wouldn't want anything to happen to you so here you go!

These Pictures are Making Me Hungry

So I mentioned that I helped Rachel throw a Halloween party.  All my photos are terrible because it was DARK (things were a little bit rushed because Creed was sick the night before and I wasn't sure if we would make it to the party), but I'm sharing them with you anyway to give you some ideas in case you ever want to put together a s'mores bar of your own.

 I went a little out of control with component for the s'mores bar, but it was so much fun seeing the concoctions people came up with and it was so yummy!

Here's what we provided:
Cookies: Mint milanos, chocolate M&M cookies, ginger thins, graham crackers, chocolate chip cookies, almond cinnamon thins, and pretzels

 Marshmallows: plain, chocolate swirl, and toasted coconut

 Chocolate: Caramellos, Classic Hershey's Milk Chocolate, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Symphony Bar, Andes Mints, Cookies and Creme Bars, Dove Milk Chocolates

 Fruit: Raspberries, bananas, strawberries, and shredded coconut

 and then this post gave me the idea to include a few spices: Nutmeg, salt, and cinnamon

In the background you can see the prizes for the best masks; some caramel apples to take home and a ribbon that I made for each of them to wear.

 Rachel hand cut out a bunch of luminaries and put them around the yard and we put candles all over the ingredient table to light it up.  She also provided several types of hot chocolate and flavored syrups for guests (because, you know, we didn't have enough sugar)

 Larry threw together a Halloween soundtrack and we just had fun hanging out and snacking

 There was also a rousing game of marshmallow whiffle ball that I missed taking pictures of.  Rachel and Jeff regularly play whiffle ball with stale, large, campfire marshmallows in their backyard so they don't have to worry about damage caused by lost balls and Rachel actually painted them with glow-in-the-dark paint to add to the fun

 And here are a few of our guests in their masks

 I guess Ollie wasn't sure what to think of my mask

 Creed was having such a blast that I barely caught a photos of him (plus, we made him stay inside and watch a movie for most of the party since he was still recovering)

I highly recommend putting together a s'mores bar of your own.  It was so much fun that I think it might become an annual tradition.

Thanks for hosting Rachel and Jeff!