Halloween 2011 - Jessie and Rapunzel Style

Well, it's official. Sophie fully understands that on Halloween you get to knock on neighbors' doors and they will give you candy. Now we just need to convince her that this doesn't work every day, only on Halloween. Sophie was Rapunzel this year and she was the perfect Rapunzel. So beautiful! Only two people asked me if Sophie had extensions in her hair. Nope...she is just blessed with gorgeous hair!

The very first house she went to she said "trick or treat" and when they gave her some candy she looked in her bag and very seriously said "I want more." I quickly apologized and shooed her on her way. She finally figured out that she had to go to more than one house to fill up her bag and after each house she said "I wanna go different house." She had so much fun!

Prior to Halloween I told Adam that I was going to have Sophie carry a frying pan with her. He said "won't that be heavy?". Really? The plastic one...from her play kitchen? No, I think she's good. What the heck? In his defense not many people understood why she was carrying a frying pan. Apparently I have a bizarre sense of humor, who knew? I'm so misunderstood.

Jessie and Rapunzel at Pumpkin Fest

I just like this one because it looks like Jessie is stealing a pumpkin

I mean COME ON...she's ridiculously cute

Yes, she is carrying a frying pan...not many people got it...do I just have a really strange sense of humor?

"Daddy, I wanna different house"

Halloween 2010

Typically my sister and I like to dress the girls up in "pair" costumes. Tulip fairy and Strawberry fairy, Dr. Huskins and her X-Ray, etc. This year they had their own opinions. Josie LOVES Minnie Mouse and Sophie LOVES....Chick Fil A.

Adam and Sophie regularly visit Chick Fil A, especially on Tuesdays when I am at work. I am not a big fan of Chick Fil A, so it is their daddy/daughter date spot. Tuesday night is "Kids Eat Free" which also involves free ice cream, an 8 foot cow, and a balloon animal guy. For those of you who know Sophie well, you can imagine the reaction she typically has to the 8 foot cow.

Adam should be the one telling the story, but alas, I'm all you have right now. The first experience with the 8 foot cow started when Sophie spotted him from the doorway and refused to move. Adam finally got her into the restaurant and she kept at least one eye ball on that cow ALMOST the entire time they were there. At some point she lost track of the cow and he snuck up on her and tapped her on the shoulder. Adam said she literally crawled OVER the table to get to him, and to get away from that cow. I received a picture of said cow that night with this caption "who doesn't think an 8 foot cow would freak out a toddler?" and I laughed...especially our toddler.

Since then the cow has learned to stay a safe distance from our sweet Sophie. However, Sophie secretly has a crush on the cow and talks about him ALL the time. She calls Chick Fil A "chicky moo" and asks for it at least daily. I guess she's just playing hard to get. The balloon animal man is still up for grabs...she likes the balloon animals, just not the man.

Anyway, knowing that Josie was going to be Minnie Mouse, I asked Sophie multiple times what she wanted to be for Halloween. Every single time I asked her she said "moo". Finally I gave up with my suggestions for something to go with Josie and went with Sophie's preference. I found her a used cow costume for $8 at a consignement shop and Adam made her official Chick Fil A signs. Sophie slept with her cow costume for many nights and still requests to wear it on occasion. I also found her some light up cow slippers. It will go down in history as one of my favorite Halloweeen costumes ever. And for the first time EVER she actually trick or treated. Josie refused to let us walk up to the door with her. She's three. Really? Man time flies.

The other best part of the night was the adult dressed up as "dead Minnie Mouse" who allowed us to take her picture with Josie. Sick and wrong...but funny.

Halloween Party

SMs. Debbie had a Halloween party for the kids and they got to dress up all day. Sophie was a firefighter...all day. She wore at least the hat (usually backwards) all day long!

Dr. Huskins and her X-Ray (aka: Josie)

Oh how I love Halloween. I love the smell of fall. I love hayrides, haunted houses, scary movies, campfires. I especially love the fact that I was smart enough to move out of the great white North to a more reasonable climate. I remember my junior year of college at Michigan State. I was living in Cedar Village (why my parents let me live there I will never know...it was CRAZY, but I did have great roommates that were trustworthy) and I was sitting in the living room...it was October 14th...and there was a BLIZZARD. I don't mean snow flurries. I mean...can't see across the street, piling up on the gound BLIZZARD. It was absurd. I moved just a few years later. 

When I first moved to Tennessee many people made fun of my accent and my choice of words. Apparently "you guys" is not appropriate because it excludes the person saying it...instead I had to learn "y'all" which I still haven't quite mastered. When I was getting my hair cut one time the stylist (who also cut my sister's hair) said, "you don't favor your sister at all do you?" I had NO idea what she was talking about. I said "No, I really love my sister." She laughed at me. I was definitely not from around here.

The biggest difference was the coats. In Michigan I had a coat for just about every month of the year. The worst one was a long down coat for the middle of Michigan winters. This coat was VERY warm. So warm that I would start sweating before I made it outside if I put it on too early. My first and second winters in Tennessee I didn't touch it. Before my third winter in Tennessee I gave it away to one of the men who was helping me move. I don't miss that coat. I was commenting on this pleasant change of climate at work one day and said "down here, I only need my October coat." One of the nurses looked at me like I was crazy and asked me "what the heck is an 'October coat'". I tried to explain that it was a little warmer than a September coat, but not as warm as a November coat. I'm not sure that helped.

When Adam visited my parents' house in Midland for the first time he was walking through the garage and saw a huge contraption he'd never seen before. He looked at my dad and asked what it was. My dad said "it's a snowblower". Adam said "it has chains on the wheels?". My dad said "yep". Adam said "I would NOT live somewhere that the SNOWBLOWER has chains on the wheels." He made a good point. My parents moved to Tennessee shortly after that. 

Okay, you have endured all that for some adorable pictures of Sophie and Josie. The past 2 years we have tried to do paired costumes for the girls. This year they went as Dr. Huskins and her X-Ray. Sophie's scrubs are actually embroidered. So cute! And it was so warm we didn't even have to try to shove a winter coat underneath their costumes. I can remember many Halloweens where my costume was pointless because it was so cold we had to cover it up to bundle up!

New Age Limit

We have all had it happen to us on Halloween, you go to the door and open it up expecting to see some adorable children dressed up in their costumes and yelling “Trick or Treat” at the top of their lungs. Instead you open the door and find some “children” who are a bit too old to be trick or treating and are simply looking for free candy. Well this year, Adam was that “child” he and our friend Michael rang the doorbell of a very sweet and unsuspecting lady…at least they were in costume! When she saw who was on the other side of the door she paused for a second and then asked “do you want a LIGHT beer?” Emphasis on the LIGHT. It was HILARIOUS…and captured on film! She was such a good sport!

More Halloween...professional style

Here are the last of the Halloween pictures (though it might take a couple of posts), these are the best of the best taken by the professional photographer. Time to move on to Thanksgiving!

Halloween

We had a very happy and hilarious Halloween! We are so grateful for the wonderful neighborhood we live in, everyone is so much fun and it is so nice to have such great friends! The night started with pizza, hot dogs, brats, etc and lots of pictures at our neighbor’s house (with a professional photographer…no I’m not kidding…is that great or what?). Then we went on a hay ride through the neighborhood! Wendy and Josie were able to join us as well (Jason was coaching a game…BOO)! Since Sophie is too little for candy, and Lord knows I don’t need it, we just rode on the trailer and Sophie ate hay instead! I wasn’t sure how Sophie would do just riding on the hay ride, but she LOVED it. She and Josie laughed and played in the hay the whole time. I think as Sophie gets older I will simply buy her the candy she likes and instead of getting on and off the hay ride 50 times to trick or treat, we can just ride around. That’s the way to do it! After the hay ride, Sophie went over to Aunt Wendy’s and Adam and I went to a party with all our neighbors. We laughed until we were almost sick, LITERALLY. I’m still laughing! I’ll post some more pictures later…but here are a few that Aunt Wendy sent to us. She is WAY more on the ball than I am, I haven’t even downloaded ours yet!! I can’t wait to see the professional pictures as well!



Yes, this is Adam’s costume…high school jock! HAHAHA…it was my idea, he still holds the PAT record at Sullivan South High School! At least I hope he does since I keep telling everyone that!
 
Late at night in Williamson County…the McCain Palin fairies come out

We took Sophie aka “strawberry fairy” to Pumpkinfest in downtown Franklin on Saturday. No, she is not dressed as a chili pepper as some very astute lady thought. We met up with Wendy and Josie and Sophie’s nanny, Jamie. It was so much fun to see all the little (and big) kids all dressed up. I had 2 favorites (besides Sophie and Josie of course). One was a little boy, probably about 3, that was dressed as a skunk. It was hilarious. I’m not sure if he is the “stinky kid” in the family or what, but it was so cute! My 2nd favorite was a little girl dressed up as a giraffe. I would have taken pictures, but then I would have been the creepy lady taking pictures of someone else’s kids. So, you’ll just have to settle for some pictures of the fairies!

Now if you realize how much my brother-in-law HATES clowns, that makes the next picture that much funnier!! We took it just for him…look at how interested Josie is!

Sophie's First Halloween

 My little lobsters…

Give Me ALL Your Candy!

Steve also took some Halloween photos of Sophie for us…the other baby is our niece Hailey and the little boy is our nephew Nathan. Sophie was getting tired of all the pictures and lost control at the end. Look at how Hailey is looking at her...I'm pretty sure she is thinking..oh, quit being such a baby.