Joe and I had a great time trick or treating with the boys tonight. Before heading out, Joe decided to dress up like Han Solo and I was going to be Princess Leia; however, the boys voted that I should be a witch instead (that didn't bother me....much). Even Gari made a debut to check out the Trick or Treating action.

We did a warm-up trick or treat at our own front door to make sure Charlie knew the drill. He caught on pretty fast and while walking I heard him several times saying "Trick or Treat, Pleees"as if practicing.

With Jackson in the lead, we hit about ten houses before heading home to assess the loot. You could see the differences in the kids personalities,

with Charlie dumping his all in a pile and Jackson lining his up to see exactly what and how may treats he had received. Charlie was very aware however when Joe tried to swipe a treat from his stack.

We have already started the Halloween candy rationing (one a night), good thing that rule doesn't apply to parents.

Super Busy Saturday

We were a bit energetic and maybe a little crazy with our planning for today:

8-9am Spooktacular 5K

My friend Tiffany and I ran the Huntsville Spooktacular 5k. We had a blast running in costume: a cop and Princess Leia. The kids enjoyed some time on the moon bounce and watching the geese and ducks in Big Spring Park.

9am-11am Star Wars Birthday Party

Jackson's best friend Yohannes celebrated his 4th birthday with a Star Wars themed party. Due to the large turn out, light sabers were in short supply. Luckily, our van was stocked with 3 extra light sabers in the car to share (if you haven't guessed Star Wars is a big deal at our house).

11am-1pm Monster Mash

Jackson's friend Ben had a Monster Mash to celebrate his 4th birthday. Jackson decided to forgo his Darth Vader costume and go as Han Solo since the birthday boy was going to be dressed as Darth Vader. I guess two Vaders at one party is a bad idea. With pumpkin decorating, pin the eye on the monster and cupcakes, the boys had a blast.

1:30pm-3pm Boys nap---ahhhhh!

3pm-4:30pm Fall Festival at Trinity Baptist Church

The boys enjoyed fishing for candy, jumpers, slides and cotton candy (I enjoyed the cotton candy a little too).

After all these festivities Joe and I were pretty exhausted. When leaving the festival I made the comment about what a busy day we had. Jackson smiled and said, "Day's not over yet!" He was right Auburn ended up beating Ole Miss 51-31. What a great, exhausting, day!

For Halloween, the boy's school always has a costume parade and party for the kids. As you can imagine the boys were very excited about the upcoming holiday and the opportunity to dress up with friends.

The parents were also asked to sign up for things to bring to the party. For Charlie, I signed up for autumn cookies; Jackson: cheese balls. I didn't take a picture of the cookies sent but I think Jackson's excitement over the size of the cheese ball container needed to be documented.

TIMBER, Well Kinda

We have had a dead tree in our yard that has progressively started to lean. Thankfully the lean is away from the house; however, the tree needs to be removed. On several occasions I have mentioned that we needed to get a tree service to come out and remove the dead tree, but Joe has been resistant. At lunch today when Jackson said, "Dad we really need to cut that tree down," Joe finally got the hint that if the 4 year old noticed maybe it was time to take action.

Joe had decided that he would take the tree down limb by limb and as he started his dismemberment I could not help thinking that I would be seeing the inside of an emergency room later in the day. After one chainsaw, one ladder, one rope, and one truck, Joe accomplished to take down.....one limb.

Well at least the boys were entertained, they found Joe's activities at lot more interesting than anything I had going on in the house. If you are wondering what the football helmets are for, that's easy, their safety.

Pumpkin Carving

Jackson and Charlie were determined that we needed to carve some pumpkins to have homemade Jack-O-Lanterns instead of the store bought ones I had in the attic. So we head out to find the perfect pumpkin. We told the boys they could pick any pumpkin they wanted as long as they could carry it. After a few ambitious picks by Jackson. he settled on one just the right size.

At home, we were set to the task of cleaning out and carving. The boys were very helpful at first; however, they quickly grew tired of the job and played while Joe and I finished.

Jackson had decided that we would carve Boba Fet and a Stormtrooper from Star Wars. Although they were not very Halloween themed, I think they turned out well.

Scott's Orchard and Caramel Apples

This morning we decided to go on a little adventure to Scott's Orchard and pick some apples. Since I had never visited an orchard, I was not sure what to expect; I had visions of me on a ladder and the boys running under trees picking up apples. However, when we arrived I realized that the owners had already completed the hard job of gathering the apples and had bagged them for sale.

They also offered a variety of products such as fresh honey, strawberry preserves, and apple butter (my favorite). They also had frozen apple drink that the boys loved.

After purchasing our bag of apples the boys wanted to wander around the orchard and look at the trees. As would be expected, Charlie was determined to investigate the rotten apples on the ground.

Later in the afternoon, we decided to try our first attempt at caramel apples. They turned out delicious; although I was somewhat surprised we had enough caramels because Charlie kept stealing them.

Introduction To GiGi's

GiGi's is a specialty cupcake shop that has opened in Madison. I decided to treat the boys with their first trip to pick out their cupcake and then off to the park to run off the sugar overload. With options such as Rocky Road, Strawberry Shortcake, Irish Cream, and Boston Cream Pie to choose from I thought the boys might have a little bit of indecisiveness, however, their decision was immediate, the chocolate on chocolate option: Midnight Magic.

After enjoying our chocolate deliciousness, we played a little soccer, which I found out Charlie is quite the soccer dribbler.

We then headed over to Dublin Park's Kid's Kingdom

for the boys to play on the jungle gym. They had a blast.

We ended our day by sharing our treat with Joe who decided that the cupcake was so big it needed to be eaten with a fork.