Yo Ho Let's Go!

Corban's favorite show right now is Jake and the Neverland Pirates so we decided to go with that for this year's Halloween costumes.  Dakota was excited to be Izzy and well, Sage didn't get a say in the matter.  Since the premise of the show is to outsmart Captain Hook and earn gold doubloons to go in their team chest, I decided Sage could be a coin.  She certainly is a treasure in my books!  This year, I had almost all of the stuff to make their costumes so it was super cheap and easy.  I bought the pink, navy and brown fleece, white and gold puff paint, Dakota's Jeggings and Sage's gold skirt (which both can definitely be worn again). All 3 costumes cost me less than $25 to make.  Score for being thrifty!  As far as festivities, they went to a fall festival last Saturday at Corban's preschool's church and last night we did a Trunk-or-Treat at our church.  That's good enough for me - I'm calling Halloween 2013 done.

Jake, Izzy and Team Treasure Chest photos courtesy of DisneyWiki

Halloweens of Old

On the eve of Halloween, I thought it would be fun to share some photos from past years and some way past years.  I scrounged up all of the Halloween photos I could and this is the best I could do.  I know there have to be some more out there.  The kiddos are sleeping peacefully after tonight's Trunk or Treat at church - I'll be sharing Jake, Izzy and our little gold doubloon in the next few days!

 Robin Hood and Maid Marian circa 1970-something (Dad has a wedding band on and they got married in 1977 so it's sometime after that)

 1983

 Can I just say how awesome this dragon costume is?  I wish I had it for Corban.

 1988

 1989

 1990-something

 1998 - This was during that stage where I thought it was cool to give seductive looks.  So glad I'm over that.  It's totally working with the pumpkin with the knife through it's head, you know because Jack-o-Lanterns are sexy??  

 1999 - We carved our first pumpkin a year after we had been dating.

Apparently I didn't do anything Halloweenie again until I had kids or either I just didn't document it.  I have been known to be a party pooper when it comes to dressing up.

 2007 - Sweet little mousie.

In 2008 we had awesome costumes.  Carie, Chris and Sutton were the Rubbles and Jacob, Dakota and I were the Flintstones.  Our costumes rocked but I can't seemed to find any pictures.  I know I have some on a disc somewhere but ain't nobody got time to go searchin' for them.

2009 - A few weeks prior to Corban coming along, Dakota had a date to the pumpkin Patch.

 2009 - The Cowardly Lion and his friend Dorothy

 2009 - A week old Munchkin to go with Dorothy and her friends

 2010 - Such a sweet little clown.

 2010 - Boys will be boys and girls will be girls.

 2011 - Tinkerbell and Peter Pan at the Fall Festival with the cousins.

2012 - She-Ra and He-Man.  This will be marked as one of those years that Corban will look back and say, "Mom, what were you thinking??"  I was in a blogging funk last year so I never shared their costumes but let's just say I appreciated Corban's willingness to don a Lloyd Christmas meets He-Man costume (although he wouldn't wear the breastplate without a shirt).  What a trooper.  Thanks to Netflix, Dakota was going through a Masters of the Universe kick.  Why is it that all of the "great" cartoons from the 80's are so terrible??  I could barely sit in the same room while it was on.  Oh well.  We are over that and hopefully my son wasn't traumatized too bad.

Celebrate: Corban turns 4!

Little man turned 4 this past week and we had a great time celebrating his life.  Corban is such a sweet boy and we are thankful for him.  His favorite things right now are Fireman Sam and Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  He's still on the tall side for his age (84%) but he's probably not going to be quite as tall as his daddy (momma messed that up!).  We went with a camping theme this year in order to enjoy the fall weather and lots of chocolate.  As usual, I got distracted socializing with other moms and didn't take near enough photos.  For food we did hotdogs (pre-grilled or cook-your-own), baked beans, kettle corn, wild berries (strawberries, blackberries, raspberries & pomegranate perils), wild veggies (veggie straws), kindling (pretzel sticks) and of course smores and cupcakes.  Thanks to all who could celebrate with us!

 These were the invites.  I just printed on a natural colored cardstock and stuck in an envelope.  Super easy.

 Ok, I've made some pretty ghetto cakes/cupcakes before so I'm gonna toot my own horn for these.  I didn't even steal them from Pinterest!  The log is a Pirouette cookie broken (they were out of the chocolate ones) and the flame is red, yellow and orange Starbursts.  Melt in microwave for 10-15 secs, mash together, roll with rolling pin and cut in desired shape.  Just so I don't get too proud - let's look back at some of my past cake flops:  Dakota's Melted 2nd Bday Cupcakes, Corban's 1st Bday Frankenstein, Corban's 3rd Bday Pumpkin and Dakota's Melted 5th Bday Cupcakes.  

 Jacob made a perfect little set up for the kids to enjoy the fire.

This was the first year we did presents for Corban's party and he got some fun toys.  All of which he has enjoyed a lot since receiving.  We will probably establish an every other year schedule for the kids' bdays.  I love throwing parties but I don't want parents to feel overwhelmed by yet another gift to buy plus I like teaching them about giving to other needs as well.

Sage - 6 Months Old

6 Months Old

Milestones

Sitting Up

Scooting Backwards

First Tooth (5.5months)

Likes:  spinach, squash, peas, sweet potato, applesauce

Dislikes:  lima beans

26.5" long (77%)

16lbs 12.5oz (66%)

Fall Break - Hilton Head Island

Dakota's Fall Break conveniently coincided with a business trip for Jacob so we decided to hit the road rather than stay home by ourselves.  Since Grammy and Poppy had just bought a beach house in Hilton Head, we wanted to see it before all of the renovations are done and they start renting it out.  It was a long drive down there with the 3 kiddos but they all did great.  Next time should be better since Smiley won't have to stop and eat so many times.  We only spent 2 days on the beach but really enjoyed our other adventures like a nature preserve hike, running the bike paths, visiting animals at Lawton Stables, climbing to the top of the Harbour Town Lighthouse, playing pirate putt-putt, and learning all about the brave dog, Jake at Salty Dog Cafe.  Thanks Grammy and Poppy for hosting us, we had so much fun.  I hope you had enough energy to paint after we left!

View of Braddock Cove from their back porch (which was under construction).

Our first day's walk on the beach showed us jellyfish, horseshoe crabs, sand dollars, dolphins, a skate and lots of fishies and birds.

Stopping for a break to visit the Indian shell ring on our nature preserve.  I'm not going to lie, I was a little unimpressed with said shell ring.

Finally saw a gator at the end of our nature hike.  We are actually across a little creek from him.  Don't you love a good zoom?

Lawton Stables has a petting farm that the kids really enjoyed.  When they get older, they can go on horse rides.

This is how you enjoy a meal when you don't have furniture yet.  We call it fine dining! :)

Corban said, "Get a picture of me throwing my water in the air."

Check out her little tooth that popped through while we were there!

Bday celebration #1

Progress on the porch!  It's going to look so good with the Ipe (eee-pay) decking and cable railing.

Bday celebration #2! On the way back to Memphis, I went through Greenville for a night to visit dear friends and have a play date/bday party with the cousins. Thanks Gigi & Papa for the cupcakes and pizza and fun!  Stay tuned for bday celebration #3!!