halloween 2013

I have been meaning to post more photos and a few details of the our adorable zoo; however, time just keeps getting away from me! We were down and out for almost 3 weeks right around halloween (preschool germs are nasty) but now that we are finally on the tail end of things and naps are happening (fairly consistently) again I have had a little more “free” time- so here it is, I am sure you were holding your breath ;)

Our inspiration for this year’s costumes was this adorable book, Goodnight Gorilla, and one very sweet little boy who is (although not as much as he used to be) obsessed with keys! I had a vague idea of how I wanted the costumes to look but mostly I wanted to make sure that the boys wouldn’t sweat to death in them if we had a hot halloween. I enlisted the help of my very talented seamstress Mother-in-law to do the hoodie sewing- I really love to sew but please, oh please don’t ask me to make something that someone is going to have to wear! Exact measurements and patterns (clothing patterns specifically) are SO not my thing. However, Mimi is amazing and helped make my crazy ideas the adorable reality that they were. The long and the short of it is that we purchased a hoodie pattern and she adapted it to be sleeveless and then I added the details, mane, gorilla muscles, and a made the mouse ears too! The hardest part of it all, at least in my opinion, was getting Jay to stand still enough for me to adjust the mane and keep it out of his eyes!

Since I adore halloween photos of the kids in their costumes last year I decided to do a pre-Halloween photo shoot with all of them so I am not worried about getting photos of them in their costumes while we are running around trying to get out of the door to trick or treat. Honestly, if you have little ones I would totally recommend it, it’s been the best decision yet! I cherish the photos that I have gotten the last few years and will continue to do it until the kiddos decide otherwise. I did have to take a few more of my Gorilla and Mouse during a second photo shoot since they were still feverish and under the weather during the original shoot so if you see a little change in expression from one photo to the other, that is why.

Enjoy!
roar!

roar

the whole Lion

lion and gorilla with the zoo keeper

gorilla Charlie

Momma with her Mouse

the mouse

best group shot we got

Gorilla with his Keys

happy Gorilla

Charlie and Luc

happy mouse

santa

This morning we braved the crowds to enjoy the Winter Park Christmas Parade and then we followed it up with breakfast with Santa at Jay’s school. All of it seemed pretty crazy and busy but at one point during breakfast Jay looked at me and said “Mommy, this is a really fun day.” I guess all of the crazy was worth it ;)

Thanks for everyone who enjoyed the festivities with us.

Santa and the boys 2013

Charlie was obviously much happier about seeing Santa than he was last year!

Charlie and Santa 2013

popsicles the “clean way”

Flash back to April 2013… I have recently had a few spare moments and was able to go through some older photos. These were taken before Charlie got his first haircut; look at those sweet baby curls….

We occasionally give the boys popsicles in the bath tub (when they have them). The clean up is much easier than it is at the table and as an added bonus they slide all over the tub when they eat them and giggle like crazy.

By the way, Eddy’s Real Fruit popsicles are pretty amazing especially the coconut ones. Grab some at publix when they are BOGO and you will thank me ;)

popsicles in the tub

popsicles in the tub

sharing

sharing

sharing

your brothers always taste better than your own

sharing

pucker up

sticky mess