Weekend Recap: Halloween Edition!

Happy Sunday! I have a bunch of photos to pull off of my phone from the past week...shall we get started?! It was another busy one!

I bought roasted pumpkin seeds for a granola bar recipe last weekend, and look who discovered them. He's a big fan!

Halloween coloring books galore (thanks to Keith's mom)! Monday morning activity before school...

After dropping the older boys off at school, Spence and I joined my friend Lorae for a walk. It was cloudy and gray, but the trees were still beautiful!

{This tree is right in Lorae's back yard! My photo doesn't do it justice. It's really incredible!}

Too daring!

Monday afternoon walk...

and Gibbs's last soccer practice of the season on Monday evening!

These guys spent the entire time rolling down and running up the hills...

and they were exhausted by the end!

Tuesday was a very rainy and cool day, so we stayed close to home except for a mid-day trip to Costco for essentials like cheese, milk, produce, and cereal!

And look what arrived on Monday! Casey has been asking for cowboy boots for awhile now, so I finally went ahead and ordered him some. He LOVES them and has been wearing them ever since they arrived (including with his pajamas...)

Wednesday was another very rainy day. Blah!

On the way home from dropping off Casey at preschool, we came across a mama cow and her calf running along the side of the road. They had escaped from our neighbor's farm, but fortunately the guys and their pick-up trucks appeared a few minutes later to take the animals home.

While we were at home for a couple of hours, I did some work, played with Spence, and did a quick 15-minute jump rope workout in the general store building while Spence pushed his trucks around. Workout coming to the blog soon!

When we were headed back to the house at lunchtime after picking Casey up from school, we found another cow wandering across the road. I can't make this stuff up, guys! Clearly there was a hole in someone's fence...

I called my neighbors to let them know that another gal was on the loose...hopefully she made it home safely.

After lunch, Casey and Spence headed outside in spite of the weather. Casey was kind enough to "help Spencer find all of the mud puddles." Can you tell?

I had to quickly give both of them baths before we rushed off to get Gibbs from school. Then we headed straight into Charlottesville to the Halloween store. Long story short, there was a bit of a shipping snafu with Gibbs's costume. So, here we were left shopping for the perfect get-up 2 days before Halloween. Needless to say, it was kind of a nightmare. And multiple stores were involved. And tears were involved. And YES, I offered to (a) make him a costume, or (b) have him wear one of the 2084509238409809 costumes that we already own, but NO. Those options would not suffice. He NEEDED something new, and some battles just aren't worth fighting...

In the end, he was satisfied, my wallet was about $40 lighter, and we made it home in time for dinner. Success?!

The sun came back out on Thursday morning and Casey headed off to spend the day in Northern Virginia with my mom. He only goes to preschool on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, so this was a great way for him to have some special time alone with his grandmother while Gibbs went to school.

So, while Spencer and I were off running boring errands at Target, getting my flu shot, and making a stop at Kohl's,

Casey was off in the "big city," riding the Metro to the Lego store,

eating hamburgers as big as his head,

and playing in the woods.

Every little boy's dream, right?!

I did manage to find this new Pumpkin Spice Applesauce on clearance at Target, so that was a win for me. The boys love GoGo Squeeze, and they love pumpkin-flavored anything, so I knew this would be a hit. Perfect for easy lunchbox packing!

On Friday morning we hustled out the door to take both of the older boys to school for Halloween festivities. The kindergarteners were not allowed to wear costumes, but they had a party and wore their pajamas to school instead. Gibbs opted to go in his Darth Vader p.j.'s.

After dropping Casey off at school, Mollie and I headed out for a walk with Spencer in the stroller. The weather and the fall leaves were absolutely GORGEOUS and we had fun chatting the entire time.

After our walk, we joined the preschoolers on their Halloween parade/trick-or-treating expedition down Main Street (one of the cutest things EVER).

We had pizza for dinner on Friday night and introduced the boys to the movie "Ghost Busters," which we thought was pretty appropriate for the holiday. Of course, they loved it.

Saturday morning started early with 9:00 and 10:00 soccer games (the last of the season...and it was CHILLY out there)!

Then we made the drive into Charlottesville for lunch at Five Guys,

where Spencer ate his weight in French fries and the older two ate their weight in shelling peanuts...

We made a stop at Kroger for groceries for the week,

and eventually returned home, where Keith helped the boys carve their pumpkins while I made some banana bread, some baked oatmeal, and some cornbread to have on hand for the week.

I fed the boys some Jack-O-Lantern Mac & Cheese Cups for dinner (of course!), and then we headed out for trick-or-treating. Keith dressed as Rick Flair...

and we also brought along Chewbacca, a fire fighter, and a Tuscan Raider.

Today we're staying close to home to catch up on laundry and other house chores. I hope that you all had a safe and happy Halloween weekend!