Izzie B's First Halloween!!!

Another first for Izzie!  This time it's her first Halloween.  This one is a fun first because they really get to dress up and be silly.  She doesn't get the excitement of candy and dressing up, but it's fun for us, and especially for Brady.  Yesterday I made sure to get a picture of her wearing her owl First Halloween sticker.  Brady always gets to wear them after we take the pictures and he thought it was hilarious that the owl on the sticker was wearing a witch costume, especially since he was going to dress up like an owl that night.

These types of pictures are getting harder and harder the more mobile she gets.

What I love to call "bum-bum pants."  This outfit was Brady's (man I love that they have the exact same season for clothes when it comes to stuff like this) and I have about 90% of all the bum bum pants Carters has made in the last three years.  

Even though she wears a few of her big brother's clothes, it doesn't mean we can't make them a little girly too.  She's wearing the same onesies, but this time with a headband and tutu made by yours truly.  

I love to match the kids.  I had bought this skeleton t-shirt for Brady on clearance last year, so when I saw a girl one super cheap, I snatched it up, so they could both be skeletons.

Izzie loves Brady and he loves her back, so when she crawls all over him, you can see he's very good natured about it.

When skeletons attack!

I love to put the kids side-by-side on things like first holidays, etc. because they are the same age for most things.  I thought this was great because they're wearing the exact same outfit on their first Halloweens.  I also thought it was great we had some pics of Brady with my PopPop since this is the first Halloween we've had without him.  He always called Brady his little Roadrunner, so maybe that will be a future Halloween idea, who knows?

Brady was beyond excited to go Trick-or-Treating last night.  Izzie was staying home with me to pass out candy, but of course in full costume.  Andy took Brady out and decided to wear his scary football player costume.  They went with the twin girls down the street and by the time they made it to my house, Andy handed me the mask because he said it was scaring kids.  I'm thinking next year, maybe we make it a whole family theme ;)

Pumpkin Carving 2013

Since Brady got two small pumpkins at the apple orchard on his school field trip, I decided that we wouldn't chance the weather to go with both kids to just get a big one to carve.  I got a decent sized one at Walmart for $2 (which easily would've cost $10 or more at a pumpkin patch).  I had pinned a few ideas on what to carve on Pinterest and Brady made up his mind immediately which one he wanted to do.

If you can't tell, that's Curious George, who is easily one of Brady's favorite cartoon characters.  He watches episodes back to back almost the whole way to Pittsburgh most trips.  I printed the template, but drew this freehand just by looking at it.  I think it turned out pretty darn good.

I love the excited look on his face as he leans in to look inside.  The seeds are probably his favorite part.

He insisted that he scoop out the pumpkin. 

Izzie was stuck in her high chair observing the carving.  We gave her one of the small pumpkins to play with.

The plan was to trace her hands on the small pumpkin and carve them out.

As you can see, she didn't like this plan.

She won the fight and we ended up not carving the small pumpkins.

Brady wasn't getting very far with the scooping, so Andy went in and loosened everything from the sides.  He was then able to pull out big chunks of pumpkin guts.

The finished product.

We cut leg holes in the back of the pumpkin so we could sit Izzie inside.  She's built like me and there was no way her legs were going to get past the top.

Andy widened the top, but there wasn't enough space to bend her in half so she could sit, so we gave up on that idea and turned the pumpkin around so we could get her inside with George facing out.

Detroit Zoo Boo

Two weeks ago we went to the Detroit Zoo for their annual Zoo Boo.  Most zoos across the country do something like this and we've never been to one before.  Some neighbor friends of ours asked if we wanted to go with them and we said sure.  We knew Brady would have fun, especially going with his friends.  It starts in the evenings on weekends and we had a 7PM time slot.

 Izzie was just along for the ride.  The good thing was that her car seat straps kept her hood in place so she couldn't pull it off.

The kids got free glow sticks before we went into the Zoo. 

The girls love to fuss over Izzie.  Sophia was Ariel and she said that Izzie should be Ariel because she wouldn't have to wear a wig.  I was Ariel when I was 4 (only one year after the movie came out) and my mom used that spray hair color on me. 

All the kids in their costumes. 

The only animals they let you see are the in the reptile house which they make really spooky.  The kids loved it. 

All along the path, the kids hit treat stations and there were dozens of pumpkin displays like the one above.  They got really creative and some of them were truly impressive. 

Halloween Costume Reveal 2013

We are coming up on Brady's fourth Halloween and thus the fourth year we've sent out a card to our closest family and friends revealing the kids' costumes before we go public with them.  I had the ideas for the costumes for this year before Halloween last year.  I was set to find out the gender of baby #2 exactly one week before Halloween and I had already picked out the costumes for the kids in the event of either gender.  For two boys, I had shark costumes picked out and for a boy and a girl (if you haven't figured it out already) . . . Owls!  My obsession with owl began after this choice, so it may have even been a result of choosing these costumes and having a girl combined.  Andy wasn't too pleased initially when I told him of the theme, but I felt like I chose very gender distinctive owls for each kid.  Brady is more than happy with his costume and I think they're a hoot (pun intended)!  I have the next two years planned out already, so watch out world!

The card featured three pictures this year because it was near to impossible to get the kids to look and smile in the same picture (the only one in this blog that wasn't on the card was the top pic of the post).  They're both smiling in this one, and I think it's cute that Brady is beaming at his little sister. 

I was having a hard time keeping Izzie from crawling off the couch, so I decided to get individual shots against the wall in the hallway. 

Such a sweet little owl :)

Brady's Field Trip to Plymouth Orchards

Brady's first ever school field trip was to the apple orchard!  Since they're still so young, parents have to accompany their child on field trips and siblings have to stay home.  Brady was talking about going to the orchard for days before it was actually time to go.  When we got there, some of his friends said hi to him, but he was acting shy with me around.  One of the other moms mentioned that their little boy plays with Brady every day and we decided to hang out with them on the field trip.  His little buddy's name is Xander and he's pictured to the right of Brady above.

The kids got a little lesson on pollination before we headed out to the orchard.

Brady and Xander hanging out on the wagon ride.

Picking apples.

He made sure that I noticed it was a Ford tractor.  He's all about naming every make of cars.

Next stop - pumpkin picking!

Snack time!  Yummy donuts and apple cider.

The elusive Brady worm.

Brady is forever pretending to be a cat at home, so this was perfect for him.

I got into the fun as well.

Time for animals.

Checking out the tractor.