halloween ’20

Posted on October 31, 2020 by tandem in love

last year it snowed. this year it was near 70 degrees!!!! it was gorgeous out and the kids were so excited to not wear coats!

there are a few parts to this post.

pumpkin carving night. party decor. trick or treating.

we switch pumpkin carving between my parent’s house and our house. depending on the mood. this year, we decided to do it at my parent’s house. one…because of covid, we haven’t been over there a lot and two, it just felt right.

while the big kids carved, the little kids painted. the girls got dressed up because why not? it’s halloween season and they never get many chances to wear their costumes.

*****

PUMPKIN CARVING

[painting pumpkins]

[family time]

[silly sister, silly auntie]

[ellie’s pumpkin]

*****

i decided to decorate our place for a halloween party for no reason at all. i had a collaboration with a balloon shop for the big garland that you see and i thought, why not decorate? it’ll be fun – three hours later. LOL

i did have fun creating this festive space! the girls went nuts over the floating witch’s hats! that was a big pain in the butt as i had some trial and errors on figuring out how to keep them afloat without them falling down but i succeeded!

HALLOWEEN

[i decorated just for the hell of it]

[creepy cake]

[pretty blooms]

[cauldron of candy]

*****

halloween arrived and olive WAS SO EXCITED!!!!! she could not wait to go trick or treating! the best part about this day was the WEATHER. it was near 70 degrees and amazing!! it made for the best kind of trick or treating. when you are in the midwest, the weather on halloween is most likely cold, snowy, raining, or something not pleasant or conducive to being outside and asking for candy.

add in covid…everything was up in the air. no one was quite sure if trick or treating was allowed leading up to halloween but the most amazing part was how everyone came together and made it happen. so many houses made it so fun and special for the kids!

the creativeness behind candy chutes, tables, packaging, and community was off the charts. it seriously was the best halloween ever. people were awesome, welcoming, and festive. it added to our experience and the girls were having so much fun running from house to house. what was also great was the fact that you could identify which house was participating and which house wasn’t and that created the most efficient trick or treating time ever!

it’s obvious the girls are getting bigger as their stint of trick or treating lasted the longest it’s ever lasted. they literally succeeded in making it around the entire long circle block in my parent’s neighborhood. by the time we reached the house before my parent’s house, olive was done. just in time to head back home. their bags were filled to the brim with candy and they were super happy!

it was seriously the best halloween to date…thanks covid for inspiring the creativity in everyone and neighbors banning together to make it special for the kids!

TRICK OR TREAT

[such a gorgeous day for trick or treating!]

[super auntie thuy started them out on their route]

[back at home with her loot]

[eating her loot]

[watching room on the broom]

xoxo

kids halloween party

Posted on October 29, 2020 by tandem in love

it was so sweet of our friend elisa to throw the cutest halloween party for our girls!

elisa and i are cut from the same cloth…as in we love to craft, be super extra, and throw parties! haha! yes, our minds never stop creating and before we know it, our simple party blows up to a crazy craft storm where too much is never enough. LOL

well, elisa’s party for the girls did not disappoint! we arrived late because the girls had swim lessons and we walked into a frenzy of crafting craziness. the girls who were already there were making halloween inspired wands, masks, and other fun things.

olive and ellie jumped right in and were instantly having fun with the other girls. all the moms were congregating around the drinks and food and that’s exactly where i ended up! my love language, food and drinks! and you can’t beat the great conversations we engaged in…these mamas are the best and are so fun!

there was so much cuteness involved. elisa not only had the girls crafting for hours, she had a pin the tail on something game, a candy bar where the girls could choose different types of goodies to put in their cauldrons, a photo booth, and the most festive favors to take home! it was absolutely adorable!

these are the moments i live for. i love socializing and i love that my girls have so much fun with their kiddos. it’s the best combo in life! hanging out with mamas who get you and kids who are besties cannot be beat.

[excited over their handmade wands]

[the cutest cupcakes]

[sweetest luisa]

[surveying the scene]

[the cutest charcuterie board]

[we have a queen barb and a mermaid]

[spider cake]

[handmade masks]

[she’s so sweet!]

[candy bar]

[they’re the cutest]

xoxo

halloween treats

Posted on October 28, 2019 by tandem in love

we commenced the halloween classroom treat making on a whim. i wasn’t planning to have olive assemble her treats when we did but it just happened. as an amateur photographer, the lighting was definitely not right. it was too late in the evening and it had become dark outside, so with the artificial lighting…the pics turned out grainy, yellow, and not typical of the product i like to produce.

anyhoo, now that i have prepped my not so ‘great’ pics posted, we had soooooooo much fun making her classroom treats! i always rummage through the plethora of extra crap i have downstairs in my craft bins and will find something we can use to make fun gifts for the kiddos.

i did the calligraphy and olive drew the hearts on each glassine bag. olive also colored each sticker and placed one on the outside of all the bags. olive filled each sack with stickers, tattoos, vampire teeth, a lollipop, and a spider ring. we then sealed each bag with halloween washi tape and voila!

halloween treat bags for her friends at school!

i know i am extra. and i love it. i’ve been this way since i was born. i recall creating bags for our local trick or treaters in our neighborhood. i would collect all my goodies at our nearby jewel grocery store and asemble bags to give away. yes, not much has changed. LOL

do you like to create fun halloween treats or you more of the ‘here’s a handful of candy, bye’?!

[helping mama put together her class treats]

[stickers olive colored in]

[my creative girl drawing a heart on each bag]

[showing off her bags]

[how cute are they turning out?!]

[she’s so sweet]

[tattoos]

[placing a colored sticker on each bag for her friends]

[always so meticulous with what she does]

[checking out her work]

[stickers]

[bags of goodies]

[loving our final product]

xoxo

pumpkin glow

Posted on October 16, 2019 by tandem in love

my sister, kim, suggested we go to an event called jack’s pumpkin glow on saturday, late evening. she sent us the link and all over the site, it was screaming ‘chicago, chicago’ and i thought, gosh, i don’t want to take the girls to a chicago event so late at night!? right? it’s too close to bedtime…the girls have been in a great routine since school has started and i kept thinking they would be super exhausted with us being out so late, even if it seemed like a really cool display of pumpkins.

well, hc looked closely at the website and he realized it was in the town right next us! they used chicago as a location for national advertising but it was local, to us! ahhhh hahahaha! well, ok then. let’s do this! we figured, even if we were out late past their bedtime, it was so close to home, we would be at our abode in a jiffy. that made much more sense!

we met up with my sister kim and bennett {reagan and terry were caught up at a game later than expected} and walked our way towards the event. okuuuuurrrrr, so the worst part about all that was, it was soooo stinkin’ muddy. like m u d d y. as in your feet sank into the ground and the mud splashed back up onto your leg. ellie started freaking out and wanted hc to hold her but hc refused as her boots were covered, dripping in mud. if he picked her up, she would wrap her legs around him and there goes his clothes. LOL

once we surpassed the corralling entrance, the path around the displays were mud free! hallelujah! then the show began and wow! it was awesome! everything you saw was made out of pumpkins. there were hundreds of carved pumpkins…individually lit and the artwork in the themed areas were stunning! true artists at work. there were so many pumpkins with intricate designs, pumpkins that formed harley motorcycles, snowmen, giant turtles, ladybugs, you name it…they carved it out of pumpkins! we were so amazed!

they had bugs, disney, haunted ships, motorcycles, dinosaurs, sport themes, portraits carved onto the pumpkins…so many cool designs everywhere you turned!

the girls had a blast! they were so amazed by all the artwork and how everything was made out of pumpkins. it was definitely worth it and so much fun for the kiddos! if you are going…i recommend waterproof boots, no strollers, dress warm, and be ready for big crowds. i had my hand attach to the girls at all times! it was dark, as to see the pumpkin glow better, so it was easy to lose track of your kids if they weren’t attach to you with so many people around you!

happy fall y’all!

[the coolest set ups everywhere!]

[disney inspired carved pumpkins]

[go cubs goooooo! yeah, chicago cubs!]

[our frightened pic. LOL]

xoxo

trick or treat ’18!

Posted on November 8, 2018 by tandem in love

halloween 2018

halloween always brings back vivid memories for me. i remember my halloweens so distinctly; like the years where it was freezing cold, which halloweens were so warm you didn’t need a coat, houses that gave out the big candy bars and what costumes i wore. i loved the spooky shows, cartoons, and sitcoms that would create story lines around halloween. it was all so wonderfully, hauntingly good.

halloween has always been a faaaaaaavorite holiday of mine. i thoroughly enjoy the lighthearted goodness of it…not so much the scary, creepy, gory part of it but the spooky, fun, childish, change of season piece of it. the changing of the leaves, the chill in the air, and the tradition of trick or treating excites me!

ellie napped during the afternoon and i was hoping to get over to my dad’s house by 3pm but that did not happen! hc came home early and we fiiiiinally headed over to my parent’s house by 4:30 pm…so late! the temp was amazing…it was near 60 degrees and that’s like summer in october! i am sure we missed a bunch of trick or treaters going over so late but chest la vie. we waited for my sister, thuy, to come by and once she arrived, we snapped pics and went on our merry way with the girls to have some fun trick or treating.

i walked along with the gang for a bit and decided to return to help my dad out. one, i looooooooove to hand out candy but two, i wanted to make sure i did that part because my dad’s knees are the best and i didn’t want him to walk up and down the stairs to answer the door.

once hc and the gang returned, we poured over their treats and turned on the telly to watch some fun halloween cartoons! we answered the door a few more times and then the trick or treaters tapered off and then we gather together for dinner.

oh, we had so much fun! at the girls loved knocking on all the doors. little elle belle tried sooooo hard to keep up with her big sis. it was so heartwarming to watch them hit up each house in their own unique way. olive running ahead and ellie trying to catch up to olive. oh how i love them!

i’ll declare this halloween a complete success!

[ellie’s current favorite pose]

[my beautiful girl in her pegicorn costume]

[this is definitely a treat]

[can you guess hc’s costume? if you can, in the comments, i’ll give you a starbucks card!]

[olive was on fire! running house to house!]

[the girls with their super aunty]

[ellie was constantly trying to catch up]

[she was always two steps ahead, or maybe ten steps ahead!]

[hc consoling ellie after she fell down a step…poor babe!]

xoxo

pumpkin carving

Posted on November 7, 2018 by tandem in love

every year my family and i carve pumpkins together! it’s a fun tradition that makes the holiday a little more special. we love ordering pizza or putting together a quick dinner and then carving pumpkins in hc’s heated garage.

the fam came over with apps and we noshed on food until the pizza arrived. we ate and drank and ate and talked and ate and hung out. after our early dinner, the kids were begging for desserts. i said no dessert until i was done in the kitchen {cleaning up, washing dishes, etc.}. i’m sure they were rolling their eyes in annoyance…hahaha! i have a process for everything.

fiiiiiinally we served dessert – festive cookies, ice cream sandwiches, chocolate ice cream, salted caramel cupcakes…it was all so yummy! olive thoroughly enjoyed her chocolate ice cream. i have to say, it’s the cuuuuuutest thing to see her admire reagan so much. she loves copying him and doing anything he’s doing. olive wanted a cookie but when she saw reagan eating chocolate ice cream, she had to have it too. i think she thinks he’s the coolest {literally}.

the kids and adults then went outside and carved their pumpkins. ellie colored hers {she was a pro!} and olive asked for a scaredy cat cut out {which hc obliged}. the boys wanted intricate designs and ended up just bringing their pumpkins home to finish. it was a school night and they had to go.

overall it was a fun afternoon! it always is with family. i love spending the holidays with them and they honestly make our world go round. life is good when it involves them.

[like wtf? hahaha!]

[just enjoying her ice cream]

[cousins are the best!]

[intense coloring]

[she was sooooo into it!]

[olive’s pumpkin coloring]

[the gang hard at work]

[i drew the outline and hc cut it out]

xoxo

school costume parade prek5

Posted on November 6, 2018 by tandem in love

i love cute little things like a costume parade at school! it’s just wayyyyy too adorable to watch! these young school days have my heart, i love how sweet and innocent it is. i look forward to moments like this!

hc and i split our duties. hc dropped ellie off at my parent’s house {plus, he was going to take off to work after the parade} while i took olive to school to get her ready for her parade! i also hauled her class treats in the biggest bag ever and i couldn’t wait to give them to the teacher to pass out to the students. i was so excited…maybe just as or more excited than olive! hahaha!

once we arrived at school, i fixed her up, attached her wings, gave her a hug and ran outside to where everyone was gathering for the parade. i adjusted my camera settings and waited for hc to join me. the parade started on time and i couldn’t wait to get olive’s attention. as i waved to her and yelled her name, she gave me a happy, shy look. she usually does that in situations like this. it’s so hard to read her reaction!

the kids circled around the park outside and then grouped together for class pictures. it was so fun to see all the kids costumes. i must admit, the polar express conductor was a fav! the little boy was so cute with his mustache, so flippin’ cute!

after the parade, hc left for work and i went home to grab ellie belle and couldn’t wait to come back to school to pick up olive and hear about her halloween fun filled day at school!

[olive seeing us and waving]

[my pegicorn]

[a little creepy, but the only way i could post her class pic…pardon the blurry faces!]

[staring adoringly at her!]

[dada and his girl]

xoxo

class room treats

Posted on November 5, 2018 by tandem in love

firsts are always special to me, so my girl’s milestones make me happy and i love documenting it.

halloween treats have always been a personal favorite of mine. ever since i was a kid, i loved putting treat bags together. i can’t explain it but i know that it’s sooooo fun for me! i love gathering cute little toys and candy to create a bag that is unique and fun for the kiddos.

of course, we were at target and that dollar section will get ya! i grabbed a bunch of items and continued throughout the store to grab additional things {outside of what i needed, natch}. when we arrived home and gathered the items we purchased for the treat bags, i realized i had far too many items but alas, i wasn’t going to run back to target to return dollar items! so be it, my treat bags were a bit overzealous and i loved it!

olive is on this hello kitty kick {thanks mcdonald’s!} and loves to wear anything hello kitty. she opted for this fabulous outfit {that you will see below} to create her goodie bags. you go girl!

she actually assembled all her classmate’s bags by herself and i was so proud! i did the lettering and the sealing but everything else was all her! i was so excited that she was excited to put together each bag. as she did, she kept saying, “my friend will like the orange glow stick” or “she will love chips!” it was so cute that she was thinking about her different classmates as she assembled each bag!

we had a blast putting everything together and i hope all the kids loved what was inside as much as i did!

[this girl cracks me up! this was the outfit she wanted to wear to put her halloween treats together]

[vogue]

[our assortment of fun stuff]

[a little brush lettering]

xoxo

halloween ’17

Posted on November 2, 2017 by tandem in love

this year’s halloween was a blast!!

it started with olive’s halloween school parade. let me start by saying life has been pretty hectic for me lately. one, i am becoming more and more forgetful…or am i just getting old?! i am becoming less detailed, causing me to be reactive versus proactive! anyhoo, when i decided to retire to our bed, olive was stirring a bit and that is when i usually set my alarm for the morning. well, since she was moving around in bed, i decided to wait to set my alarm and surprise! i fell asleep. oh em gee. i abruptly woke up the next morning and realized that one. i didn’t set my alarm, and two. we had a half hour to get ready and out the door. holy crap. i panicked. i needed to {yes i do this every morning} make our bed, the girl’s bed, wake olive up, get her to go to the bathroom, get her breakfast ready, turn on the telly for her to watch a bit of her favorite program, get myself ready, pack anything olive needs for school, stir ellie awake, nurse her, change her, change olive into her costume, grab necessities for the parade {camera, etc.}, get them bundled up and out the door, drop ellie off at my parent’s house…i was a mess. i couldn’t believe i didn’t set my alarm! arghhhhhh! anyhoo, the bonus part was that hc was home because he wanted to see olive in the school’s halloween parade too. he was able to get ellie dressed and out the door to my parent’s!!! yessssssss.

we made it. with time to spare. olive was so excited to see all the other kiddos in their costumes. we dropped her off in her classroom and hc and i walked to the gym, where the parade was to take place. we waited, we talked, we people watched. it was almost 9 o’clock and we saw the kids and teachers coming in! yay! i was so excited! olive’s class was the last class to walk in. she was so perplexed and when she saw us, she smiled but then continued to look perplexed! hahaha!

the kids paraded around the gym and then gathered in by classroom so we could take pictures. it was so cute and fun! after that, the teachers then walked all the kids back to begin their day.

it was so cute!!! we loved watching olive partake in such a fun event. when i picked her up, she had so many goodies to take home! what a fun day at school.

we then went straight to my parent’s house to hang out. we ate, did errands, i ran home to grab the girls some extra clothes, a costume for ellie, candy, and other needed items because we were spending the whole day at my parent’s and wanted to make sure we had all the necessities.

we waited for hc to come home and got the girls ready to go out and trick or treat. olive was so excited, she couldn’t wait! ellie was just awesome, such a trooper! she had no complaints when i painted her face. she laid there so patiently, she didn’t mind the hat, the gloves, or any of the extra layers we put on her and she was quite amazing in the wagon. she never complained and just enjoyed the scenic ride.

olive loved running house to house, knocking on the door and ringing the door bell if she could reach it. she would say, “they’re not home!” or look in the drive way when a homeowner didn’t answer their door and say, “their car’s home? why don’t they answer the door?!” hahaha! she was so great at saying, ‘trick or treat’ or ‘thank you!’…it was absolutely adorable!

it was utterly cold, sooooo cold. it was in the upper 30’s so we didn’t want to be out long. we hit up about a dozen houses and called it a night. olive didn’t mind. she actually had a decent bag of treats! we came back home to warm up and hand out candy to the trick or treaters that came by to my parent’s house. my sister, thuy, and my brother, dan, came over and we all hung out. olive reveled in her goodies…i caved in and let her eat way too much candy!! hey, it’s halloween night! it’s like mandatory, right?!

after the curfew for trick or treating ended, we scadaddled on home. the girls got baths, we snuggled in, the pumpkins were glowing, and hocus pocus was on repeat.

it was a perfect, awesome halloween night. i couldn’t have asked for a better day and evening.

[walking in the parade…and doesn’t see us yet!]

[she spotted us!]

[she’s not quite sure what is going on…haha!]

[class picture time]

[ready to go back to class]

*****

[that stance]

[these babes…they look so excited!]

[ready to go!!]

[chillin’]

[oh those cheeks]

[she thought it was so scary!]

[that face!]

[my happy girl]

[so excited over her goodies!]

xoxo

spooky afternoon

Posted on October 31, 2017 by tandem in love

we had our family over on a lovely afternoon to carve pumpkins, eat sweet chili, and watch football. my sister, kim, made a delicious cheese plate, my hc made a savory chili in the slow cooker, and we had a bloody mary bar! yuuuuuuuuum!

we knew our family was going to come over for over a week but we didn’t plan on doing too much. then that morning, hc and i whipped together some decor, cleaned, prepped the house, set out the entertaining serve ware, and stepped back to realize that we are conditioned to host at our house. we don’t even blink an eye and can set up to have anyone over with our eyes closed. hahaha!

once everyone was over, we just hang out. that’s what it should be. some people ate chili, some people made bloody mary’s, some people watched football, and some people ate appetizers. after swaying back and forth between food, drinks, and typical conversations, we finally decided to carve pumpkins. hc had set up a table in the heated garage for the kids to carve. a perfect set up conducive to creative minds.

olive did such a great job with the pumpkins! she drew on two pumpkins and hc cut them out using a skil saw…ha! i helped the boys and drew out the design they wanted on their pumpkins to carve. it was a fun time inside the garage and quite successful! everyone loved their pumpkins! olive insisted on a ‘go cubs go’ pumpkin and demanded we cut out another one! she’s such a chicago cubs fan {hmmmm, just like dada??}.

after an easy and almost mess free pumpkin carving session, we excitedly came back inside with our works of art and lit up some candles to get these boo’s glowing!

my mom had fried egg rolls and brought over the right ingredients to make spring rolls, so we then had ‘dinner’ served. gosh, i love family! it’s the best kind of company you can have {and friends of course…i love my friends}. it was getting a bit late and the boys had school the next day, so we said our goodbyes. olive was super sad. she wanted to hang out with the boys and cried when i told her she couldn’t go over to their house. awwwww, so sad!

well, it was a great afternoon and such a fun time had carving pumpkins. i love being able to do this every year, creating such great memories!