pumpkin carving night

ever since olive could paint a pumpkin, we’ve always invited our family over to our house to carve pumpkins. maybe do dinner and the kids would have fun outside {based on the weather} or in the garage and carve pumpkins!

this year, we decided to do it the weekend before halloween…as halloween fell on thursday.

everyone came over late afternoon and i had made a couple appetizers to tide everyone over while we waited for kim and famille to arrive with the chili. i was so geeked out to make my spooky charcuterie board! i pulled a sheet of white paper off the girl’s drawing roll…i kind of wished it was bigger but that was what i had, i used that as the ‘board’. i had purchased so much cheese and accroutrements that it turned out way bigger than expected, so there was no room for me to write out the components onto the piece of paper. bummer but no matter…i’m always extra anyways. LOL

i filled and filled and filled the sheet with cheese, crackers, and all sorts of jam. then made a spidery onion dip with chips. it all turned out so cute, if i say so myself! the apps were a hit and were quickly gobbled up!

slowly everyone arrived and we just hung out and relaxed. kim and terry finally arrived with the chili that was so delicious! hc started to prepare the toppings and soon we were all feasting on all sorts of yummy food!

the girls were the only ones who ended up painting pumpkins as no one brought over any pumpkins to carve. i was bummed as i love seeing everyone’s finished products! no matter, the girls had so much fun painting their pumpkins and everyone had full bellies and full hearts.

it was another successful family get together and so much holiday fun!

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[bat girl]

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[my charcuterie ‘board’…it did it on paper. if i had more time or space…i would have written out the make up of it onto the paper!]

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[daaaaaaaaaang i look old and tired AF in this pic]

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[boo bar]

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[hc]

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[buggy swizzle sticks]

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[silly uncle dan and ellie]

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[he had his work cut out for him…she’s persistent]

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[boo cake]

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[thuy super ‘angry’ she’s baking…just kidding. it’s all for play]

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[nope…i don’t have enough pics of my charcuterie. not a chance. not enough at all]

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[ba and dan]

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[thuy and mom]

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[bennett]

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[brotherly love]

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[reagan and kim]

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[olive’s favorite person. LOL]

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[olive’s is to the left and ellie’s is to the right]

H A L L O W E E N

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[monarch butterfly…minus the wings]

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xoxo

pumpkin glow

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!

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[the coolest set ups everywhere!]

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[disney inspired carved pumpkins]

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[go cubs goooooo! yeah, chicago cubs!]

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[our frightened pic. LOL]

xoxo