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

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

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

trick or treat

Posted on November 5, 2015 by tandem in love

i was super excited for olive to go trick or treating this year! last year she was eleven months old and didn’t have a clue what was happening. this year, she was much more aware and i couldn’t wait to see her reactions.

we started off our morning with some pumpkin carving! hc cleared out the garage and set up a table for us to do our carving. olive wasn’t quite sure what we were up to and she was a bit upset we were inside when it was raining outside only because she loves to jump in puddles. that silly girl.

once we started carving, she was so perplexed. she thought it was a bit gross when she saw the pumpkin guts and was confused on why we were chopping up the pumpkin. she kept on saying,”pumpkin?” and pointing to it as we carved. we set her up with some markers, her white pumpkin, and she was a happy clam drawing away.

[her favorite thing at the moment, the pumpkin pez dispenser in her hand from her sitter mary]

[getting her draw on!]

[pumpkin carving complete! yay!]

***

after our pumpkin carving fun, we relaxed a bit inside, and then got ready to head on over to my parent’s house for some trick or treating. i didn’t try the costume on olive for i knew it was going to work! duh! i put her in and i was in loooooove! it was so darn cute! like soooo cute! i was dying. oh how i love her and want to squeeze her all the time! everything was so on point!

after a mini photo sesh, we drove {one minute travel time} over to my parent’s house to hand candy out to the trick or treaters and to take olive out on stroll later. we waited for the rain to stop and got olive ready for her trick or treat jaunt. oh how i loved this costume! it was sooooo flippin’ cute on her. we walked outside and debated on which direction to head…we decided to go left because we definitely wanted to hit the kagann’s house to say hi to laurie {carol’s mom}. we only wanted to hit a few houses because she’s only a toddler!

[her amazing princess leia costume! so in love with it!]

[thaaaaaat face! i die]

[this face. oh how i love her]

[we were like, “which way? which way should we go?”]

[she’s too much.]

[she was storing about 6 cashews in her cheeks. not lying]

we strolled from house to house, saying hello to the neighbors and making small talk. everyone just loved her costume! it was so fun! we got to the kagann’s and laurie pulled out a stuffed animal. olive was smitten. she saw the bear and immediately grunted for it! she knew what it was! we chit chatted with laurie for a few minutes and then went along our merry way. by that time, olive got the hang of what we were doing. she was probably thinking…hmmmm, you knock on people’s doors and they give you candy? heck yeah. so she asked if she could walk. i pulled her out of the wagon and she happily walked up to people’s door, knocked, and shyly said, “twick tweet”. it was soooooo cute! she would then say, “dank you” and “bye, see ya!”. oh how i love this girl!

[loving the stuffed animal bear from mrs. kagann]

[independent and on her own!]

[olive’s work of art is the scribbled on white pumpkin!]

it was a blast taking olive out. i loooooved seeing her become so independent. what a sweetie. her costume was awesome, the trick or treating was fun, and she for sure ate waaaaaaayyyyy too much candy! eep! she definitely loved trick or treating and i can’t wait to see her really love it next year!

xoxo

tandem in love

{life is truly beautiful and it should be celebrated + shared.}

Tag Archives: trick or treat

halloween ’20

trick or treat ’18!

halloween ’17

trick or treat