Happy Halloween!

Halloween has been so much fun this year. With my little guy getting more and more into it, the Halloween celebrations have gotten more and more fun.

I have been debating for over a month now as to what he was going to be. I had come up with three really good choices for him and just needed to narrow it down and choose one. Shortly after I published that post someone asked my son what he was going to be for Halloween and he replied. I initially didn't think anything of it. I thought he just gave a random answer and went on about his merry way. That was until someone else asked him and he gave the same response. So I thought, he might really have a clue and may have chosen his own Halloween costume.

I will admit, i was slightly disappointed because I thought my choices were good. I mean really good. But, I wanted him to be happy and begin to exercise his opinion. And just for good measure I asked him one more time before I purchased his costume and he stuck with his answer.

The day before Halloween our city had their first annual Halloween parade. I was super excited because I thought it would be so much fun. I wanted to make a little variation in his costume just for variety and so it wasn't the same exact thing two days in a row (not that there is anything wrong with that).

The day of the city's parade, I registered him the costume contest. I did it on a whim and didn't actually know that I was doing it- I thought that I was more so just registering him to walk in the parade. They had 7 categories, 0 to Pre-K, K to 2nd grade, 3rd grade to 5th grade, 6th grade to 8th grade, 9th grade to 12th grade, family, and group. Within those seven there were prizes for cutest, scariest, and green (made from recycled materials). It was a lot of fun seeing all the costumes people came up with..



 And guess who one first place in the in cutest category in the 0 to pre-K age group??!!!!!!

I was so excited! He just wanted to eat all the candy. And to think I didn't even know there was a costume contest. I think this turned pretty well considering this is not what I had in mind for his Halloween costume. He just wanted to be Superman so I obliged. At least I did get to have a little fun with it.

Today, he went on to school and marched in the school'sHalloween parade as Superman. He's just so darn adorable in his cape!

I can't wait to take him trick-or-treating tonight. He's been asking about it for a while. My husband and I will have to tag team. Our blocks get very very busy during Halloween. Most of our neighbors just sit on the porch and hand out candy because there is no use going inside. It'll be cold (and probably snowing *gasps*) but you don't really have a choice, People drive in from all over to drop their kids off plus we have a lot of little ones on our street. Our block stays jumping for about 1.5 to 2 hours full of trick-or-treaters. Despite the madness it's actually kind of fun! I hope to get some good pictures too. Our plan is for me to take our son up and down one side of the street and hubby will stay home and hand out candy, then we will switch. 

Hope you all enjoy the rest of your Halloween!!!!

Halloween PJ party linkup

Today, I'm linking up with Darci, Ashley, Natasha, and AP for the Halloween PJ party. I participated last year and it was too cute so I had to do it again. This year I was on point with picking up some PJ's for him. last year- not so much. My son has really been into the fall festivities this year which has been really fun for us. I can't wait for his Halloween Parade on Friday!

WW: Monkeying around

Weekend recap: Beach fun

While everyone was out enjoying their fall festivities we snuck away to the beach. Yes, I know- it's not ideal beach weather but we have to seize the opportunity when we can. It was our first and last trip to the beach this year.

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Most people are going apple picking, to the pumpkin patches, and gearing up for Halloween. Not us. We finally made it to the beach!

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A friend of ours invited a group of us down for the weekend- there was no way we could pass up a beach house on Cape Cod! We arrived first and made the most of our time while waiting for the rest of our friends. Last year when we all met up we were the last to arrive so this was a nice change of pace.

My plan was to have breakfast on the beach but we were so tired that we all slept in! So instead we had breakfast at the house then headed out to the beach.

We still had a great time. There is something to be said about a not-at-all-crowded beach, even if you can't get in the water. My little guy enjoyed running in the sand and collecting seashells. But his highlight was digging. It's the first thing he asked to do as soon as he saw the sand!

After a few hours of building sandcastles (that didn't look anything like a sandcastle so I'll spare you those photos) we headed back to the house for lunch. We had to stop at the grocery store to get food. It's funny how we all agreed that going out to eat just wasn't part of the agenda, we much preferred to enjoy simply being at the beach house.

My favorite thing about New England is the seafood. I am a lover of all things seafood (well mostly all seafood) and I was so excited that hubby made lobster rolls. Because of my gluten strike I had lobster lettuce wrap but it was sooooo good. I wish I had another one right now. Also, I'm going to work on my food photography.

Our friends arrived not too much longer after lunch and that's when the fun began. And clearly there was some fun going on because I didn't pick up my camera again until it was time for us to leave. I did get a few pictures of our next day digging adventures but I thought I'd rather leave you with this.. Our attempt at a family picture on the beach. Clearly we need to work on our timing... 

PAILRD

Ok, seriously... today sucks. Not just for me but for thousands of other women who are coming together today in honor of PAILRD.

October 15th is Pregnancy & Infant Loss Remembrance Day.

Weekend recap

Since I just shared my first cruise experience with you, I'm piggy backing on that with another sea excursion.

A few weekends ago my Dad decided to treat us to something really special. He chartered a sailboat and we went sailing on the Hudson! This was originally meant as a date for just my mom and dad but I'm so happy he decided to let us tag along. It was so much fun and different from what we normally do on weekends. Initially, I was worried about the weather for this time of year but it was perfect- not too hot, not too cold, and the sun was just right!

Our captain was nice, personable, and accommodating. he even let me "drive" us out of the marina! Check out my boat navigating skills. It took some getting used to as it doesn't drive exactly like car (duh! 'cause it's a boat!) but I didn't crash it! However, if you let my husband tell the story you would thought I sunk the Titanic.

I did get a little help from one of the deck hands :)

While we were out at sea river... it got me thinking

Five on Friday: Anniversary edition

Today, Hubby and I celebrate 6 years of marriage. 6 years!! I honestly cannot believe it's been that long. This past summer we celebrated our 10th dating anniversary- whoa! I mean when someone says 10 years ago, you think "that was a long time ago!"

Anyway, for the past 3 of those 6 years I haven't done much of a anniversary post here on this little space of mine. Until now!!!!

For our first anniversary we celebrated by taking a cruise. I remember this trip so well! I was excited to get away and have some fun in the sun! We flew from Jersey to Miami and cruised out of Miami. This was my first cruise and I didn't know what to expect. Initially, I was inappropriately dressed for the occasion because it was cool back in Jersey. No one told me that

What to wear: School pictures

If you have school aged children, you've probably already gotten their school pictures back or will be getting them back soon. So, this post is coming a little late for you and I'm sure you were in my shoes not too long ago.

This year my son's school is doing pictures and I am so excited!! I love to capture him in photos and I think his pictures tend to come out better when I'm not behind the camera- he gives me such a hard time. I've been completely slacking (which is unlike me) on his 3 year old photos so this will suffice in the meantime!

Now this means I need to figure out what he's going to wear. Actually, by this time this post goes live I would've need to have done that already because his scheduled picture day is today! I know these photos are mainly head shots so I don't have to think too hard, but the class picture will likely be at a wider angle and therefore, there will be a chance that his entire outfit will be photographer.

I put together a few looks I'd like to see my little guy in. Sorry girl mama's

MTM: cubby update!

Happy Monday y'all.

It's that time of year again! That weird time of year when it's freezing when you leave in the morning and sweating when you return. We are getting into the season of layers, layers, layers!

If your child attends school/daycare or is cared for outside the home- It's time to update your child's cubby! 

I usually keep a bag with a few sets of change of clothes in my son's cubby at school. That way it's there when he needs it and I don't have to worry about sending another set of clothes right away if he uses it. 

Here a peek inside his bag:

Five on Friday: Party edition

I'm so glad this is back! These types of posts allow me to get out all sorts of random ideas I have floating around in my head.

My son turned 3 last month. And as I have always maintained we don't do big parties every year but rather small, intimate celebrations for the birthday person and I kind of like them that way. But alas, the party planner in me have some sort of idea of what I would do if I would've thrown him a party!

The cake most often seems to be the show piece of the party. If someone can't stay for the whole party they will likely say "I have to go after they cut the cake". No? Am I the only person who know people who does that? Cake has evolved so much from decorated sheet cakes to show stopping 3D structures. It makes me wonder if some of these cakes actually taste good. When I got married, I was actually more concerned with the taste of the cake and ask the baker to do a separate sheet cake so I could have the type of frosting that I wanted because you can't decorate with whipped cream. We didn't actually do it (cause it would've been way too much cake left over) but I gave it serious thought. I wanted something nicely decorated but I don't quite care for the taste of fondant. Anyway, we took cupcakes to my son's school but I still wanted it to look like a cake. The top collage is my inspiration photos and the bottom pics is the outcome. I was pleased with it and my son LOVED the decorations.

Halloween

Halloween is in exactly one month and I need to get my butt in gear. Growing up, "We" did not celebrate Halloween so to speak. I can recall a few times when we dressed up and went trick-or-treating, but eventually the children on our block moved away, the residents got older and older and sadly, no children came down our street anymore. And that was that.

I thought I was going to resurrect the Halloween spirit in sort of Christian manor during my time as the youth director at my church by hosting a "Holyween" party for the youth. But there is nothing harder than planning a party with little to no help and even less money.

Then my son was born.