I'll keep this post short and sweet.  We've all got Halloween things to do.

Jason's work schedule this past weekend caused us to alter our plans slightly.  Instead of two fun days of events, we did it all in one day. 

On Saturday we headed to the city for Trunk or Treat at my brother's church.  Katherine transformed into Princess Elena of Avalor and loaded up on lots of candy and treats. 





After trunk or treat, we headed to the cobblestone streets of Main Street St. Charles for Pumpkin Glow.  This is one of our favorite events each year, and we get to stock up on our favorite Main Street treats while we're there (flavored popcorn, Grandma's Cookies, caramel apples, etc.).






Like I said.  Short and sweet.  Just like Halloween. 

Happy Halloween, friends!

Even though I love Halloween, and it's also my birthday, I don't always actually dress up on Halloween.  Each year is hit or miss with costumes for me.  Some years I've gone all out with a costume, and some years I just don't. 

Last year's costume was epic, both visually and creatively.  I'm still exhausted from pulling that one off, so this year Katherine has an awesomely store-bought costume. 

I decided to go back through the years and see what our costumes looked like.

So I give you:  The Ghosts of Costumes Past


My senior year of high school, I was Christina Aguilera (pre-dirty).  I wore a black sparkly suit that once belonged to Sheryl Crow.


Many years later, I was another celebrity.  Kat Von D.


The next year was an election year, so I pulled together a super simple "Sarah Palin" outfit. 


One year I referenced this costume to become the "Angel of Death."  I guess I was having a "dark" year.


Another year, I raided the costume closet at my mom's school to wear this gem.


The year I was pregnant was fun because I was Juno. 


Katherine's first Halloween costume was awesome.  When I posted it to Pinterest, I was shared soooo many times.  Social media loved her costume that year.  It was also our first family costume. 


Katherine was a Kitty Cat the next year.  I explained the process of making this super simple costume here. 


Which brings me to last year, when we were the Three Amigos.  Best. Costume. Ever.  I don't really know how I could top this one. 


Katherine chose her own costume this year.  She's Princess Elena of Avalor.  She'll be one of thousands of Princess Elenas this year, but she loves it. 

As of right now, I will not be dressing up.  But there's still time, I suppose. 

We've made crazy bark (recipe here) a lot in the past, and it's always a good time for me and Katherine.  We decided to make Halloween crazy bark this week, but I was having trouble finding the chocolate graham crackers required for the recipe.  (Which is weird because I used to be able to find them everywhere, but after going to five different stores.....nothing.)

So I found this recipe on Pinterest for homemade chocolate graham crackers, and it turned out so much better than the store bought kind!   I'll probably just make the graham crackers from now on because they were so good, and so easy to make.

So, I give you:

This is a super easy recipe and is great to do with kids because they just pile a bunch of random candies on to the melted chocolate.  If your child is like mine, they'll pile everything up in the middle of the pan and you'll have to spread things out when they're not looking. 

I used the homemade chocolate graham crackers (but you can use store bought if you can find them) and white almond bark.  For our toppings we used "fall" M&M's, roasted peanuts, Halloween Oreos, sour gummy worms, candy eyeballs, and Halloween sprinkles.






Once the bark had chilled in the fridge, and the chocolate and toppings had set, I broke up the pieces.  This stuff is like crack. 



Happy sugar coma!

We've been weekending pretty hard over here lately. 

On Friday, we attended our neighborhood block party.  It was so nice to finally meet everyone, and it was the perfect fall night for a party.  Katherine stuffed her face all night and partied with her new friends.  There was a movie projected onto the garage for the kids and a fire pit (and drinks) for the adults.  It's so cute watching Katherine interact with other kids and make friends. 







On Saturday, we headed to the pet store to get Callie and Sammie some dog food.  As usual, a trip to the pet store is like a trip to the zoo.  We can't leave without visiting all of the live animals and fish. 


Our neighbors blew up their bounce house on Saturday, so of course we ventured over.  It was so nice of them to let us join in on the fun.  


On Sunday, we headed to church.  I found this super cute kitty cat dress, and it's perfect for Halloween.  I love a good Halloween wardrobe during the month of October. 


Thankfully it finally feels like October.  Sooooooo ready for Halloween.

Until next time.....

We're in full Halloween mode over here.  It's no surprise, really.  We all love Halloween, especially me since it's also my birthday. 

We've got our costume picked out, and I spent most of last week getting the house ready.  It's exciting to have a new house to decorate this year.









I'm loving the new fall scents at Bath and Body Works, so over the weekend I bought a couple of pumpkin scented candles (because they're on sale for $10 right now!).



Target never disappoints when it comes to Halloween decorations each year.  I picked up a few new items this year during my last shopping trip.


Speaking of Halloween, I ran in to Walmart the other day to grab some things and noticed a display of Halloween movies.  They had all of the old horror movies from years ago, digitally remastered and on Blu-Ray.  I love old scary movies, especially the 1943 Phantom of the Opera movie.  I remember renting it at the video store over and over and over as a kid.  I was totally obsessed with Phantom of the Opera, so it was no surprise that later I was totally stoked over Andrew Loyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera.  And even more stoked when Gerard Butler became the Phantom in the 2004 movie.   

Anyway, back to Walmart.  I immediately scooped up the 1943 Phantom movie, and I'll probably be back for more movies later.  Probably the Bride of Frankenstein or the original Halloween movie.
  

There's just something about an old movie.  So simple, yet great.  That doesn't mean I'm not going to probably watch Gerard Butler as the Phantom over the weekend though.  For obvious reasons. 

If you've followed my Instagram Stories lately, you've noticed that I stocked up on all things pumpkin during my last trip to Trader Joe's.  I love their seasonal items and now that I no longer live near a Trader Joe's, I have to stock up when I can. 

I used this brown butter sauce recipe with the pumpkin ravioli.  It was crazy good.  If you're a pumpkin lover, I recommend it.

Happy almost weekend!