Wednesday, October 12, 2016

31 Days of Halloween, Days 5-11


Welcome back for the second week of our Countdown to Halloween!! I love love LOVED reading each and every one of your posts. You guys shared some delicious recipes that I can't wait to test out, fun pumpkin-y crafts I think Ez would love, and fall excursions that made me feel all festive and happy. In case you missed last week here are three of my favorite posts:

1. Courtney's Mickey's Halloween Party recap had me feeling all kinds of nostalgic. And maybe a tad jealous ;) It was the absolute best way I could think of to kick off this linkup.

2. Liz & Mason's crayon melted pumpkins were too cute for words. If my kids didn't have an unnatural fear of hair dryers I'd be all over that. 

3. I'm going to try really hard not to overuse the word cute, so I'll call Beth's mummy pumpkin handheld pies spooky and yummy looking instead. (But they were also really cute.) 

Around here we've been burning pumpkin scented candles, re-reading our three favorite Halloween books infinity times, and spending our afternoons doing pumpkin crafts. The little things really are what make this season so fun. But when the weekend rolls around it's go big or go home, and this past weekend was tons of Halloweeny fun as you've probably already noticed thanks to my oversharing way too many photos on Instagram.

I'm pretty sure you all know the drill but if not you can read all about the countdown here, or just grab a button below and link up with my lovely co-hosts Courtney, Liz, Jamie, and I. And don't forget to share everything Halloween-related on social media too: #cdtoHalloween16 
  The Joni Journey

Here's what we've been up to for the second week of October:

Pony rides were basically all the emotions this year. Laughter, joy, screaming, tears... I'll let you go on over and read for yourself who was feeling what ;) 


It's hard to believe that this is Ez's third year painting pumpkins, and will be his 4th Halloween. It's all flown by so fast. And you can be sure I'll be saying the same thing two years down the road about Declan. For a full recap on our pumpkin painting escapades you can head over here. Or I can just sum it up for you now: we all had good messy fun and our porch is a little more colorful for our efforts. In case you're feeling nostalgic, here's Ez's 1st and 2nd years painting pumpkins.


It's officially a tradition to add a new book to our Halloween collection every year. We were already lucky enough to get Little Blue Truck's Halloween from Gangy, but when I saw Monster Trucks I just couldn't help myself and had to pick up a copy for Ez and Declan. Ez's reaction: "Read again???!" approximately 455 times in a row. Declan's reaction: "caaah-ARRRRS!!!" I'm pretty sure that amounts to 5 star reviews from both of them.


Out of all our Halloween plans this month I was most looking forward to Thomas the Train's Halloween Party. Other than the fact that the fall weather we had been enjoying went away and the sun came out full force, the day was perfect. Obviously Thomas the Train is not something Joe and I would normally seek out, but seeing Ez and Declan get so excited is what we live for. I don't think either one of them were prepared for just how loud an actual choo choo train is, and when the whistle went off they each jumped into the nearest person's arms and continued watching with their hands over their ears. As a result Ez's train sounds have gotten accordingly louder and more authentic. Lucky us...


I've been making an effort to spend one on one time doing something fun with Ez each day during Declan's nap. I think it makes a huge difference in his attitude, and I love having that time with my first baby while he's still young enough to want to spend time with me. Recently I stocked up on playdough, something we pretty much never play with around here. Ez loves to help with baking so I figured he might enjoy this as well. He LOVED it. We brought out Halloween cookie cutters and the rolling pin and went to town. His most favorite thing though was when I made mini pumpkins. He lined them all up and started reciting 5 Little Pumpkins by heart over and over and over. And then the next day as soon as he woke up from his nap he immediately asked for his little pumpkies. How can you say no to that?


Slowly but surely I've been adding fall touches around the house. Halloween pictures from years past, mums, pumpkins of all varieties, candles...it feels very cozy for the two minutes a day that everything is in it's place. The rest of the time Ez and Declan are usually kicking pumpkins around like soccer balls, or gnawing on them (I'm looking at you, Declan), and driving them around like cars. Because the 6,487 toy cars they own have lost their luster, apparently.


It's just not October unless we cover every inch of our windows with spooky stickers. The first year we did these Ez was about one and a half and he tried to eat them. The second year Declan tried eating them. I have little hope that these ones will make it through the week, but who knows? Maybe Declan will be so busy eating the pumpkins he won't even notice the window clings this year.

Only 19 days till Halloween!! Excited to read what everyone's been up to this week.


2 comments:

  1. I loved all of those posts, too! Those playdough pumpkins are precious. And I am loving that tree slice in your decorations.

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  2. That book is perfection for you guys!! And, I loveeee the pumpkin playdough! Aria loves playdough and it is totally not my favorite lol. I should have made orange playdough instead of purple though to make pumpkins!

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