All Hallows Eve 2015

Who knew that you could celebrate Halloween for a week straight?! Welcome to the final installment of our Halloween festivities... ALL HALLOWS EVE! Thankfully some very sweet new friends invited us to their neighborhood for the occasion.  

About 4:30 on Halloween we headed to one of Sammie's schoolmates house for a pre-trick or treat gathering. It was so nice to watch Sammie and Dee interact with other kiddos. AND... Brian and I actually had conversations with ADULTS!! 

Pre Party Grubbing

This kid can eat!

After the party, we changed into costumes and the real fun began!

Our little Buzz LightYear.

Our friends had this fabulous cat in the yard and the girls were so obsessed. Little Buzz LightYear was a tad terrified of the cat but did try to tell it off at one point! 

Strawberry & Alice

Most of the time the kids were so busy all I captured were blurs! 

runnnn

Brian did manage to capture a pic or two that looked "normal" for our household.

Alice... not so tight!

Trick or Treat

You guys! This neighborhood was so much fun!! Everyone got into the spirit. Parents, Grandparents and children all dressed up. There was a "real" Minnie & Mickey passing out candy, treats for both children and adults at the houses AND tons of fun decor! 

It's Mickeeeeeey! 

Dee was pretty skittish at about this whole business at first. Once he finally wanted to go up to houses, I would go with him. He would sheepishly take a piece of candy and then hold it. I said "put it in your bag" a million times. Well... after sneaking a piece of candy he figured out what was happening AND... he ran to the next house so fast. I get up there just in time to see him shove his bag at the sweet lady and hear him say "IN DA BAG"! From that moment on it was hard to keep up with this new little trickster! 

IN DA BAG!

Now, Dee snuck quite a bit of candy between houses. He was putting wrapped candy in his mouth and we would just find him spitting out wrappers!! He is CRAZY! 

Once the festivities began to die down, we headed home. Sammie was allowed 2 pieces of candy and then she left her bag (full of candy) on the table for the "Switch Witch". (I hear you can purchase these Switch Witch dolls but thats not what we do.) We read the idea somewhere last Halloween and decided to adopt the practice. How it works for us:

1- Collect candy and only eat 2 pieces.

2- Leave your treat bag for the "Switch Witch"

3- Wake up on Nov. 1 with no candy and a present in its place!

Sammie was sooooo excited to see this doll the next morning! She only asked what happened to her candy once and hasn't been a thought since!! This plan works so nicely for us because we really try to limit sugar for our kids but want them to go and have fun on Halloween.

Alice In Wonderland from the "Switch Witch"

And if you're wondering... NO, Dee did not "qualify" for a present. He ate his weight in wrapped candy!! Plus... Mommy forgot to get one thinking he wouldn't notice! Oopsy!

Happy Haunting Folks!

-Whitney 

Our First School Halloween Party!

Halloween part 3... 

Sibling love.

The kids did this super cute little parade in their costumes around the school building today. I tried to get a video but the little brother was having no part of it. Sweet Sammie marched right by us with her hands on her hips barely cracking a smile. Such a mess that girl... I later figured out they walk from classroom to classroom with their hands on their hips. Why doesn't she follow the rules at home?!

Sweet pose. 

So Mommy-fail... I have forgotten the shoes for Alice... oops.

Fun day!! More to come!!

-Whitney 

Spooky Lessons

We are not crazy over scheduled toddlers but Halloween week sure seems to be eventful! 

On Tuesdays Dee attends KinderMusik in Cary while sister is at school. They had their Halloween party this week and it was precious. 

I love watching the kids interact with one another and musical instruments. Dee especially loves the drums. 

If you met Dee before he could walk you probably saw him "hop" from place to place on his knees. Well... He just jumps from place to place these days. 

Some of the kids do not care for the parachute in class... Dee eats it up! 

After class we run to grab Sammie and take her to ballet class. She was Alice In Wonderland today and so cute. 

Dee tries to crash ballet class every week. Poor kid just wants to be big.

Our new sweet dance friend. She was so excited to be a "cupcake fairy" so smiled that big for 45 minutes! 

We have 1 busy day a week but it was super fun!!! 

-Whitney

Happy 4th of July!!

I was so happy we were able to celebrate the 4th of July this year in Lake City. I have been telling the hubs about how much I love it for years!! And even more exciting... some of our favorite family friends from Oklahoma were in town for the festivities!! 

We began the morning at the local parade...

Ballerina, Colt and Lil Sam.

I swear we will see these 2 on their way to prom together some day.

Baby Dee got in on the parade action also!!

Ballerina was such a good girl during the parade. She watched and laughed and pointed and most importantly... collected a big bag of candy!! (That I took away... hahaha mean mommy)

After the parade there was a little park time with daddy...

Then all the friends headed to my parents cabin for some goooooood food!!

Of course we attempted to take a pic of all the kids... hahahahaha

Very fun day! So grateful for such wonderful family and friends!!

-Whitney

Darren gets Christened!

On Easter Sunday we were so fortunate to have our awesome family, "The Gods", and the newest "Gods" (also known as Dodds), join us in Ardmore at my parents church to Christen Baby Dee. 

Father Steve with Dee. I love this photo.

The service was wonderful. Well, all except big sister dumping cheerios at the alter. 

Ballerina was very concerned that her brother was wearing a dress. That dress is special to our family. Most all the cousins, my grandfather, great grandfather and more have been christened in that gown. I love the tradition. Each person's name is embroidered on the inside. 

 

I forced everyone to wear white in an attempt at family photos! hahahaha.

Hey, what is everyone looking at?

Everyone look at Ballerina...

The Browns... first family photo.

 Our family so is blessed with amazing friends. Sammie has amazing God-parents and Baby Dee does as well. I am thrilled that my friends are so involved with my children!

Katie & Doyle... Baby Dee's God Parents!

Hugging on brother.

 Now if you know my family, you know that my God Parents are a HUGE part of my life. As kids, I thought their daughter, my awesome friend Erin, was my God-Sister. Soooo... we call each other... The Gods. To bring things full circle, Erin is Sammie's God Mother and I am her daughter, Halle, God Mother. We were so happy to have them share Easter with us this year!!

Halle and Dee.

Run Sammie Run. Get those eggs!

First real egg hunt!

 Sammie loved hunting eggs!! She wasn't super quick but Addi was so sweet to share eggs or help to point them out to Sammie and Hal.

Watching the girls open eggs was amazing for me. I have more memories that I can count of Easters as a kid with "the Gods" going through our eggs. I would love to carry on the tradition.

We can't let Ballerina steal all of Baby Dee's thunder on his big day! We were very lucky to get a pic of Baby Dee with Big Dee!! I will treasure these pictures for life! 

 It was a fabulous weekend. Thank you to all our friends and family that joined in the celebration. 

-Whitney