The Bookshelf - Halloween

We love Halloween around here. The minute Target transitions from Back-to-School to Halloween, I grab myself a salted caramel mocha and start wishing for the day when we can make our first visit to the pumpkin patch.  This year, Fall has been, well, hot. And it's super hard to feel totally festive when you're sweating (which is one of the reasons I'm happy we don't live in Florida anymore). We've also had a lot going on, so I'm a little behind with all of my decorating and costume planning.

But with all that being said, we busted out our Fall/Halloween books a month ago, got a couple of new ones, and have been reading them all non-stop. (You can see last year's list here.) Festive books are the best way to help get ya in the mood for the season!

A few of our favorites this year...

Room on the Broom | Ghosts in the House

Vampirina Ballerina | How to Make Friends with a Ghost | The Spider & the Fly

Mostly Monsterly | B is for Boo

We've been watching Room on the Broom almost daily, with It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown thrown in for good measure, and I think I might try to sneak in a little Hocus Pocus (my favorite favorite!) with Zoey this year, I just hope it's not too scary for her. And my little dancer has been just a little obsessed with the book Vampirina, which just came out as a Disney Jr series earlier this month. It's so cute, you guys!

Any favorite Halloween books or movies around your house this year?

Halloween Reads

Well folks, we're f i n a l l y feeling a little Fallish over here in VB - temps in the 60s today, a crockpot full of potato soup simmering in the kitchen, a trip to the pumpkin farm on the agenda, and plans to get a fire going once the sun starts to set...it's not quite fire weather, but Zoey's been asking for days. 

I love this time of year! It marks the beginning of holiday season and largely involves huge quantities of candy...what could be better! 

pjs | chair

As soon as Fall begins. I drag out all of the Halloween and Fall books for the kiddos. Zoey and I have read our favorite, Room on the Broom, approximately 327 times already, and watched the movie on Netflix two or ten times, too. (You can get the dvd cheap here if you're not on Netflix.)

No big secret that I love children's books. Always have. We have books stashed literally in every room of our house and there's always room for more! Zoey, Beck and I spend a lot of time each day reading, so I thought I'd share a list of our favorite Fall/Halloween books. There's a few different levels here (some I've even shared with 3rd & 4th graders in my past life as a teacher), but I can honestly say, that as of this year, I've read them all with Zoey at one time or another. The kid devours books, so if you've got one of those at home, too, this list is for you. Enjoy!

Halloween-y Books for Young Kids

Room on the Broom
The Berenstain Bears & the Spooky Old Tree
Ghosts in the House
Mouse's First Halloween
Mostly Monsterly
I Need My Monster
Goodnight Goon
Halloween Night
Little Owl's Night
Spider and the Fly**
Pete the Cat: 5 Little Pumpkins
Clifford's Halloween
Carl's Halloween
Ten Timid Ghosts
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
Baby Lit: Dracula
Baby Lit: Frankenstein
The Hallo-Weiner
Leaf Man
Stellaluna
Click, Clack, Boo!
Little Blue Truck's Halloween

**I wouldn't read this one before bed if you've got a more sensitive kiddo. Spider nightmares, for sure!

There are some great Halloween books for babies, too. A few that Zoey has liked in the past that we're sharing with Beck this year:

Biscuit's Pet & Play Halloween
It's Pumpkin Day, Mouse!
Where is Baby's Pumpkin?
Duck & Goose Find a Pumpkin

Do you have any favorites on your list?

Boo to You! and Friday Favorites

Happy Halloween!

This year, I DIYed Z's costume. She's been obsessed with the tutu I made for her first birthday, so I made her a little witchy tutu that's nice and long so she can play dress up for a couple of years. Her b-day tutu looks a bit like Ace Ventura at this point.  And we'll see how long the witch's hat headband stays on. I'm guessing we won't make it out the door. LOL! 

We don't get many trick-or-treaters since most of the kids head to the church down the block. They throw a big fall festival on Halloween, which I guess is better than knocking on a stranger's door and getting free candy? Anyway, since Z isn't quite ready for the whole door-to-door thing, we've decided to walk over and see what the fuss is about. Not sure what to expect, especially with a kid under 2, but we'll see how it goes. 

The weather has been so gorgeous lately, we spend most of our days outside: long morning walks, fun with the water table, and collecting coconuts around the backyard.

But a cold front is coming thru tonight, so we may need to put the water table on hold for a bit. I'm really looking forward to temps in the 70's for a few days. Planning on the first pot of chili for Saturday night. May even have to bust out the fuzzy socks! 

And here are the latest favorites:

I don't know if you guys have seen it all yet, but the holiday stuff is out at Target and it's all so cute! We're hosting Christmas this year, so I'm super excited to start decorating the minute Thanksgiving is over. And I feel the urgent need to head to Target and stock up before all the cutest stuff is gone! 

Have you seen the GapKids/Kate & jack Spade collab? Y'all know I'm a big fan of the Gap, and most of Z's clothes come from there (usually with a really great coupon code!). I'm dying over this bow tie dress with these candy stripe tights. So freaking cute!! A wee bit more than I would spend on toddler clothes, especially since we celebrate the holidays in pretty low-key fashion. But if we were a bit more fabulous, you can bet the kiddo would be decked out in that outfit! 

The Hubs and I enjoy a nice bowl of froyo from time to time, after the kid has gone to bed. These bowls are perfect for a scoop of deliciousness! I've been swooning over them for ages and have visions of the different shades of blue stacked on open shelving in my beautiful spacious white kitchen.  Perhaps I need to spend less time on Pinterest?!

Never have many trick-or-treaters, but we always grab a bag of candy just in case. I sometimes send leftovers to work with the Hubs, but this year, I'm thinking of trying something like these candy bar cookies. There's a ton of ideas for leftover candy on Pinterest (of course). I like the idea of getting to eat a bunch of it all at once!

And as for a post-Halloween breakfast, these apple cider donut holes just might hit the spot. Are they not the most addicting thing in the world? 

And in the spirit of spookiness, have you guys been watching Stalker? Holy cow, is it terrifying! Obviously, you get some great eye candy with Dylan McDermott, but this is the kind of show that I can't watch without the Hubs. It's good, but seriously disturbing. And how about How to Get Away With Murder!!!??? So good! Just when you think you know where it's going, the last line of each episode completely throws it all in another direction. We were so worried that waiting for season 3 of OITNB would be torture, but these new shows are filling the void pretty well.

One more shot of the littlest which before we go...

Hope you all have a spooky and festive Halloween!!!

Pumpkin Patching

Monday's weather was super sunny, clear and warm. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that I just described perfect pumpkin patch weather. Well, yes actually. While I'll admit that the eternal summer we've been experiencing this last year has made me pretty grouchy, it actually was a beautiful day for a visit to the pumpkin patch.

bat shirt (on sale!!) | sparkly Toms (I purchased for $12 at a local consignment shop. Jackpot!)

So we headed out to a local church, fully expecting it to be a hot morning and slim pickins in the patch, but we had such a fun time chasing Z around the church yard. Tons of pumpkins were laid out underneath a huge beautiful oak tree, which made it so wonderful in the shade.

Z had a ball running around patting all the pumpkins, and even picked out two

little ones for herself. There was a random milk crate in the middle of the sea of orange, so naturally the kiddo put her pumpkins in it and carried them around for a minute.

It's always been so hard to get a really great pic of Z since she is always in motion, and this day was no exception. I usually end up with a million photos of her back...maybe I'll end up doing an album of just those! I was totally that mom. I kept trying to hop in front of her to snap something with her smiling, but only managed to get a bunch of blurry pics and even backed over a pumpkin or two, practically falling on my ass. 

In the end, we came home with two toddler-size pumpkins and one for carving. It wasn't quite as amazing as our pumpkin patch adventures last year up in Georgia, but we had such a great time following Z around as she checked out each and every pumpkin! 

This weekend was also Zoey's 20 month b-day and we did her monthly photo shoot on Monday before our pumpkin patch adventure. Last month it was a nightmare trying to get a good shot and most of the outtakes feature a red face and teary eyes. But this month some of the outtakes were so hilarious, I had to share a few of my favorites...

This really is the best age, isn't it?!

Any great pumpkin patch adventures this October for you guys?

Happy Haunting!

Happy Halloween!! This is one of my favorite holidays! I mean, who doesn't love a day that revolves around candy?! Halloween in our neighborhood is a little lame, though, in spite of the fact that this place is lousy with little kids. As of 8pm, we had exactly eight trick-or-treaters. Eight.

And while our neighborhood may have lost their Halloween spirit (or they just all went to the Fall Festival at the church up the road), we made sure Z was dressed and ready to greet trick-or-treaters!

I had grand plans of making the babe a strawberry costume. But a great friend of ours recently gave us this little cheerleader costume and I just couldn't resist! Maybe Z will turn up as a strawberry next Halloween.

Of course, Baby Tuna had her share of festive Halloween outfits, that were worn all month. So please allow me to throw a little festive babyness your way!

Yes, folks, another pumpkin patch photo! 

Trying to cast a spell, perhaps? 

And finally, if you follow me on Instagram, you saw a yum-o teaser of some cookies that I was baking yesterday. They may be the best cookies I've made in a long time. And I'll just say that it's a good thing I started running again, cuz these bad boys are addicting! 

At the request of a few readers, I've added the recipe here. Enjoy!

Hope you all had a spooky Halloween!