Halloween 2022

I let the girls choose their costumes this year. I love a family theme, but some years it’s nice to let them choose. 

You probably can’t tell because this looks so much like something i would do, but Delaney came up with this all on her own. She created her costume and did her makeup and hair all by herself. 

Adi and Abby decided to be an angel and a devil, Frankie was stuck on She-Hulk, and D is a zombie of course. 

Adi wore last years costume and made herself a halo. So Frankie’s costume was the only one I bought anything for. 



Really getting into character. 

Haha 

I searched long and hard for a green body suit that would arrive on time and not cost $$$. This guy showed up the night of our trunk or treat, right on time. The purple suit was more than I wanted to spend but we looked at thrift stores and couldn’t find anything that would work. And hopefully we’ll use it for another costume. 

Matt and I got to stay home and pass out candy and it was awesome! 

This is his all purpose costume jacket. 

All the way in Arizona (with Jackie) Emmett was a pirate…

And Carter was his trusty parrot. 😍

Hayden’s dad walked with them for the first half of the night, and he shared some pictures. When Hayden was ready to go home they were finally able to walk around unsupervised, which they were itching to do because they were so excited!

In other October happenings… the girls love to go down to Johnna’s beach during piano, and sometimes I get fun pictures and videos. 

Adi and I found these skirts on clearance at Target and I asked if she’d mind matching me. I’ll match as long as I can!

Delaney got to go on the 5th grade canoe field trip. 

She forgot to take my parent field trip request form that morning, but Matt had to go to the school that very day, so I asked him to drop it off. Imagine my surprise when I found my field trip request form still in his car a week later. 👎🏼 and that is the story about why I wasn’t able to go canoeing. 





We’ve got a few more month’s of elementary school until we’re done for good. It’s hard to believe after so many years. 

The rest of the weekend

The girls love making videos and Delaney especially loved dressing up. I wore this dress for Halloween at least one year, if not more. 

I put my mom’s shadow box up. I thought I’d grabbed more of her mini’s to put in there. 🤷‍♀️

My dad sent a fun gift of a cell phone tripod, so we sent a no-hands selfie. 🤗

After we dropped D with Alli in Waldorf we went for a “4 mile” hike at Cedarville State Park. Only our 4 miles somehow turned into 6. It was beautiful and warm’ish and I love being outside with my bae. 

The scouts used to camp there all the time, but I’d never been before, so ✅ on the thing I’ve never done for January. 

While we hiked, my dad sent our group chat a pic of him working the photography club publicity booth. 

Then Lu sent a poker tournament she was volunteering at for one of the boards she sits on. 

Amy of play date hosting …

Adi of drawer organizing…

And Alli and Delaney Target shopping. It was a fun roll call. 

When we got home I made Delaney’s cake. She requested a s’mores cake, so I found a recipe by Cakes with Courtney, who’s recipe I used for the super rich candy bar cake I made for organization training back in October. Courtney likes lots of layers and very very rich flavors. I made a graham cracker crust for the cake, toasted marshmallows to add to one of the fillings, and even homemade fluff that I thought looked so pretty I had to take a picture.

Adi went to babysit, so we decided to take Frankie for a date as we went to pick up Delaney. We hadn’t realized how very uncultured Frankie was until she walked into DQ talking about milkshakes. No, no fair maiden, this is blizzard country. 

Finally, I saw this and sent it to Lexi and Christian. I love when they share their old Facebook posts!

This was Lexi’s gem she sent today. 😂😂😂

Celebrating Delaney

Laney took forever to decide what she wanted for her birthday. This would be a trip year, but since we just got back from Europe, we let her choose and she chose a party. She finally landed on a movie party. We had fun shopping for snacks and planning out the concession stand. 

I bought those popcorn boxes when I was Colleen’s visiting teaching supervisor, so at least 10 years ago. And we’ve still got enough to get us through another few parties. 😂

Everyone got to “buy” their candies, popcorn, and drinks and then downstairs for their movie. 

Everyone but Hayden and Emma just cried and cried, and Frankie told me that 10 and 11 year olds are kind of dumb. We talked about developmentally appropriate “dumbness,” and how sometimes Frankie and her friends act age appropriately dumb sometimes too. 

After the movie Delaney had some games and prizes. Everyone got a pack of gum and some rings. Delaney’s cross eyes. 🙄

She chose pasta with red sauce and Alfredo sauce since Hayden is allergic to meat. Everyone was fairly full from their movie feast, but they all powered through at least one plate. 

Better than shopping cake for her birthday party. 

I was impressed that she put on her birthday shirt without any reminding. 



She got such thoughtful gifts and everyone was excited to see her open them. 



Where’s Waldo birthday card. Also, these pictures are courtesy of Adi since Matt worked Friday. It worked out to have her party that day since it was a teacher workday so there was no school. 

She’s on an LOL kick. 🙄🤷‍♀️



Mini photo shoot, and that’s a wrap. 

This was a very low key party and pretty simple. 

On Saturday we met Alli in Waldorf to drop Delaney off for her Auntie Alli and Delaney day. 

Alli put categories on cards and D got to do a blind choice. Cards were:

Lunch - McDonald’s or Chick-fil-A 

Who gets to pick music - Delaney or Alli

Activity #1 - Bowling or mini golf

Shopping - 5 Below or Target 

Activity #2 - mani/pedi or Escape Room

Snack - ice cream or milkshake

Activity #3 - movie theater or movie at home

Dinner - Alli’s choice or Delaney’s choice

They went to a cool indoor glow-in-the-dark mini golf place. 

Delaney said that she won and they both got a hole in one. 

They also played at the arcade while they waited. 

Alli is such a good gift giver. She’s creative and generous and fun. 

They almost got out of the Escape Room and saved the world from Dr. Mad’s evil plan. 

It’s hard to win with just 2 people!

They bought movie snacks and went back to Alli’s to watch their movie. While they shopped, she spent her birthday money from Uncle Frey and got another LOL. 

We bought Donut Connection (Matt’s preference) donuts on Saturday and surprised her Sunday morning. 

She’s a night owl and definitely not a morning person, so her slow wake up was so funny. 

Her I-love-you-but-get-out-of-my-room face. 😂

We went to church and as we pulled in to LG we commemorated the minute Delaney was born. 12:49pm on a Sunday, to 12:49pm on a Sunday 11-years-later. 

My baby! I picked her up the other day and she’s so tall and grown up. 

We skipped lunch in favor of S’mores cake and presents. 



The cake was delicious and super rich! I’ve made a Cakes by Courtney cake before, so I even made only 3/4 of the frosting she recommended and it was still too much. Delicious, just too much. 

Lu sent a mommy LOL and as she cut it open Delaney was saying “I love this doll.”

She also got a beautifully crocheted blanket along with a story about turning 11 from one of her Primary leaders. It’s such a pretty blanket and huge, it’s so nice!

She requested a breakfast dinner and then games, including Life, which is one of my least favorite games and I would only play for a birthday. 

At the end of the game she started looking flushed and kind of slumping. She told us she didn’t feel very good. We got her some Tylenol and tucked her in. Not the most fun first night of being 11, but when you’ve partied hard all weekend, what are you gonna do?