Gasparilla!

Some of us enjoyed frozen treats in their entirety!


The children enjoyed being with their friends and catching beads.


These poor pumpkins were WIPED OUT!

Gasparilla was TONs of fun!! We caught lots of beads and enjoyed time with our friends "with whom we ALWAYS watch the parade. I mean, next year I can say "always" with authority!

FALL!!!!! We can't believe it!!

It's amazing that a 10* difference in degrees makes it feel like FALL here in Florida, even though the temp still hovered around 80*. AHHHH the cooler air, breezes, and lower humidity were a welcome change. Everyone in town was outside enjoying the goodness called fall and breaking out the fleeces, lightweight sweaters, and jeans. It was a GREAT day!

This morning we enjoyed a Fall Festival at Hyde Park. All of the shops offered Trick or Treating, and the children loved trick or treating from store to store. Pottery Barn Kids had the CUTEST melamine pumpkin plates and plastic turkey tumblers. Adorable. We visited the small pumpkin patch and took some pictures. I love that our children enjoy dressing alike. When I told them we were going to a festival, they all chose to dress in orange to match. I have to say it was quite adorable and made great pictures. I hope they never decide to quit dressing in the same color for pictures! It also made it much easier to keep up with them in the massive crowd.

When we returned home, the children played outside until DH came home from watching the game with a friend. He took our K outside to help her to learn to ride her bike without training wheels. She did it!! We all watched and celebrated. I love our FLIP ULTRA because I was able to quickly record her historical moment!







The children did not want to buy our pumpkins without their Daddy, so we will do that another day. It was a glorious FALL day with the family. It really lifted my spirits!! Happy Fall, y'all!

Themed Halloween costume ideas for the whole family

We LOVE to have all of the children dress in a theme each year for Halloween!!  Halloween is not my favorite holiday, so we choose to embrace it as a time to be creative and wear costumes, to be together as a family, and to make memories with our neighbors.  We have a big pizza potluck party in one of our neighborhood cul-de-sacs and then everyone walks around the neighborhood together. It is very sweet.  With 3 7-year olds, a 5 year old & a 20 month old, no one has asked (yet!) to be a monster or witch, so we stick to sweet themes from books and movies.

Year One:  3 blind mice with 1 1/2 year old triplets ONE OF MY FAVORITES!

Year Two:  3 little pigs... baby K was only 3 months old, so she was an elephant

Year Three:  Dorothy (1 year old K), the scarecrow, the tin man & Glenda

Year Four:  Peter Pan (2 year old K), Captain Hook, Wendy, & Tinkerbell

Year Five:  Cinderella, Prince Charming, Gus the mouse, Fairy Godmother

Year Six:  Snoopy, Woodstock, Charlie Brown, Lucy, Peanut!!

Year Seven:  This year!! We will be the 101 (minus some) Dalmations!!

K will be Cruella Deville, per her request   The others have chosen which dog they will be. We are going to have fun! I'll post some old pics soon!