My wonderful Halloween

Ok, so Halloween is THE big thing in our house. Tonight we went to Epcot as a family and had not only just a relaxed, wonderful night, but probably one of the best Halloweens I've ever had.


Here's Chloe taking off the clip earings we put on. She kept 'em on for about 3 seconds.



No singular thing happened that made it spectacular--it was just a culmination of things. Chloe finally wore the witches outfit that I was sooooo aching for her to wear.




Of course Fox HAD to dress up. This is one of the many outfits he wore during the Halloween season.






I'll post more photo session results later.


Fox was so fun and so good at the park. So many people commented on how cute HE was, too!



Granted, I had to bribe her with M&M's and other assorted candy to begin with -- I'll freely admit I'm not above bribbery. She started to melt down like during my previous attempt to dress her up, but when I brought out the candy, she was all eager to wear this outfit.

See? Candy does do you good.

And in her little witches outfit, she took my breath away.



The evening actually got off to a rocky start. I got Chloe and Fox all dressed and we were going to go up to Animal Kingdom and meet Barry and then head over to EPCOT to walk around.


Well, I get the kids ALL loaded up, I ran to both the Post Office and Bank like I needed to, found a perfect parking spot right on the first row of the park...only to realize I had left my Pass to get into the park back at the house.



I was going to bring up all this candy and leave it up at work, but as I had to come back home to scout for my pass, we didn't make it up to meet Barry inside the park.

So after having wrestled with the stroller getting it OUT of the car, I then had to get back into the car and head home. But we made it in time to meet Barry as he was leaving work.







Where's the chocolate?








Chloe is all excited to leave.












We turned on some music while we all got ready. Chloe had to DANCE.










I think once when we were mingling out with the crowds at the park and had quite a few people made a big deal over just how Chloe she looked, she ate up the attention and thought the outfit was pretty darn cool after all!





It wasn't that the kids got loads of candy (in fact, we didn't do any trick or treating, but Chloe was given a little bag of candy by a sweet Disney worker).

It was just one of those nights--we were just all together. We were celebrating one of our favorite holidays.

















As we walked around the World Showcase at Epcot, the UK band "Off Kilter" was playing. This is a band that plays cool music AND with a bag pipe in the mix to boot!












She stopped and listened and the more she listened, the more she had to move.









That's her, right in the middle.



Chloe was enthralled with the music!!! That's her in the center of the picture.





After the band stopped playing, Chloe dissolved into tears. She kept saying "want music, more music"! Luckily candy once again saved the day and after she munched a couple of sweet-tarts, she was able to move on.

Barry and I got some Cheddar Cheese soup at the Canadian stand. The Food and Wine Festival is still going on at Epcot, so we sampled a couple things. The soup was really yummy.

We also tried a meat and cheese wrap in Mexico and ate hummas at the Morrocan stand.

We left shortly before 9 so Chloe wouldn't get upset at the fireworks. She HATES fireworks!

But walking around and just enjoying the evening with the family was just perfect. Couldnt have been better.

Happy HALLOWEEEN!!!!

MawMaw and Granddaddy's trick or treat!

Today Chloe and Fox got a fantastic Halloween Treat in the mail from MawMaw and Granddaddy!








Chloe LOVES to open things.










She was sooo excited to see the Halloween coloring books!








She flipped thru each one.


Or maybe I should say the books were the coolest thing in the box...until she saw....





...Candy! Chloe can now tell you the difference between plain and peanut M&M's by the wrapping.









She loves her chocolate!


Atta girl!







Back off! I'm eatin' M&M's!










This pumpkin thingie is pretty cool...



I think there's something inside...











THERE IS SOMETHING INSIDE!!!









M&M's!!!











Yummy!








Got a little something in my teeth!










This light up pen is the coolest!











One of the MANY cool things about being a parent is YOU get to bend the rules. Also in the box of goodies was some bubble solution.


Yeah, I know...your not supposed to blow bubbles in the house. But it was sooo much darn fun and who can say no to this face?







Oh yeah...bring on the bubbles!







Bubbles EVERYWHERE!












A wee bit too close for comfort.











Thanks Mawmaw and Granddaddy!

It's all about Jello!

I was working in the office and I heard the fridge door being opened. Then I heard the silverware drawer being opened. I knew it was Chloe

So I jumped up and heel toed it into the kitchen. I imagined Chloe reaching in the silverware drawer and now playing with all kinds of sharp things.


But when I came into the room, there sits Chloe leaning against the fridge just eating away at a bowl of jello Barry had made earlier in the day.




GASP!













You are Sooooo busted!












But at least she got a spoon to eat the jello with! Gotta work still on proper table ettiquette!

Fox's photo session

Yeah, so I'm addicted to my camera. I pretty much ALWAYS carry one with me.







Every once in a while I'll do a photo shoot with one of the kids. This are some pics from Fox's session.









What a good sport he was. He pretty much smiled all the time during the shoot.







This is his going home outfit and he's getting mighty close to not being able to fit into it any more.







All together now...aaaawwwwwhhhhh!











He can even work his mojo in a blanket!








Chloe wanted to ham it up for the camera when she saw all the attention Fox was getting.



She wanted to play with her Barbie bike!









Love the tongue as she concentrates!










She loves to read and be read to. She kept trying to get me to come read to her instead of taking pictures.






She loves her "Twinkle, Twinkle little star" book! She is fixated on this one picture of a star holding baseball bat.

Why the baseball them you might ask? Couldn't tell ya.

She was supposed to be a witch

Sure. The day started out innocently enough, and yeah, Chloe looks mighty angelic over there doesn't she?










So we enjoyed the Not So Scary Halloween Party at Disney that we went to on Oct 6 that we decided to take the family again. Barry got Fox an awesome little ghost outfit. He was sooo cute. Chloe was going to wear her little witch outfit that she had worn

And sure, I had built it up in my mind that Chloe would cooperate like she said she would and be a witch in the beautiful witch out fit that she wore last year.




This was Chloe LAST halloween in the same outfit. At least she kept it on that day.

Last year I lost her hat. I almost cried a couple times! But some sweet soul turned it into Disney a couple days after the party and we finally got it back. I was heartbroken at the time.





And THIS year...








Wait for it...



wait for it....











Yep. There it is! Full on melt-down mode!! Chloe did NOT want to wear the witch outfit.

I don't know if the darn thing scratched her, if she didn't like the color, if it JUST wasn't what SHE wanted to wear, or if the planets just weren't aligned right. But she WOULD NOT wear this dress.


Chloe HAD to wear 'bloomers'--her big girl undies.









All she kept saying was "take it off! Take it OFF!!!"




So she wore another Halloween outfit. With spiderwebs on the legs and a cute orange shirt that said 'BOO". Not quite what I has thinking of...but oh well.















Fox is ALL smiles for Daddy.














Barry bought Fox this darling ghost outfit





















I came across this photo. Chloe's first Halloween...Oct 2003. She was probably 5 weeks or so. Man, she looks hammered!












Our usual gang of suspects. From the left is Michael McElroy, the kids fairy godparents Thomas (big tall guy in the back), his lovely wife
Rene, and us.












One of the first things we did is get Chloe's face painted.

As much as she loves to play with my make up, she LOVED doing this. She didn't know what she was supposed to do when the girl was trying to tell her to close her eyes. Chloe wanted to watch the makeup go on. But she eventually realized the lady was just trying to put eye shadow on her and so she did close her eyes.














She has a not to 'sure about this' kind of look going on.


















Always have to have enough glitter!











The finished product. Of course mere seconds later, she ran her fingers over the black line and smudged her makeup.












Chloe and I both got painted last year.














Me and Fox hangining out.



Fox was such a champ that night. He rode quite a few rides. He did Aladin's Magic Carpet Ride, Snow White's Big Adventure, Pirates of the Carribean, and of course the Haunted Mansion!












Oh cool! A carousel ride! Chloe rode this and had a ball!!










This turned out to be another one of my top 5 favorite photos of Chloe.


She looks enchanted and so lost in her little world.









Taking it all in.















Last year riding the Merry-go-round at the Not So Scary party. Wow...she's grown so much!













Chloe loved the Barnstormer rollercoaster. She and Barry rode it about 3 times right after the other. She kept saying "again, again!".







We discovered she also loves riding the teacup ride.



Chloe and Barry are in the teacup next to the tea pot.









And right there in front. Chloe LOVED to spin!













I finally got brave enough to ride Barnstormer with her. I was so scared of her slipping out, so I held her so tight she was probably mighty uncomfortable!

But we did get to ride in the first car! Woohoo!




There's me and Chloe getting ready to get on Barnstormer!