"A hint of grapes"

It was one of those gorgeous fall weekends in Michigan.  And that even includes a crazy storm early Saturday morning that woke everyone in the house up.  It was all so fitting considering it was the weekend before Halloween.  10 of us packed up and headed up to Traverse City for Kristen's bachelorette wine weekend getaway.  

After a week full of rapid strep tests, urgent care visits, and two days off of work, I made a last minute decision to stick with my plans to go up north.  I had been on meds for 24 hours, was feeling much better, and was surprised to get my blessing from Scott to leave him with the boys for the whole weekend.  I figured chances like this don't come around too often, grabbed my belongings, and got on the road as soon as possible.  6.5 hours later (rush hour + stopping for food + a 4.5 hour drive normally) and we arrived.  Mind you it was 11:30pm, crazy windy outside, and the house was set back in the woods on a lake.  Perfect setting for a horror movie.  #iwatchtoomanyscarymovies

We wasted no time dropping the bags off in our rooms and cracking open a few more bottles of wine.  We had some catching up to do to the other 6 girls who arrived earlier that day.  A dance party in the kitchen, a few rounds of Ellen's "Heads Up" game, and several empty bottles of wine later, we called it a night at 2am.

Saturday morning we were all awoken by the vicious storm.  But, the clouds parted and we were graced with some sporadic bouts of sunshine.  We all bundled up in some warm sweaters and boots, ate a quick breakfast, and hopped in the party bus to hit the wineries on Leelanau Penninsula.

It's truly all about who you know.  It just so happened that one of the girl's on the trip's architecture firm is doing work for the Brengman Brother's winery.  So, yup, we got the hook-up.  A private wine tour inside and outside and many bottles of wine both in the bottle and in the barrels were opened and shared.  While I can't say that the wine trivia was the most fascinating to me, I enjoyed seeing things behind the scenes.

Our short stop ended up being close to a 3 hour visit at Brengman Brother's, so we boarded the bus again and headed to Chateau de Leelanau for some more tastings and lunch.  The lunch was quite the fiasco, but was much needed for many of us.  We were ready for more wine!

One last stop at L. Mawby for some sparkling wines and dressed up employees in their Halloween outfits and our time ran out with the party bus.  We headed back for some relaxation and much needed naps.  We decided to order pizza in and hang out at the house Saturday evening.  After all, we had bachelorette gifts to open and a penis cake to devour.

We ended the night with several rounds of Mad Gab and Cards Against Humanity.  Seriously, both of those games are going on my Christmas list this year.  They were so much fun!  Although...I don't think I'd play Cards Against Humanity with my family.  It's a little raunchy...

Sunday morning we hit the road anxious to get home to our families and normal Sunday funday activities like laundry and grocery shopping.  It was a great little getaway and I can finally say I saw up north in the fall.  But, man, there's nothing like pulling in the driveway and having your 3 year old run out of the house and into your arms.  Maybe I should leave more often for moments like that...

My little ham at my parents' house a few weeks ago...

Such a serious, passionate guy...

Our "Halloweekend"!

We are in full-blown Halloween celebrating mode around here!  Last Thursday night, Scott and I put the finishing touches on the firetruck wagon while listening to the Tigers on the radio during their playoff game.  And just in time considering we had two Halloween events on Friday night and Sunday afternoon.

We made the decision over the summer that Sean would be a fireman and Evan would be a dalmatian.  How cute is that?!

But, of course, since then Sean has declared he wanted to be a witch, a ghost, and a skeleton.  Fortunately, all I needed to do was show him the wagon we were making and he was easily persuaded back into being a fireman.  We'll let him be a skeleton in his skeleton PJ's from Old Navy at his daycare party since wearing a fireman coat around inside all day will be too much.  Win-win for the both of us!

Friday after work we ordered in pizza and salad for a quick dinner, packed up the wagon and all the costume parts, and headed over to Greenfield Village for a 6:30pm entrance into their Hallowe'en event.  I hadn't gone to that since I was a kid, so I had no idea what to expect.  I was hoping for anything better than the Zoo Boo (that thing is seriously lame!  Could we walk by animals at least??)

Oh my gosh - this place was decked out to the nines!  Beautiful costumes on the employees, creative things for the kids to walk by and see including the grim reaper, the headless horseman, a spooky bridge, skits being performed, a fortune teller, pirates on the pond, etc.  There was never a dull moment and everything they did appealed to all ages - not just kids!

Seriously?!  Carved pumpkins hanging in a tree.  How clever!

It was a beautiful fall evening.  Not too chilly with temps in the 50's.  The harvest autumn full moon was out.

Scott was elated to have his picture taken with the boys with Roary.  So, all in all, it was a great family night!

And the wagon stayed in one piece!

It was a good thing because we needed it again on Sunday afternoon for the Plymouth Pumpkin Palooza event downtown.  I love this event!  But, I hate the time.  It's from noon-3pm.  Hello, nap time anyone?

We headed down a little before noon and rushed over to the Creatopia store's table so the kids could do their fingerprints.  They always do fingerprints on tiny square tiles and then turn them into something for you to pick up in December.  Adorable!  We also were lucky enough to be first in line to see the firetrucks!

The "real" firemen loved the boys' costumes and even said they could join their team with their firetruck wagon.  Perfect!

A few games of pumpkin bowling, pumpkin putt-putt, and trick or treat stations, we decided to head back home for naps.  It was getting extremely crowded, as it always does.  But, we left just in time to watch a local dance studio perform Thriller.  Sean was in heaven - that boy loves some MJ!

We'll be hanging up the fireman coat and boots this weekend, as I'm off to Traverse City for a bachelorette party.  But, I'm excited to finish off our Halloween celebrations with some pumpkin carving early next week, their daycare party the morning of Halloween, and trick-or-treating later in the evening with their cousins, Sydney and Adelaide.

Happy Halloween!

TGIF!!

What a long, brutal week at work!  Coming down from the birthday celebrations last week coupled up with a water main break at work on Monday, a power outage on Wednesday, and Parent-teacher conferences on Thursday evening, I'm exhausted.

I needed a normal evening with my family.

You know?  The kind of evening where Evan is walking all over the house, chasing Sean's soccer ball, trying to put it over the gate.

The kind when you say, "I'm gonna get you!!" evokes a smile like this one followed by giggles and the sound of his little feet running down the hall.

One laid-back evening with Monsters Inc. playing in the background and Sean re-arranging the couch cushions until they all end up on the floor and he begs to play "mosh pit".

One where we made a simple dinner of grilled marinated chicken, grilled corn tortillas, fresh salsa, and shredded cheese for some delicious chicken fajitas.

And one where the boys worked off their meal by cutting the grass because it was long overdue.

Simplicity can be such a beautiful sometimes.  The kind of evening where enjoying the unusually warm weather we're experiencing this October, outside, with no toys = finding fun in the Halloween decorations.

And now with two loads of laundry in the wash and two sleeping angels upstairs, the kind of evening where editing pictures, updating my blog, and writing thank you cards from Sean's birthday party is just what I needed.

Sometimes less is more.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Sean!!

There he is!  My 3 year old.  Eating chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream on top to start his magnificent day.  Does it get any better than that for a 3 year old?  

Despite this being the first year he's had to go to daycare on his birthday, we made a joint effort to make his day extra special starting with this breakfast feast.  We let him open a Hot Wheel car and a Nalgene water bottle that had working trucks on it.  Of course, the Hot Wheel was his favorite!  Daycare let him pick out a special treat that they made.  All the kids sat around the table and helped sing Happy Birthday and Sean got to wear the special birthday hat.  

We picked him up as soon as we could after work and brought him home to open more presents, order pizza and breadsticks in for dinner, and eat cupcakes!  He played out in the yard since we've been having such unusually warm weather and ended the night by getting to watch an episode of Bubble Guppies before heading to bed.  I think he enjoyed his day!

Yesterday, the birthday celebrations continued with his 3rd birthday party at Three Cedars Farm in Northville with 30 of our friends and family!  The 6:30am storm complete with thunder and lightening had us a little worried that the weather would put a damper on the party, but the rain held off the rest of the day.  Our biggest challenge was keeping the kids dry and mud-free while playing outside, but eventually, I just let them have at it!  

We paid to have a tent with 8 picnic tables underneath it and the cost included a hayride, cider, and donuts for all our guests.  I snagged some tablecloths at the dollar store during the summer that I thought would fit the "farm" theme and ordered the cow print balloons off Amazon.

I scored these awesome ceramic pieces from Hobby Lobby on clearance during the summer as well.  The tractor came in handy to fill with pita chips and we also had a wheelbarrow and barrel as well.  The food was light and simple since the party was from 10am-noon.  Cut up fruit, veggies with dip, pita chips and hummus, salami and turkey rolled up, slices of cheese, and crackers.  The bottled waters were put in a wheelbarrow we brought from home filled with ice.  Using mini water bottles was the right choice since we had so many kids.

I picked up some mini bales of hay and brought Sean's Melissa and Doug barn and animals to use as decor at the cake table.  I also framed his invitation on the table.

For the kid's tables I found packages of coloring pages that were supposed to be used as placemats at Michaels's that were ridiculously cheap.  12 pages for $1.  Each kid got a placemat and I set their goody bag on top of it to keep them from blowing away.  The goody bags were little cellophane bags filled with homemade pumpkin pie spiced playdough in a ziplock bag and tied together with a halloween cookie cutter.  The playdough was really easy to make and 2 batches yieled 16 individual bags of dough that was a decent-sized ball.  And it smelled delicious!  

Each kid also got a mini red solo cup with a lid and a red and white striped paper straw.  I put a sticker with their name on their cup so we wouldn't have kids drinking out of someone else's cup.  All the tables had a mason jar filled with artificial sunflowers and 2 cow print balloons tied to it.

And now my favorite part...the cake!  Monica's Cakes made this gorgeous marble cake with buttercream frosting and chocolate buttercream on the inside.  It fit our theme perfectly!!  Too bad Sean was not a fan of us singing to him and had a mini meltdown mid song.  

Otherwise, the party went off without a hitch and the kids had a blast playing at the farm all morning!  It was hard to peel the boys out of the cornbox!  I'm still finding dried pieces of corn all over the house...

It's a relief to know that after months of planning and hard work, the party is over, Sean is as happy as can be with his birthday celebrations this year, and we had a fabulous morning spending time with our closest friends and family.  Thank you to everyone who came out!

And now as I look at all these pictures from this past week I can't help but feel proud of Sean.  He can be stubborn and strong willed at times, but he is so smart and so funny.  It's hard to stay mad at him for being too aggressive or pushing his brother when he has some witty comment that comes out of his mouth during time-out.  He is so spirited and truly beings such joy to our lives.

To end this birthday post, here are a few things facts about Sean at 3:

1. What is your favorite color? Blue

2. What is your favorite toy? Cars and trucks

3. What is your favorite fruit? Apples

4. What is your favorite tv show? Bubble Guppies and Paw Patrol

5. What is your favorite movie? Cars and Madagascar

6. What is your favorite thing to wear? Skeleton undies

7. What is your favorite animal? a scary monster

8. What is your favorite song? "I like to move it, move it" from Madagascar

9. What is your favorite book? Where the Wild Things Are

10. Who is your best friend? Sydney and AJ

11. What is your favorite snack? Chocolate Graham Crackers

12. What is your favorite drink? Milk

13. What is your favorite breakfast? A waffle with peanut butter or chocolate Cheerios

14. What is your favorite lunch? Grilled cheese

15. What is your favorite dinner? Spaghetti 

16. What is your favorite game? The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel game

17. What is your favorite thing to play outside? Cars

18. What is your favorite holiday? Halloween

19. What do you sleep with at night? Blankie and all my buddies

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A fireman

Happy 3rd birthday, Sean!!!  We love you so much!