Fall is such an amazing time of year. It’s the gateway into the holidays and holds so many important dates for so many important people to us. There are lots of October birthdays in our family as well as wedding anniversaries in November. Fall has always been my favorite time of the year. Maybe I’m biased simply because my birthday is in October…? I happen to think it’s magical. The weather cools down, the leaves turn every vibrant, fiery color imaginable, and soothing hot coffee begs to be enjoyed. Ahhhhh fall. It’s the best. THE BEST.

While we aren’t too into the “scary” part of Halloween, we certainly enjoy taking part in all things “fall”. Pumpkin patches, pumpkin carving, crafts, pumpkin spice latte, pumpkin bread, pumpkin seeds…candy pumpkins…you get the idea. Oh, and Hocus Pocus. We keep that on repeat.

We kicked off Halloween with a little party for some of our friends with little ones. The weather was beautiful that day even though it wasn’t very fall(ish). Thanks OK for summer temps in October.

Over Hideaway pizza, floats, and cupcakes, the kids painted mini-pumpkins, colored Halloween pictures (drawn by Josh), and played outside. So much fun!

After the party, Ella and Sissy snuck in some cuddle time with Everett. Little did I know, Ella and Everett called each other the night before to coordinate outfits.

Hubby agreed to stay home with the kiddos so Sissy and I could go to Utica Square for a bit. Two women. Without kids. Sweet, wonderful , short-lived freedom. Glorious, glorious afternoon.

Have you had the lobster bisque at Stonehorse in Utica?? No?? Well, that’s a shame. A crying shame.

After falling in love with everything in West Elm and Anthropologie, we headed back to get the kids ready for the pumpkin patch! This was the second year we went to Pumpkin Town. Not too bad for being smack dab in the middle of the city at 61st and Garnett.

Little Everett snoozed the whole way through. Ella got her face painted while Elisa played pumpkin checkers. Such a fun night…

Since Elisa still doesn’t get the concept of dressing up for Halloween, I opted to just keep it cheap and make her costume with stuff I already had. It didn’t turn out too bad! And she actually kept it on which I call a Win-Win!

Halloween ended up being such a crazy day. Actually, the whole week leading up to Halloween was oddly busy. We decided to put our house up for sale. After showing it for the second time on Friday morning (Halloween), we were excited to receive an offer on it. Nana and Papa came into town that afternoon too. Elisa was excited to start on her treats early. 🙂

That night, we took the kids to a local church with some friends of ours then took Elisa trick-or-treating. It was her first time to do the whole “ring the doorbell and say trick-or-treat” bit. She did it like a pro!

So. Stinkin’. Cute. And we can’t forget about our Lil’ Man Monster. He already outgrew his skeleton outfit, so we just went with the monster onesie. 🙂

Although the kids won’t remember it, they had a super fun Halloween in 2014!