Fertittas in Wonderland {Halloween 2015}

I am such a cheesy mom.  I get it.  I embrace it.  We haven't done full fledged, family-wide matching Christmas jammies (don't count it out!), but this is a close runner up.  For Halloween, each member of our Party of Four dressed as a character from...

The Fertittas in Wonderland-- Halloween 2015

Alice in Wonderland!

One glimpse of my girls and it's obvious they are no twins, but that doesn't stop me from matching coordinating them every chance I get fairly often.  First, they were Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion.  Last year, they were Dottie and Kit of the Rockford Peaches, the sister duo chronicled in the best ever movie A League of Their Own.  Harper is nearly five and a half, so I know that my years are limited for getting to help sway her vote for what to be for Halloween.  Really, this could be the last year.  I knew Harper would be a super cute Queen of Hearts, and Willa would be adorable as Alice in Wonderland, but my initial searches on my favorite sites didn't yield any cute costumes, so I thought we may have to keep looking.  Then, the Chasing Fireflies catalog arrived in the mail, and when Harper spotted that black and red gown with tiara headband, there was no need for negotiations.  She was sold.  And we knew Willa would be a-dor-able as our sweet little storybook heroine.  What I loved even more is that we wouldn't need to buy anything but the dresses.  We had shoes, tights, turtlenecks, and headbands already to match.  

Last year, the girls loved that we dressed as fellow Rockford Peaches (Sam as the Coach and me as another player), so I thought, why not dress up with them this year?  Enter the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat.  Mine was a super cheap Amazon.com costume that needed some serious mom-ification before it could be worn in public, but Sam didn't have to look any further than his dad's closet to find this fun vintage suit that was first his Grandfather Smith's.  He may have laughed about wearing that plaid jacket and canary yellow slacks, but let me tell you, I think he felt like pretty hot stuff.  I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to pull it off for another occasion.  :)

Sweet Girls with their "Drink Me" potions

Off to Trick or Treat!

Alston as Robin

So excited about her candy from Corrie and Mimi

The Superhero Family-- Cromers 2015

The last two years we have had some pretty horrible Halloween weather, so although the girls are used to doing lots of festivals and activities, they've never really had a full evening of trick or treating, so their expectations have been delightfully low.  :)  We met at Corrie and Jeremy's house to take some pictures of the cousins in costumes, and then went out to the Salem campus at FCC for our church's Trunk or Treat ministry.  The girls were so excited to meet up with Bryce and Isla there!

Kiddos on Halloween 2015

So, about forty cars later, our Halloween festivities were finished.  No really!  We threw the candy bags in our trunk and all went to eat together at Jersey Lily's.  We love that they will hold their private room with barn doors that slide close for our group of fifteen.

UPDATE:  And here's the best part.  We are a week and a half out from Halloween, and the candy is still in the trunk.  Neither girl has even asked about it!  Ha!  Now, that is a successful Halloween.

Halloween 2014

Though the girls had been celebrating all week, they were still so excited when Halloween finally rolled around.  We had big plans to head downtown for a kids' Monster Bash in City Market, and then go to FCC's Salem campus for Trunk or Treat.  But, after a week of b-e-a-utiful, unseasonably warm weather, it started raining and cooling down as soon as we got in the car to leave the house.  BOO!

Kit Keller, Betty Spaghetti, Dottie Hinson, and Coach Jimmy Dugan

The girls with their "ball bucket" trick or treat 'bags'

Sam's family wanted to get some pictures of all the grandkids together in their Halloween costumes, since it is baby Alston's first Halloween, and we had yet to get a picture of all five of the kiddos (it still feels so strange to type five instead of four!), so we drove over and met everyone at Corrie and Jeremy's house.

Willa (1.5), Sydney (4), Alston (3 weeks), Samantha (almost 12), Harper (4.5)

Sue and Dave with their five grandchildren

 

Grandmother with her Great Grandchildren

We got to Trick or Treat in the rain to a few houses on Corrie and Jeremy's, and then went over to FCC, expecting there to be some indoor activities like in years past.  Nope.  We were so disappointed!  We heard that Lakeside Baptist, a church not far from Sam's family's church and where Easton attends after school care, was hosting an indoor family fun fest.  It was so nice to find somewhere warm and dry!

Lakeside had a bouncy house, games, a cake walk, and costume contest.  Sam's family all came and we met up with our friends (the Phillips, Quesenberrys, and Goncalveses), so we spent about an hour letting the kids run around.  The older ones did the bouncy house, and Willa watched with envy.  While we were transitioning from that activity to the next, I lost track of her.  I thought she was with Sam or Sue, and they thought she was with me.  After panicking for a minute, I look over, and sweet girl had taken her shoes off and was trying to climb up into the bouncy castle.  :)  She loves those things!  Maybe it will be warm enough for her to have one at her birthday.  Sydney and Harper both won cupcakes during the cake walk, and to wrap up our time there, we entered the kids in the costume contest.  Our sweet little "Kit Keller from the Rockford Peaches" won the 2 and under age group!  So cute!  Harper lost out to the only boy in her group-- the pilot from Top Gun.  He was a cutie, so we didn't disagree.  She looked just precious in a sea of Elsas and Annas.

 

 

Excited about their cupcakes from winning in the Cake Walk!

"Wait? How come you all got to be Elsa??"

Cousins having fun on Halloween

After the festival, all the friends went to eat at Jersey Lilly's together.  Since we had such a big group, they gave us a private room, and it was so fun-- my favorite part of the night.  Funny how life changes.  The highlight of Halloween involves costumed kiddos running around our room in a steakhouse, and us pretending not to see them.  ;)  

Four Festivals

Have I mentioned how great of an area Roanoke is to raise a family?  Well, if not, it really is.  Between all the churches, local kids organizations, and outdoor programs, you could do something fun with your kiddos nearly every night of the week, and certainly every weekend of the month.  I love using resources like Macaroni Kid Roanoke and the Facebook pages of churches, groups, and local shops we know to keep up with all the fun activities that are offered (typically for free) around the valley.  And this past week, that included four fall festivals.  Yes, four.  My girls probably think they are supposed to wear their Halloween costumes every day.

Salem Family YMCA's Superhero Fall Festival

We kicked off the Halloween festivities with the Salem Family YMCA's superhero themed fall festival held last Tuesday.  The girls "official" costumes weren't ready yet, so I just let them wear a few of their dress up costumes, and boy did they love being princesses for the night!  We took dinner over to Corrie and Jeremy's house, then dropped by Daddy's softball game, and still had time to go over for some fun.  Harper had initially told me that she wanted to be Elsa for Halloween, so this little outing as the Frozen Queen sufficed.  :)  We loved this event last year (it was Wizard of Oz themed, and so were our girls as Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion), but apparently everyone else did, too; it was crowded!  Both little ladies got their face painted, and we loved that Sam made it over in time to go on the hayride with us.  We even got to meet Captain America (I think.  Man, I'm a total girl mom.) at the end of the evening!

Willa the "Dora Fairy" and Harper as "Elsa"

 

 

 Playing the festival games

 

 Face painting

The Fertitta Family with Captain America

Cave Spring Baptist Church Harvest Festival

We received an invitation in Harper's blue preschool bag to attend the Harvest Festival being held by CSBC (the church where she attends school), and we had heard good things about it, so we made it a point to go this past Sunday, and it. was. wonderful.  Incredibly well run and generous.  They passed out free meal tickets as you walked in, so we got to eat our Sunday dinner with friends of ours from church that were also there.  The Harvest Festival had live music, bouncy houses, games, a petting zoo, and even a firetruck with firefighters there to give them a "tour" of the equipment.  Many of the kids were in costumes (though it certainly wasn't required), so that gave the girls an opportunity to wear their "real" Halloween costumes for the very first time.  So, without further ado, meet 

THE ROCKFORD PEACHES!

Both girls loved the petting zoo and bouncy house.  Willa Kate absolutely baffles me sometimes.  That child is so afraid of so many things, yet you can't pull her out of the bounce house.  What?!  They're crowded, hard to walk in, and the generators are usually pretty loud, yet she will rip off her shoes and go running into them.  Strange, but I will high five that sweet pea a million times for her bravery.  We had to bribe them off the playground equipment (really?  you're going to spend all your time on the playground that you will be back at tomorrow for preschool??) with food.  Wills was so sweet running down the parking lot yelling, "dot dog! dot dog!"  I loved getting to run into our friends Amanda (and her sons Alex and Roo) and Kristin (plus her daughter Elin) from our life group there.  We ate picnic style in the parking lot together, and then let the kiddos do a little more playground time while we chatted on a neighboring bench.  It's a sweet thing to get to do life with friends.

 

 

Chick-fil-A Family Fall Fest

What could be more fun on a random Tuesday night than another fall festival?  Sam had a late softball game, so I changed the girls after work and we headed over to our neighborhood Chick-Fil-A for the festivities.  The girls got to enjoy some more face painting, but there favorite part was the horse-drawn wagon ride.  Willa kept marching around the parking lot pointing and yelling, "Horsey!  Horsey!"  Sam met us for dinner before his game, and then the girls got to stand in for the costume contest.  My little Rockford Peaches won!  Sweet girls were so excited about their Chick-fil-A bookbags and water bottles as their prizes.  

 

 

FCC-SW Life Group Halloween Get Together

Joining a Life Group last fall has been one of the best decisions we've made for our family and for our faith.  We absolutely loved being at Fellowship's main campus in Salem, but it's 30-35 minutes from our home.  Add that to the fact that Sam doesn't get home from work until 6:30, and it was a nearly impossible to get involved in anything on a week night.  When we first started visiting there in the summer of 2011, we heard that their goal was to open a Southwest campus, which is one of the reasons we decided to "settle down" at FCC, knowing that when that campus opened, we would attend there.  FCC-SW launched in September of 2013, and we joined Jerry and Amanda Correa's life group the following month.  What started as an "adventure group" (a short term life group) transitioned into a "journey group" (ongoing, long term life group).  So, we have done a study on Crazy Love by Francis Chan and a marriage study before breaking for the summer, and in September we kicked back off with the churchwide study of The Story.  One of the reasons it made sense to transition into a more permanent group is because we definitely have a good thing going.  We have such a nice, eclectic mix of people, nearly all in the same phase of life, so we have some unique perspectives, but all have some common ground as well.  Since most of us have preschoolers, we thought it would be fun to let the kids wear their costumes to Life Group and beat up on a pinata before our study time began.  Sweet little kiddos!

Kit Keller, Betty Spaghetti, and Dottie Hinson headed to Life Group!

By the time Halloween actually got here, the girls had already worn their costumes three times-- the poor things were starting to look a little rough!  But, I'm so glad I get to celebrate with them, to make memories with them.  When I was mentioning what our week looked like to a receptionist at an office I call on, she asked how on earth we manage to do all that, especially since some of the outings are just me and the girls.  And I just told her that it's intentional.  Yes, it makes life busy, and my house messing, and my laundry overflowing, but it also is the time I feel most "present" with my girls.  When we are out on our little adventures, I get to see those little faces light up in surprise.  I get to be excited right along with them, rather than when we are at home, and there's always something to do.  I get frustrated because I'm trying to empty the dishwasher/put away laundry/botch a pinterest project/write a blog post.  ;)  And while I like to fit those things in, that's not what I want to remember about these precious years.  Since I'm a working mama, the truth of the matter is that I have 3-4 hours a day with the girls during the work-week.  So, I often choose to go the festival, even if it means Chick-fil-A for the second time in three days.  We head out to dad's softball game, even it means getting home late.  Because at the end of the day, I'd rather have a messy house and a full heart.