Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Dressing up Kiddos and Cupcakes!

This past week has been quite the busy week, to put it lightly. First we were invited to a Halloween party which was a lot of fun. And we were really excited to go so we could keep getting to know people. By the way, everyone around here has been so nice and welcoming. We really are enjoying living out here in Gilbert. Although I do miss you Katie!!! So anyway, Ben got sick that morning but was still a trooper and went with us to the party. I went out that day looking for costumes. Ben already had a ghetto outfit from a couple years back when he did a rap for a talent show, so all I had to do was find outfits for Braelyn and me. I ended up scoring big time at the Goodwill and off to the party we went.
I love her stance in this picture. It totally looks like she throwing out some ghetto move.

The rest of the gangsta family!

About a month after moving into our new house, Ben and I were asked to organize a Fall Festival for over 400 people in the community. The million dollar question that people kept asking me was, "How did you get put in charge of that?!" I still don't know, and if anyone ever finds out, please let me know! Actually, it ended up being a lot of fun and we met so many people by asking for volunteers. Sadly, I was so busy the night of the festival that I didn't get a single picture. Oh well! I did manage to get a picture of the pinatas Ben and I made for one of the booths. I'm quite proud of us!


The day after the festival we had a birthday party for a good friend of mine's son. A few months back she had asked me to make cupcakes for the party. Now, she has a big family so we're talking 80 cupcakes. Could the timing have been any crazier?! I baked like a madwoman and froze the cupcakes in advance. I thought, "All I have to do the day of is decorate." Yeah, three hours later and I finally made it just in time with chocolate heath cows, strawberry pigs, and caramel apple hay cupcakes to take to the funnest birthday party ever. There was an entire petting farm that came with goats, ducks, chickens, and baby chicks. Braelyn had so much fun!
Decorating her "baby pumpkin" with stickers.


Decorating sugar cookies. Really Braelyn just liked eating all the toppings. Can you say sugar high?!


Her cute little farmer outfit. We couldn't find cowgirl boots in time, but I'm kinda wanting some for the winter.


Holding the baby chick with daddy. She was so gentle with them and kept saying, "Be soft, be soft!". After I put this picture on the computer she cupped her little hands and pretended to pick up the chick from the computer screen. Then she gave the pretend chick a kiss and put it back in the computer screen. I was dying laughing. Do kids really pretend this young? She's not even two?!


The cupcakes I decorated. Now I know I'm not a professional decorator or anything, but I will say they tasted pretty dang good! And all from scratch.


Chowin' down on all the hard work.


So then we had a day break before Halloween came. This time Braelyn traded in her gangsta ensemble for a more dainty choice. A cute little bumble bee . . . that she hated. Seriously, she ran away from me and screamed when we tried to put the costume on. Did I give up? No! Did I bribe her with candy? Yes! As soon as she realized that wearing the bee costume meant going outside and getting more candy, she forgot all about how much she, "No like bee!"

She was the best trick or treater ever! She would skip down the sidewalk with her bucket in hand, run up to the door, knock, say trick or treat and stand there waiting for candy. Except for she always said the trick or treat part before the door would open. At least she said it! And before they would even shut the door she would already have turned around running to the next house saying, "More candy! Next door!" I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. What a night!
Ready to go! She could not wait to open that door and get on her way.

Our amazing birth mom Jana came over to spend Halloween with us. It was a great night eating pizza, laughing at Braelyn, and trick or treating. It's so fun to see those two together. I can see little resemblances between them. I know for sure that Braelyn gets part of her spunk from Jana. They both make me laugh!

She randomly sat on the front porch of a house and smiled. So I took a picture. Why not?!

Posing again at the same house. There's nothing like a mini photo shoot on a stranger's porch just before you're about to ask them for candy.

Examining her loot! She must have eaten bits and pieces of about 10 candies. She couldn't commit to just eating one. Today I'm working on explaining that we can only have one piece of candy after each meal. She wants to eat it all day long. Plus she woke up asking about her bee costume so we could go out trick or treating again. Funny girl!

This past week has been so entertaining for our family. I'm so glad that we have friends and family to make holidays special. And the best part is it just keeps getting better and better with Thanksgiving and Christmas on the way!