What's New With The Carter Family

Halloween is one of my very favorite holidays.  I don't know if it's because I never got to dress up growing up (it's was not really celebrated in Australia when I was younger, though nowadays there are some who do), or if I just really love the decorations and atmosphere of the holiday.  Either way, I really dig this time of year :)  And I hope that my kids do too! Jem was super cute as a green Ninja this year.  He totally scored on his Halloween candy, and as in previous years, spent a couple of hours trick or treating our entire neighborhood.  I'm not sure how  many more years of trick or treating he has in him, but as long as he still wants to go, I'm happy :) Finley was dressed as Minnie Mouse this year, though as she was sick with a fever, she did not get to go trick or treating.  I did dress her up for photos though!  Love her little mouse ears, though she WOULD NOT keep them on!   We had a lot of kids come by for c...

Halloween didn't exactly go as planned this  year.  I "wanted" to take Finley out, to trick or treat.  I "wanted" to make a special spooky meal for our family, in honor of the day.  I "wanted" Brandon to take Jem out to do the house to house treating.  I didn't want Finley to be sick, for it to rain buckets today, or for Brandon to be home recovering from surgery.  Nevertheless (as my dad would say), the kids got dressed up, we ate some grilled cheese sandwiches and mac'n'cheese for dinner, Jem had a blast as a ninja even if he DID have to put up with me taking him trick or treating, and we got rid of a whole lot of candy to the steady stream of kids that came out tonight :)  A good day all in all, but I am DEFINITELY looking forward to next year! HAPPY HALLOWEEN, 2012!

Another year, another Halloween.....and yes, another re-use of the same costume! It happened a few years ago with the Ninja Turtle outfit (where Jem decided to re-purpose it into a Hammer Bros. outfit). This year Jem decided he had to be "Mario" again......and thankfully his costume fit him (although it was REALLY tight in the shoulders --sigh-- since my baby boy is growing up). His dad and I may be biased, but we think he makes the most ADORABLE Mario :) Gosh but how we love this kid so much! After a FULL hour of trick-or-treating in our neighborhood, and a quick visit to see his cousins...Jem came home with a nice haul of candy! He was super excited to wade through his stash and see what he got. I even let him pick 3 pieces to eat that night :) I hope everyone had as great of a Halloween as we did! Until next year...

Happy Halloween Everyone! This year we decided to attend our Church's annual Family Fun Night - and it was a lot of fun! We brought our pumpkins to carve (no mess at home!) and they even had a spaghetti dinner for everyone there. I didn't take my camera with me because I just wanted to enjoy the evening....and guess what? The church even had a photographer set up to take a family picture! Loved it! You'll see the pumpkins we carved in the picture below...from left to right we have MINE, BRANDON'S and JEM'S! I think they came out pretty good....especially considering that this was my first year to ever carve a pumpkin and the first year that Jem did his all by himself! They are now keeping watch on our porch, super excited for the trick or treaters that will be ring a ding dinging tonight :)

We are ever so thankful that the powers that be FINALLY created a "Super Mario" costume.... because when given the choice as to what he wanted to be this year, MARIO was by far the preferred costume! All of you who know my son, know how engrossed and completely obsessed Jem is with all things "Mario". He eats, sleeps, dreams, thinks Mario....all day, every day. It was only fitting that he become Mario too! I love how he really seemed to capture the spirit of this fictional video character.... I wouldn't want to mess with Mario! Hold him back! This was a great Halloween - and my little Mario was the cutest superhero canvassing our neighborhood! "It's - a - Maaaaa ri oooooo"!

This year your 3rd grade class had a "Harvest Party" , and everyone was told that they could dress up as their favorite Storybook Character ! Of course the first thing you wanted to do was dress up as "Luke Skywalker", since you already had the costume and you thought you could 'kind of' find a book to match LOL. Instead I gently suggested that you dress up as a character that you really DO read and DO love.....for example "Greg" from the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. You agreed! The room moms did an awesome job of planning this party...each child got to get up and introduce themselves (as their character) and tell a little (or read a little) of the book. Both you and Justin C. were dressed as "Greg", so you went up together, agreed on a part, and read it out loud :) When everyone was done, there were games (musical chairs & bingo), food (including hot apple cider!) and even some seeds to plant and take home! It was a great party, ...

WHAT! I can't believe I forgot to post some Halloween pictures on here! I've been so pre-occupied with my 'other' blog (the stamping one) that I have kind of neglected this one....so sorry! Here are a few photos of Jem from this year's Halloween night - where he recycled his costume from 2 years ago, added a little to it, and became - a Hammer Bro. from Paper Mario (a Nintendo video game).

Halloween night was fun!!!! Jem got dressed up in his Halloween costume and went out trick or treating with his buddy Carrson (and supervised by the dads). They hit up about half the neighborhood before their candy buckets were FULL and they both said they wanted to go home *LOL* Why? Because their hands hurt from carrying all that candy! He has enough candy to last for a few months (especially since he has a 3 candy per day limit haha). When Jem got home, he had just as much fun answering the door and handing candy out to other trick or treaters! He would give each person some candy and then when they were leaving would say "Have a happy halloween night you guys!". So stinkin' sweet!!!! Happy Halloween everyone, hope your night was fun!

Love, Love, LOVE Halloween!!!!!! Sure, it's fun for Jem to get dressed up and come home with a bucketful of candy....but it's also fun for ME to have an excuse to decorate AND to take more photos of my little guy! This Halloween Jem is dressing up as "Luke Sky-locker" (as he calls him haha) from Star Wars. He has only recently started to get into this series, and is now totally immersed in this make believe world. Here he is a few days before Halloween, practising his moves! My Little Jedi, "Luke Skylocker" with his "lightSAVER". "What's that, a disturbance in the force?" "Prepare to battle!" "The force is strong within me!"

This year for Halloween, Jem got to wear a ninja turtle costume! He looked so adorable in it! It was a gift from his Uncle Con in Australia (during our recent visit), and Jem had been looking forward to wearing it ever since we got back home. We purchased a couple of accessories (a belt and sword) and he was all ready for a night of trick-or-treating in our neighborhood! His cousin River, and friend Carson were his companions.....they were dressed as Harry Potter and Hermione (from the Harry Potter movies). They went to almost all of the houses on our side of the development, and let's just say that A LOT of candy was brought back home!!!