The CAT, the MOUSE and the CHEESE!!!

We had fun dressing up this year for Halloween. Garrett loves animals and his favorite (at this time) was a mouse. We have a mouse book that he just loves and we have many books that have mice hidden on the pages that he enjoys finding. Whenever he finds a mouse hidden, he "squeaks" with delight! So, I wanted to do something for Garrett's costume that he really enjoyed, so a mouse it was! There is no use looking for a mouse costume (unless you are going for Mickey or Minnie) so I decided to make one! It was very brave of me....but good thing I had my mom to help me (or do most of it!) I found a gray fleece sleeper on sale for the main body and then found matching material to make the head piece. It turned out super cute! Then came the ideas for Colin and I! I wanted to do a theme and we figured it out: ME - the cat who chases the mouse (that's what mom's do all day long!!!!) DADDY - the cheese because the mouse loves cheese the most (he is a major daddy's boy!). It wasn't too difficult finding cat ears and a tail for me, but "cheese" was a little more challenging. I didn't know quite what to do and it didn't make it any easier that Colin wasn't too thrilled about the whole idea. We talked to our family in Tillamook, Oregon to see what they had up there in the land of cheese, and we thought about looking on the internet for Green Bay Packer gear. Anyway, I ended up just finding some felt, stapled it together, drew some circles on it and called it good! I thought it all turned out and we were successful for the second year in a row doing a family theme!

"I love candy!"

We enjoyed Colin's first annual cubicle trick-or-treat! It didn't take long for Garrett to get the hang of gathering his candy! The first couple of times he held on tight and said, "mommy, open, candy, mine!" After a brief meltdown after I told him "no", he saw the next bowl full, waiting for him! We finally convinced him if he put his candy in his bag that he could get MORE! He loved every second of it and we have never seen him run so fast!

Two cheesy boys! Bribing with candy to smile really works!

The whole bowl, just for me!

We also had a fun Halloween playgroup. Unfortunately our ward doesn't have a trunk-or-treat or Halloween party for the kids. So, I thought it would be fun to do a little get together and have some fun activities for kids and an excuse to dress up again. Everyone was so willing to help and it turned out great! Hopefully we can do it again next year!

Posing in the photo corner!

Do you need some more sprinkles?!

While Colin had fun with the pumpkin guts, Garrett and I kept it clean and fun with stickers this year! It was perfect for a toddler - mess free! And even better for the mom who doesn't like to clean up messy toddlers!