Once Upon A Dream - Halloween 2016

For YEARS I have wanted to pull off a themed family costume for Halloween.  I lied on Facebook when I said this was our first year... Kev reminded me that on  Hunters 1st Halloween (2012), we were Charlie Brown, Lucy & Snoopy 

and that Hayden's 1st Halloween (2014), the children's costumes were themed as Peter Pan & TinkerBell.

So.. this is the first time we've done a themed costume as a family, with all 4 of us!  Princess Aurora... I mean Hayden, got to choose this years costumes and it was obvious enough of what she wanted us to be, but I was surprised that I was able to pull it off in a bout a day. 
Sleeping Beauty, Prince Phillip, Maleficent and her Raven came together for a classic family themed Halloween costume and I couldn't have been more in love with each look.
Princess Aurora/Sleeping Beauty

Both her dress and crown came from our dress up box that is full of dresses and accessories from our favorite shop, Little Adventures. 
Prince Phillip.

Hunters costume came together with mostly stuff we had in his closet. Pants/Black Long Sleeve shirt we had.  The brown oversized shirt we picked up from the DI for $2 and then cut to make it look more like the outfit Prince Phillip has in the original movie. We picked up a Red Cape (it's really a girls cape but we cut off the bow in the front and you can't even tell) from Little Adventures also. ($10 at Zurchers) The Sword and Shield we also had.  Hunter was excited that it was the sword he actually got from Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disneyland. 
Maleficent.

Hayden begged that I be Maleficent for Halloween. Luckily, I remembered an awesome co-worker who wore this costume last year to our work party and I texted her the night before to see if I could borrow it.  Score!  I found these Maleficent horns at Zurchers for $3 and had the most fun doing my makeup. Red Lips - LipSense from my KissesByKyla collection - color: Napa Layered w/Blu Red.
Raven.

Coming up with a last minute costume for Kev was definitely the most frustrating.  I thought real hard how I could make him the 3 fairies all at once. That was too much work. Hayden didn't want him to be King Stephan and a Spinning Wheel didn't really seem like a 'cool' costume. I finally settled that a Raven costume would be the easiest. Black shirt, wings and mask.  I found the wings at Michael's, who already had their Halloween stuff discounted to 70% off, for $5.99. The beaked mask is from Zurchers, $3, and I added some black feathers to the side of the mask.  Quick/Easy and Kev loved that he could wear his regular clothes with a few accessories. 

 

Let's hope Hunter's choice next year is just as exciting, can include a 5th human being and that he'll let me know more than 24 hours before we all have to be dressed up! 
Hope you all have a safe and wonderful Halloween! 

Halloween Sugar Cookies. (Cookie/Frosting Recipe)

I am always down for some holiday festivities, but after returning from a 10 day vacation and being 30 weeks pregnant, the kids and I have been keeping it low key finding activities to do at home. 

This week we tried our hand at Halloween Sugar Cookies. I found the easiest recipe for Sugar Cookies and Frosting (recipe at bottom of post) and we successfully made the yummiest most adorable Halloween Cookies!  The Cookie Cutters and Sprinkles were all purchased at Walmart from $2-$5. 

 Quick and Easy and COMPLETELY kid friendly is just what the doctor ordered. 

Keep this recipe close by.  Christmas is coming up and we all know how much Santa loves a good sugar cookie. 
Easy Sugar Cookie Recipe:

2-3/4 cups all purpose flour.

1 tsp. baking soda.

1/2 tsp. baking powder.

1/2 tsp. salt.

1-1/2 cups granulated sugar.

2 sticks (1 cups) butter, softened. 

1 egg.

1 tsp. vanilla.

1. Heat oven to 375* F. Stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a small bowl; set aside.

2. Beat sugar and butter on MEDIUM speed until creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla until light and fluffy.

3. Mix in dry ingredients until well blended. Roll out dough. Cut with cookie cutters. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden around edges. Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes.

Sugar Cookie Vanilla ButterCream Frosting Recipe:  1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened. 4 cups powdered sugar. 1/4 cup milk. 1 tsp. vanilla extract.
1. Beat butter until light and fluffy. 2. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating well. Add milk and vanilla, a little at a time until desired consistency. 
For Holiday Fun: Add desired colors of food color to divided frosting. Spread on cookies. Cover with sprinkles. Enjoy! 

29 Weeks (+3 days)

If I wasn't in terrible pain... or the size of a small tractor, I would almost think this pregnancy wasn't real by the lack of its appearance on my social media pages! (*joke)  However, my doctors appointment this week reassured this pregnancy is VERY real and we are cooking right along.  After two weeks of traveling my body has had it.  Swelling, unbearable pain and blood flow issues in my leg have made for a very uncomfortable 3rd trimester!  It's been such a different experience than I had with my other two pregnancies.  With Hunter and Hayden everything was very "rainbows and butterflies" the whole pregnancy. My body changed and it was a miraculous and beautiful experience.  This time I see no rainbows.. no butterflies and my body changes are anything but beautiful. Still, I feel beyond blessed to be welcoming a new baby into our family. Both children are so excited and tell everyone that 'Santa' is bringing them a baby for Christmas.  If Baby #3 comes as early as Hunter we can expect a sibling the first week of December.  Lets just pray this baby comes healthy and when he/she is good and ready.
Here are some 29 week updates. I've gained 13 pounds. I have a masterpiece of spider veins on the back of my left leg.  I'm sleeping well again. I'm craving everything except beef.  I HATE climbing up stairs... (sucky when you have two flights INSIDE your house you climb daily). I LOVE watching Hunter & Hayden saying hi to the baby or help rub lotion on my belly. They're going to make the best big brother and sister.   

I'm also still VERY OPEN to name suggestions.  We have a handful of names we like for both genders but not knowing what baby is has definitely not allowed us to feel that "THIS IS THE ONE" name. 
Leave name ideas below: H first name ideas and E middle names.

Thanks for following along with FordOlogy Baby #3's journey. 

DIY Toddler Halloween Party on a Budget.

This month I have teamed up with the lovely Shani from Sunshine and Munchkins to bring you a fun DIY Toddler and Budget Friendly Halloween Party.  Shani and I met at a blogger event in August and became quick blogging friends. With both of us having toddlers ages 4 and 2 it was an fun fit. One afternoon at a bump in at Hobby Lobby we started talking about having a playdate which quickly during into ideas for a fun toddler Halloween party.  Shani and I both know the excitement and pressure that comes with putting together fun holiday activities for our kids.  In the blogger world there is even more pressure to get sponsors and "free stuff" to throw the picture perfect party or playdate. Today, Shani and I are excited to bring you a Halloween Party idea that is completely toddler and budget friendly for any mama! All of the ideas could even be used for a week of daily activities.  
Follow along below for step by step instructions to give your littles a holiday activity to remember! 
Step 1. Team up with another Mama. Shani and I thought it would be fun to work together because of the similar ages of our kids and the fun ideas we both had for Halloween activities. Teaming up with another mama allows for you to split the work so you're not feeling overwhelmed or stressed trying to plan an afternoon of activities alone. The More The Merrier!  While everything we do in this party is completely doable with just you and your littles, it's always fun to invite friends and watch your kids interact and play with others! 

2. Plan and Prepare. Shani and I emailed and texted back and forth for a few days the ideas we had for the Halloween Party. Next we decided what activities we wanted to do, listed out each idea (craft, game, treasure hunt, goodie bags, food, decorations/photo booth) and then divided up responsibility for each idea.

The craft we chose was to decorate pumpkins. I went to the grocery store and chose 4 little pumpkins. Each pumpkin cost $.29/lb and each weighed about 3 pounds.  I spent $4 for all 4 pumpkins.  We had stickers, eyeballs, pom-poms, confetti, paint, glitter and glue, most of which we already owned, for the kids to decorate the pumpkins with.

The game Shani put together was a fun and easy pumpkin toss. She picked up 3 buckets from The Dollar Store for $3 and made homemade bean bags for another $3. 

We sent the kids on a fun treasure hunt to find their goodie bags. Shani found festive clues from Imagination Soup and printed them right from her home computer. 

Goodie Bags are usually every toddlers favorite part of an event and we were able to put together 4 fun filled bags for $6!  Inside the goodie bags was 1 small bag of candy corn, 2 pencils, 4 spider rings, pumpkin bubbles, glow in the dark vampire teeth, a notebook, and 4 Halloween coloring page. Each treat came in a 4 (or more) pack so I was able split them up between the each kids bags. Each treat was from the Target dollar section.  Shani printed out the 4 cute Halloween coloring pages (half sheet sizes) and we stapled them together.  Easiest Goodie Bags Ever! 

For food we chose a few cute Halloween inspired snacks we could feed the kids at lunchtime.  Ghost and Pumpkin shaped PB&J sandwiches, Ghoul String Cheeses, Pumpkin Mandarins and Mummy Juice Boxes. The mandarins and string cheese were simply made using a sharpie and the adorable juice boxes were made using scrap fabric and google eyes.  Shani also made the most delicious festive jello popcorn for the kids to munch on during crafts and games.  Each of us had most of the food and snacks in our pantries so cost for food was $7 for the whole event. 

The decorations, photo booth and table setting was easily thrown together with signs, cobwebs, spiders, plates, napkins etc I already had in my 'halloween box'. The cute photo props I found at Target for $3 and the Happy Halloween sign was $1.  (One TIP I do love to pass on for any holiday is STOCK UP for next year. Products go on sale for 50%, 75% and sometimes 90% in the few weeks after a holiday, so stock up on decor, plates, toys etc... during this time) We were super fortunate to have Creative Juice Cafe donate tassel's and popcorn buckets for our party also. 
3. Set Up. Set up came together very painlessly. I set up the decor, table and photo booth the night prior to the party and Shani came over early the morning of to help with finishing touches.  We prepped the food, set up the game, prepared the craft and hid the treasure hunt clues/goodie bags, all within 30-40 minutes before we began. 

4. Party.   Once all the prepping and planning was complete it was time to PARTY.  We scheduled a two hour time frame to allow plenty of time for everything we planned, but with toddlers, sometimes it's over in what feels like a matter of minutes.  All four kids had a blast getting to dress up, craft, play games, eat yummy treats and get fun goodie bags.  We found that the activities and crafts were all awesome and age/attention appropriate for both the 4 year olds and 2 year olds, however the 2 year olds did make a little bit more of a mess with the craft and 2 year olds struggled a bit with aim during the pumpkin toss.  Everyone had tons of fun. 

We hope this post will inspire you to do some fun Halloween activities with your kids!  Our main goal was to put together some budget friendly ideas that anyone could easily do.  You don't have to be super crafty, have "connections" or have lots of money to have some festive fun right at home with your kids.  We hope we've given you some fun ideas! 
Thanks again to Shani and her sweet kids for partying it up with us.  It was so fun to watch our kids play and craft and have fun!  I bet Shani and I will work together again in the future so stay tuned for some more toddler and budget friendly posts from Sunshine & Munchkins and FordOlogy!  
Happy Halloween Partying Mamas!