Photos of The Family- Super Hero Style

In my last post I talked about how great and creative my friend Miriam is, and today you'll see another reason I love her.

We were scheduled to take pictures the 2nd week of October. (I book the same week every single year. Like clockwork.) I got a text a few days before asking if I happened to have the kids Halloween costumes yet. (which made me laugh because, yes. Of course I did. My children pick what they want to be in July. They are earlybirds in virtually every sense of the word.)

So Miriam asked that I bring them along...maybe get a few quick shots. And oh my did my kids have fun with this!

Jay had the best time running around like he was Flash. Lizzy really got into her tough girl role as Wonder Woman.

I'm so glad we have these pictures! I never would have thought to use our photo time (we're always hoping for the Christmas Card pic!) to document the kids Halloween costumes. Now we've captured these awesome memories of the fun they had that evening really portraying their character for the camera.

 I love the idea of a Halloween photo shoot, but more than that I love how simple this was and how it all came together!

Again the lovely and talented Images by Naomi gets all of the credit for shooting these awesome photos. 

(The photos above are mine, so use them to inspire yourself, not to make money for yourself. You'll need my permission before turning this Wonder Woman or Flash into your spokesmodel.)

Halloween 2014

We dressed as a Kitty Cat, (stuck in a) Tree, and our hero the Fireman!

So much fun!

Jay and Lizzy both had Halloween parties at school this week and we made the most of Halloween (Friday) this year. 

I got Jay a little early from school, got us home and in costume and headed out to trick-or-treat at the mall before the big kids got out of school.

(I decided to give myself a pass and skip trying to get Lizzy to nap this afternoon. I knew it would be hard and then would make us rushed to get out for evening tricks and treats.)

Then we made our annual trip to Dede and Papa's for dinner and trick-or-treating.

Now just for fun, here are our past Halloweens--

2013- Cowboy and Cowgirl

2012 Mickey and Minnie

2011 Old McDonald

this was also the day we found out Lizzy was a girl and closed on selling our house! 

2010 Baby Jay as a Monkey 

Pumpkin Carving 2014

We carved pumpkins tonight after dinner.

It was 80 degrees today.

This was so much better than how I remember carving pumpkins as a child. 

I can remember being so cold and the inside of the pumpkin freezing your hands when you went in to scoop. 

We were all in shorts tonight. Ha!

Jay insisted on drilling his again this year and Lizzy wanted a happy face. She also wanted ovals. 

I know Joseph was glad that she didn't insist on her other favorite shape--octagons. 

Happy (almost) Halloween!!

Birthdays, Boo at the Zoo and Bass Pro Shops Halloween

I really think that October calendars should be super-sized when you have small kids. 

We've been to three birthday parties this week.

Two were Frozen and another was at our neighborhood playground.

To keep things lively I decided to take the kids to Boo at the Zoo on Friday night. 

I went by earlier in the day and bought our tickets and ride wristbands and we were the very first people in the zoo when it reopened for the night's festivities. 

We were also the first on the train and Jay picked the seat in the "tippy back"

We trick-or-treated, played carnival games, rode the carousel, watched the wildlife show and took a hayride. 

Going early made everything do-able and not so scary.
We also had a great parking spot considering every extra lot was full when we left! 

We went to the Trunk or Treat at church Sunday evening, I missed out on taking pictures, but did get to meet some new families and the kids had fun! 

Monday night after dinner we put our costumes on again for a trip to Bass Pro Shops and a photo with Charlie Brown and friends.

(I was trying to get a picture of Lizzy and got photo bombed by a daredevil fireman!)

We've been packing in the family fun this week and still have 4 days until Halloween. 

We're digging deep, sugaring up and hoping for a strong finish to all of this October Fun!

I have huge plans for a nap on November 1.