We had a busy Friday, but then a pretty low-key rest of the weekend… finally! I keep forgetting Halloween is at the end of this week because it feels like we’ve been celebrating it for a million years and it should be over by now 😅😅 Still pumpkin carving, Dempsey’s school party and trick-or-treating to come, so I’m trying not to let the Halloween fatigue hit me.

My MIL is a saint and took the kids yesterday while Joey was at the Broncos-Cowboys game, so I had a whole afternoon to myself and did WORK on our playroom after Hurricane Dempsey’s Birthday absolutely destroyed it. I’m actually feeling rejuvenated today 🙌 Let me show you our weekend!

Friday morning, Joey and I each did our normal drop off for each kid then went on an elementary school tour! Kindergarten is coming 🥺 Afterward, I headed back home to work then jumped on the family committee meeting at noon. Lori brought my two + Landon home around 3:30 and we all walked over to see the pumpkin drop near our house. It was really fun and man oh man, do they get that ladder high!

We walked to the house and hung out until Joey got home, then got in our costumes and walked over to Dempsey’s school for Trunk-or-Treat! They got candy, took a picture inside a fire truck and saw a bunch of cool trunks! The chemical spill one was my favorite but Lydia made a beeline for Glinda once she saw her and Dempsey’s vote went to a trunk all decked out in, what else, skeletons! Back at home, we started Zombies and ate pizza from Hops & Pie before getting the kids to bed and firing up GBBO for ourselves.

We didn’t have anything planned for Saturday until 4 PM! I attempted to make mummy waffles for the kids but my frosting was too thin so the mummy bandages just pooled in the waffle indentations. What can you do? The kids still ate/loved em 🥰 Afterward, Joey did some basement clean up and I did some clothing clean out in the kids’ room. Felt good to finally do that! Dempsey had something like ten sets of outgrown pajamas in his drawer 🤪 Next up, a trip to Target. Taking two kids to Target is always somewhat chaotic — they saw a kid riding underneath the cart once and now they insist on doing it themselves every time we go — but we mostly stayed on track and left with mostly just the things we needed/came for (plus one more skeleton for Dempsey’s collection 😂). The afternoon involved Zombies 2 & 3 and a really good long nap for Lydia before we headed to the park for Lilli’s birthday. The kids had so much fun on the playground and in the bounce house and they had the best weather for the party. We literally had to drag our kids home. Got them to bed and started The Studio. It’s so made for a movie nerd like me! Excited to watch the rest.

Sunday 🤍 I woke up to work out then we all had breakfast and tried to catch up on our Lego Halloween advent calendar. Afterward, Joey got ready to head out on a run and Sissy insisted on going too! She’s SUCH a mommy’s girl, that Joey and I never pass on daddy-daughter time when she asks for it. Meanwhile, Dempsey and I got some one-on-one time, playing with clay and then making brown butter pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (whew!). It’s my very favorite making something in the kitchen with him, but we so rarely have the opportunity to do it, so this was the best 🥰🥰 Lydi seemed to have a good time with her dad too! Once they were back, we did our very last $5 Target craft, ate lunch and got the kids ready to go.

Lori came to pick them up around 12:30, right after Joey left for the game. I cranked out salads for the week then got to work on the playroom and ten trips back and forth to the basement later, toys were rotated/organized 🙌 Trying not to think about how we still have Lydia’s birthday and Christmas to come 😅 I made Japanese curry for dinner — my sis and Wayne gifted me some curry blocks — and it turned out sooo good! Everyone made it back home in time to eat it and then we started Zombies 4, got the kids to bed and watched an episode of The Amazing Race before going to bed ourselves.

I hope you all have a good Monday and a very fun Halloween! I know it’s going to feel bittersweet once it’s over 😞

My darling boy is FIVE years old today!!!!! How?! I was torturing myself last week by looking at all of his baby pictures and then my favorite videos from when he was two, three, four, and it somehow feels like it was both yesterday and a million years ago. I barely remember that baby voice he had 🥺 This morning, I looked at him and he was distinctly a little boy (sometimes with the attitude to match 😅). He has a personality and interests that are so uniquely him. I couldn’t be more proud or in awe of the person he is 😍 I hope he has the best day!

Anyway, this was a busy busy weekend and while it was like 80% fun, Dempsey has also had a stuffed up nose all weekend and both my kids had their fair share of complete meltdowns. I think Lydi takes the cake for her Saturday night shenanigans, which involved trying to “take a bath” in the sink and then not letting me put a diaper on her for 45 minutes. But we had the best time at Anderson Farms on Friday night, got to celebrate Dempsey’s birthday with a party on Saturday and had a sweet little family photo shoot on Sunday, followed by Joey’s grandma’s birthday party and then some time at home to rest and attempt to clean up.

Grandma Lori got us a bonfire reservation, so we got to the farm shortly after 4 so we could head out to the pumpkin patch and play for a bit before roasting hot dogs and smores. Never not grateful that these kiddos get to grow up together 😍 I get to see Dempsey and Lydia interact all the time, but seeing him with Delaney and Landon melts my heart. Between dinner and dessert, we rode the barrel train and played at the playground and I’ve had to listen to Joey complain about how bad his butt hurts from going down the slide with the kids ever since 😂 The bonfire was a really fun time, I’m glad we got to do it! Got the kids home (after driving by a house decked out with skeletons and a little meltdown from Dempsey) and to sleep, then I went to bed and Joey stayed up the bake Dempsey’s birthday cake 🥰😂

I woke up and walked by myself to grab coffee on Saturday and thank god for my one moment of peace because the rest of the morning was rocky to say the least. Dempsey was super stuffed up and really upset about it and Lydia was a mess too. Just both of them at the breakfast table crying over every little thing. I was feeling very worried about carrying on with the birthday party but they got some rest on the couch afterward and then we got decorations up, the cake finished (literally no credit to me, Joey did it all!) and ourselves all cleaned up by 3, when people started showing up. It was chilly outside so we were kind of all stuck inside but we did go out for piñata time and I got a great video of Dempsey whacking it open! He said it was his favorite part. I think we all had a really great time! Little Miss skipped her nap, hence her bedtime from hell but she eventually told me “I want you to be happy, Mama” and put her diaper on/let me lay her down in her bed. Joey cleaned up while I tended to that girl and then we watched GBBO and went to bed ourselves (only to be awoken a few hours later by someone who slept in our bed the rest of the night, but what can you do?).

Not going to lie, after Saturday morning, I was feeling VERY nervous about our Sunday morning photo shoot, but the kids were fine and the shoot actually went very well! Dempsey was acting a complete fool, I cannot wait to see all the silliness on camera. Afterward, we headed to Joey’s grandma’s birthday party and the kids had a great time jumping on the trampoline, while we ate, visited with family and played Bingo. I won the blackout game! We left shortly after 1 because I did not think I would survive another no nap bedtime with Lydi. She let Joey put her down for like the first time in three months 😪 While she slept, Joey and Dempsey worked on his skeleton and I made salads. Chad made Dempsey a video with instructions for building his very own skeleton and all the parts to go with it (plus an electric screwdriver) and they got it all done in a few hours. I was seriously SO impressed and how special is that gift?? 🥺 We did “spooky bath” after dinner (just realized how blurry those photos are 😂) and got the kids to bed before wrapping Dempsey’s presents then watching a bit of last week’s SNL. He woke up to a balloon drop and gifts from all of us and said “thank you, Mommy, Daddy and Sissy” 🥺❤ I truly truly adore him.

Happy Monday to you all!