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Welcome to our blog. Here you’ll find daily dispatches and all the musings of our family’s adventures in our small town as we raise our kids, fix up our farm, and renovate houses. Thanks for stopping by! We’re so glad you’re here.

How We Spent Halloween 2019

How We Spent Halloween 2019

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How was your Halloween? Ours was filled with family, friends, food, and lots of little kids!

It began as a warm, rainy morning and eventually turned into a cold, beautiful day. We started cleaning in the morning and into the afternoon, with PJ sweeping and dusting and getting things in order for the guests to come. We took up our jute rug in the room off the kitchen so people didn’t track mud all over it. It looks a lot bigger without the rug in there, doesn’t it? We brought it upstairs to put in the guest bedroom for now and we’re in the process of looking for a new one for “the green room” as we like to call it (because of the green velvet chairs).

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Once the trick or treaters starting rolling in, the kiddos were THE BIGGEST helpers. They loved passing out candy, and the oldest one, who’s 4, kept complimenting everyone’s costume who came up for candy. It was the cutest, sweetest thing ever. They were really good about making sure everyone got exactly one piece of candy so that we didn’t run out.

And how sweet are their costumes? The oldest was Cat Boy from PJ Masks, the middle was Captain America, and the youngest was Owelette from PJ Masks. We tried to find a Gecko costume (also from PJ Masks) for the middle, but we couldn’t find one anywhere. #lastminute.

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The kiddos couldn’t get enough of this talking head on our front porch. They kept yelling, laughing, jumping back, and hitting it to make it talk. It was one of the highlights of the night, hands down.

Inside, PJ cooked all day and made a big pot of chili, and Thomas made homemade pumpkin bread. Thomas’ mom also brought a pot of chili, and we had dips and cupcakes and chips and cheese balls and waaaaay too much food. Does it get better than good food and good people?

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The kids were running around the house in their costumes all night. It was such a fun atmosphere, and it was our first year having kids in the home and celebrating any type of holiday. Halloween is huge in our town, like really huge. Our neighborhood blocks the streets off so people can walk and we get thousands of trick or treaters every year. It’s madness but in a good way.

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Throughout the night, everyone took turns passing out candy. As the night went on, the temperature drastically kept dropping, and by the time it was dark out, it was in the low 40’s. We have been waiting for years to have an excuse to turn turn the fireplace on on Halloween and this year all the waiting paid off! Below, you can see PJ covering up Thomas’ mom because it was so cold. It felt so good walking into the living room with the fire on as we were going in and out of the house.

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As the night went on, friends started passing through and it was so nice to see familiar faces that we hadn’t seen in a while show up. We would invite them in for chili or soda or candy or hot dogs, whatever. They could stay as long as they wanted, though most were in and out, just stopping by for a quick hug & hello.

A highlight of the night was that the kiddo’s parents and aunt came over to take the kids trick or treating! They were SO happy to see their parents and had a blast getting a bunch of candy, all dressed up in their costumes.

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By the end of the night, after everyone had left and the kids had gone to bed, the siblings and our significant others + our friend Golden, all stayed down in the living room and talked and laughed and watched old SNL clips.

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Thomas’ brother Taylor and his girlfriend Mariah started a new CBD company, Chattanooga Hemp, and brought some of the products (plus a cool new hat which has already become our favorite!) and you can see one of them on the coffee table in the pic of PJ above (how cute is he in that photo?). It’s been a while since we have all been able to get together, and it was such a blast to catch up and just be with them, even if only for a night.

Two other noteworthy things that happened on Halloween: the middle child went ALL night without peeing his diaper!! He is finally, for the most part, potty trained, and now goes #1 and #2 in the potty. We’ve been working with him for months now and seeing the progress he’s made over time is so awesome. The second thing is that the oldest learned how to snap his fingers! We’re not sure who taught him, but he always watches us as we snap our fingers to the fur babies for them to go to their room when we leave the house, so maybe that’s where it came from? Regardless, we’re extremely proud of both of them and it’s so fun to see how much they’re learning every day.

So that was our day! How was your Halloween? Hope it was just as magical! xx

We Just Finished the Most Beautiful, Heartbreaking Show

We Just Finished the Most Beautiful, Heartbreaking Show

Hope You Have a Great Weekend

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