Remember--It's Everyone's Halloween!

If you've ever given out candy on Halloween night before, there are probably some things that drive you a little crazy: the kids who don't say Thank-You, the kids who don't bother wearing a costume, and the kids who are definitely way too old to be going Trick or Treating. Then you get kids that are the total opposite: they're incredibly polite, have excellent (and often home-made costumes), and are still really excited about "Halloween" and not just getting free candy.

Inside Looking Out- Halloween 2013

I'll admit it, I used to be one of those people. And sometimes I'm still one of those people, especially if I get a bunch of kids in a row who don't say Thank-You, until I catch myself and remind myself that it's "Everyone's Halloween." So what am I talking about? I'm talking about a little meme that was circulating a few years ago around Facebook and the blog-o-sphere that received some very mixed responses. Some people argued that this was taking "political correctness" too far and was just an excuse for rude children with no manners. Others applauded the reminder and agreed that it was important to be accepting to everyone, and that sometimes there are reasons we can't see that affect the behaviour of the children visiting our door.

This is the message that was circulating:

 

You can make up your own mind on whether or not you think it's a helpful reminder or a cop-out, but this Halloween I'll be reminding myself "It's Everyone's Halloween" if I find myself getting frustrated--because when it comes down to it, Halloween is about having fun, and who am I to judge the quality of someone else's fun?

This Halloween is an extra special one for us since it is the boy-o's first Halloween! He'll be dressed up as a Frog and I have no doubts that he'll be smothered in kisses to test for a Prince! We also decided that we should stick him in a pumpkin--and it was a great success!

 

Happy Halloween!!

Ghost Walking in Edinburgh

Today's blog post can be found here over at Funny Life Stories. Since it was a Halloween themed guest blog post it's a little different in content then the sorts of things I usually talk about here, but it's definitely worth a read if you like Ghost Walks! I recount my experience of doing a Ghost Walk in Edinburgh with hubby while we were there on our honeymoon.

So give it a read and share the love!

"Ghost Walking in Edinburgh"

The Witches and Cadies Tour

Peter Meets the Rocket Man

Today was a pretty exciting day--and although the boy-o isn't old enough to remember it years down the road, we captured the moment in a photo so I can tell him all about it when he gets older.

Chris Hadfield has a new book coming out called "An Astronaut's Guide to Life," and he's kicking off a promotional tour for it today. Although I don't personally know Chris at all, we're from the same small town and I take extra pride in knowing that someone from small-time life has become pretty much the coolest Canadian. EVER!

But today, today was a special day for us. He was giving a private talk at KOBO (the on-line book people) and we were able to tag along to the talk. It was an excellent, honest discussion about what it's like being in Space and what some of the life experiences were that led him to that path. After the talk was over there were some audience questions, and then people had the opportunity to go and meet him and get things signed etc.

Well my parent's old next door neighbour apparently grew up with Hadfield (told ya, small town!), and when the boy-o was born she gave him a "Space" shirt in honor of Hadfield who was on his mission at the time. And because Fate is awesome, that shirt just happened to be the right size for him to wear today--the day he got to meet Chris Hadfield!

We were able to go up on stage to say hello, and get our photo taken with him. That's Chris Hadfield holding my baby!! He had a whole little conversation with the boy-o about his adorable shirt and about how he was fascinated with Chris' moustache! It was really awesome to see how good he was with the boy-o, and it was really really awesome to meet such an awesome guy!

He's touring around to various Indigo book stores and such to promote his new book--and I highly recommend you check him out if you can! Because really, how many chances are you really going to get to meet a Rocket Man?

Spooktacular Treats Part II: Healthy Pumpkins, Ghosts, and More!

So everyone knows that Halloween is full of CANDY and things that are generally terrible for teeth. If you're a parent holding a Halloween party for your kids and you're looking for some healthy(er) snacks to serve here's some of my top suggestions! If you'd like to add some roasted pumpkin seeds into the mix you can check out my previous post Spooktacular Treats Part I.

One of my cousins threw her little boy a Halloween themed birthday party (Yeah October babies!), and so the inspiration for some of these treats comes from the goodies she made for them.

 

Spooky Ghosts and Tangerine Pumpkins!

Spooky Ghosts: to make these delicious ghosts take a bunch of bananas, peel them, and halve them. On the "pointy" end place two mini chocolate chips to make eyes, and one regular sized chocolate chip to make the mouth!

Tangerine Pumpkin: to make these cute little pumpkins, take a bunch of tangerines, and peel them. To make the "stem" take some celery sticks and cut them in half lengthwise and then cut small little bits off the end to stick in the top of the tangerine!

Not only are these snacks awesomely festive, they're also a great healthy alternative to bowls of candy! They are also free of most major allergens, so you're safe on that one too!

Monster Mouths:

Monster Mouths: to make these take an apple (any colour) and cut into slices. Spread Peanut Butter on one side of each of apple. Then take some mini marshmallows and place them in a line along one edge of an apple slice. Take a second apple slice and place it ontop, Peanut Butter side facing the marshmallows. Pair up all your apples slices with marshmallows in the middle and you're all set.

 

 

These make a fun snack anytime, but are especially ideal around Halloween! These contain Peanut Butter though, so be aware of any potential allergies if serving at a party. Soy butter could be used in place of the Peanut Butter too if necessary.

Mummy Pizzas:

Mummy Pizzas: to make these yummy and simple mummy pizzas start with some English Muffins. Spread on your pizza sauce and add some peperoni. Rather than adding grated cheese, cut your mozzarella into thing strips and lay them across the pizza overlapping a little bit but showing some pizza sauce through. Leave a strip empty near the top and place a piece of sliced olive (green or black) and try to keep the pimento if you can. Bake as you normally would! (350 degrees for 8-10 minutes outta do it!)

 

You can certainly get creative with these and add other toppings underneath the cheese as desired. Just make sure not to put too much or it will show through the cheese!

 

 

Goblin Grins:

 

Goblin Grins: to make these freakish treats all you need is some peas, a red bell pepper and a few slivered almonds! Simply make a small slit lengthwise in the pea pod, place a small chunk of red pepper sticking out, and add some slivered almonds to look like teeth!

 

 

Again this one uses nuts, so please be careful if using for a children's party that their are no nut allergies! These don't do well with a lot of moving around either, so make sure once you make them you're setting them down on the tray they'll be served on so you don't need to try and move them afterwards.

 

And now you're all set to create a tasty, and healthy, Halloween party that your kids are sure to love! Making food fun is always a great way to get kids interested in eating healthy. If you have older children you can even get them to help make some of these delicious treats--especially the monster mouths!! 



Spooktacular Treats Part I: Roasting Pumpkin Seeds

So now that you know how to carve your pumpkin using a stencil, and you've got some helpful websites to visit to find that perfect carving pattern it's time to do something delicious with those pumpkin seeds!

I don't like very many seeds, and I really can't explain why I like pumpkin seeds so much... but I do! And the best part is, you can season them however you want. You can make them salty, spicy, or use any of the powdered popcorn shaker powders like Dill Pickle or Salt and Vinegar.

 

So when you're scooping out your pumpkin, try to separate the seeds into a different bowl than the rest of the pumpkin goop, and that way you don't need to go digging for them later!

 

Roasting Pumpkin Seeds:

 

Ingredients:

- 2 cups of pumpkin seeds

- 1 TBSP of melted butter

- 1/4 TSP of salt

- Seasonings to taste

 

Directions:

- Pre-heat oven to 300F.

- Wash pumpkin seeds by rinsing well to remove any fibers

- Drain water and lay seeds on paper towel to pat dry

- In large bowl, toss seeds with melted butter and salt until fully coated

- Add in any other seasonings as desired

- Spread seeds in single layer on lined baking pan and bake for 45 minutes, stirring seeds every 15 minutes

- Seeds are ready when golden brown. Cool and serve!

 

 

Enjoy!



 

 

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood

Part of what I love about being a mom and being at home with the boy-o is that we've gotten to explore around our neighbourhood. Before I had the boy-o I didn't really consider where I lived "home," it was just somewhere I happened to be living. And although I'm not sure I'll ever really consider Toronto *my* home, this is where the boy-o is from and since he's arrived our neighbourhood really has become our neighbourhood. I never used to spend any time here and so I  had never visited all the little cafés and stores and shops. But now when we're out and about we see other moms and babies we know, we have our favourite cafes for coffee dates, our favourite places to go and play, and we spend a lot more time just being where we live.

These are my Top 5 Favourite Neighbourhood Haunts:

Coco-Latte: This is a great little family owned café on St. Clair. They have all kinds of vegan and gluten free options, delicious gelato, and of course the full run of fancy coffee beverages! (Can you tell I don't drink coffee?) They have a nice wooden patio out back as well if you're craving some fresh air to go along with your Americano. The staff there are part of the reason I love this place so much. I discovered this place through one of my mom groups that meets up there once a week, and they are incredibly accommodating to our gang of strollers. We love you!

World Class Bakery: This place seems to be a huge hit or miss with people, and so far I've only had great experiences there! I've only ever stopped in for the goodies, which let's face it, look AND taste amazing! Never have I been anywhere else before where I feel like the size of the piece of cheesecake/cake I just got is actually worth the $6 I'm being charged for it! Hubby and I have gone there for date evenings before and had to bring home some of our dessert because we just couldn't finish it. The place has a nice atmosphere, and lots of room to accommodate a stroller.

Dutch Dreams: This place is probably my favourite Ice Cream store. EVER. The amount of themed kitch on the walls and ceiling is unbelievable and the Dutch versions of pop-songs playing on the speakers will certainly get your toes tapping to a song you swear you know... but can't possibly actually know. They make their cones and ice cream by hand and their menu is quite extensive including shakes, waffles, splits and tons of delicious ice cream flavours! To top it all off they add whip-cream and fresh fruit to the top of their cones. No matter what the weather is like outside there always seems to be a line up at this neighbourhood treasure. So show up early and be prepared to sit on one of the milk cans outside because the limited seating inside is usually full!

Oakwood Library: This isn't the closest library to where we live, but it's our favourite! The staff are great, they don't make you leave your stroller outside, and the librarian that does the Friday morning story time for the babies is excellent! The staff in generally are all pretty relaxed and there's always a bunch of kids running around in there. It's a great spot to go and hang out, and this summer the boy-o and I spent a lot of time there enjoying their air conditioning! They have a large children's section too with a bunch of adult sized comfy chair to sit in. (Which are also great for nursing in!)

Ceadervale Park: Hubby and I discovered this park a little while ago and have gone running and cycling there, as well as played tennis! It's a beautiful long park that is about 2 km from one end to the other. Most of it is a gravelly walking path, but there's also a fenced in dog park, some open fields, tennis courts, and an arena. There are lots of lovely big trees to provide some shade for taking the boy-o there to enjoy the fresh air, and the park is always full of people so there's lots of opportunity to do some people watching. It's also really refreshing to have such a large green space near us in the "Concrete Jungle"!

Today is Brought to You by the Letter P

As I've mentioned before in some of my other posts, I really enjoy making the boy-o his purees at home rather than buying pre-jarred stuff, and today was a baby food making day!

Although it happened purely coincidentally, all the foods I made up for the boy-o today start with the letter P! We have some Peas, Peaches and Plums! MMMmmmmm.....

 

 

We've also started adding some more spices to his foods. So now he's tried apples with cinnamon, carrots with ginger, and broccoli with garlic. He's loved them all and I can't wait to introduce him to some other spices and tastes too. Of course I only add a little tiny bit since everything is totally new to his taste buds, but it's a great way to start training him to enjoy foods without adding salt and sugar to things. We're always on the look-out for baby friendly ideas for new food combos and I really hope the boy-o will keep his open mind on eating new foods as he gets older!

 

 

What are some of your little's favourite food and spice combinations?

 

 

Life in the Whirlwind: 6 Month Catch-Up

I was doing so well at keeping up with my blog writing, and making sure that I set aside a little time for myself each day to write--and then as so often happens, LIFE happened. I've certainly missed my little escape time but the reality is that I'm a mom who blogs, not a blogger who happens to be a mom, and my time has been needed elsewhere the last few weeks.

The boy-o has been battling one hell of an epic cold the last week or so, which has so far included a temp of 38.6, an emergency room trip, a visit to a walk-in clinic and very, very little sleep. For him or me. He's been fussy and clingy, he's stuffed up and wheezy, and sounds like he's been smoking 60 a day for 40 years. We've been making frequent use of the Nose Frida and have his humidifier running full tilt. We've been alternating with Baby Tylenol and Baby Advil, and spending many sleepless hours rocking, bouncing, and singing.

To make things even less pleasant for the poor boy, he cut his THIRD tooth on the weekend. That's right, for his six month birthday on Sunday he had three teeth! Teething happens early in my family apparently, and the boy-o seems intent of having a full set of them by the time he turns one!

Despite feeling generally miserable, I managed to catch him a good mood for a little bit yesterday to get a "6 Month" photo, and that adorable little face is what keeps me going when I wish I could just lay in the middle of the floor and pass out.

We were planning to start introducing a second meal of solids starting this weekend, but because our schedule is so messed up right now we've decided to hold off on that until the boy-o is feeling better and is back into a better routine.

Looking back it's soooo hard to believe that 6 months have passed since we brought our beautiful baby home from the hospital. Our lives have changed so much and we've all grown immensely. It also surprises me when I think about all the amazing things that the boy-o has accomplished already in these six months.

Some of the bigger milestones include:

- Sleeping through the night (when not sick!)
- Rolling back to front
- Rolling front to back
- He has 3 teeth
- Sitting unsupported
- Standing holding onto the couch
- Eating solids
- Feeding himself finger foods
- Learning how to give kisses
- Drinking from a cup
- Kicking his feet while swimming

And so many other things! It's amazing to watch them learn new things all the time, the wheels are always going! I can't wait to see what the next 6 months will bring and I look forward to watching many more "firsts" as he grows.

Now... if we could just get rid of this stupid cold so my little snot monkey can get back to the serious of business of childhood: playing!

What are your tried and true methods for helping relieve cold symptoms for your little?

Adventures in Solids Part III: Introduction of Finger Foods

The list of foods that the boy-o has tried is ever increasing and it's certainly one of his favourite times of the day! He gets awfully excited for his food--but then again, so do I! At the moment he's still on only one meal a day, but starting this weekend once he turns 6 Months (WHAT?!) I'm going to start introducing breakfast as well.

We've also started to introduce some "finger foods" on top of the purees and he's actually quite good at getting the food from his tray to his mouth! So far all we've tried is toast fingers and some cooked carrot, and he devoured the toast in no time and was quite upset to discover there wasn't anymore...the carrots he didn't seem too fussed on eating, but he did enjoy squishing them! It's so cute watching him push the food around in his mouth with his tongue to chomp on it. I think he chews his food better than I do half the time.

 

 When we start on breakfast this weekend we're going to introduce Greek Yoghurt. It's pretty confusing as a parent to try and sift through all the recommendations from various places about what to feed your baby and when, and although cow's milk should wait till between 9-12 months, yoghurt has the go-ahead from 6 months onwards. I choose Greek Yoghurt over regular because it has less sugar and more protein. So we'll see how the boy-o likes that with a little peach puree added in! Peach yoghurt is one of my favourites. :)

 

He also sure loves that Sippy Cup!

 

 

What's your little's favourite food?

Giving Thanks: A Cornucopia of Blessings

So here in Canada-land we just had our Thanksgiving holiday, and for us, Thanksgiving is a harvest festival. (Not about pilgrims) A big part of the celebrations for my family, like many others, is to have a huge dinner together as a family and to give thanks for our many blessings--especially the food that we have available to eat. My Dad's grew up on a farm and was the youngest of 11 siblings, and we still celebrate Thanksgiving every year out at the farm house. This year there was only 22 of us, and that's a SMALL group! (We can hit upwards of 40 on a good year, with an entire branch of the family not attending because they total almost 40 on their own!) Celebrating Thanksgiving on a farm helps to drive home the message that Farmers supply us with our food, and without their hard work we wouldn't have any.

 

Thanksgiving is one of my favourite days of the year, partly because my birthday tends to fall on Thanksgiving weekend quite frequently, so as a kid I got to celebrate my birthday with my WHOLE family, and would often get a birthday candle in a piece of pumpkin pie..... MMmmmm pie.

This year Thanksgiving was even more special because it was the first one I've been a Mama for and this year I turned 30. (GASP!) So these two events have really got me thinking about life and all of the things that I'm incredibly grateful for. The biggest thing is of course my family--the boy-o, my hubby, my parents and in-laws, my sister, and my grandmother who is one of my favourite people on the planet.

GiGi (Great Gram) and the Boy-o, Thanksgiving 2013

 

Really, when I think about it, I have more blessings than I can count and I hope that I can pass on awareness of those blessings to the boy-o as he gets older. I hope I can instill in him the appreciation and thanksgiving of knowing where his food comes from and who cares for it while it's growing, and who spends the long late hours harvesting it so that it can end up on our family table.

I also hope, maybe more than anything, that I can be the kind of mama that my boy-o will grow up to be thankful for, and that he will know above all else, that his family loves him.

 

What are you really thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Meatloaf Lasagna Roll Ups: A New Take on Leftovers

Yes, you read that correctly.... Meatloaf Lasagna Roll Ups. I was really hungry the other night for something tasty, and all I really had kicking around for dinner was random bits of leftovers. So I decided to get creative, and the result was a delicious and easy dinner!

I had some lasagna noodles, but not enough to make a whole lasagna, and not enough of anything else to make a whole one either for that matter! So I decided to try making some "Lasagna Rolls Ups." I had some leftover pasta sauce in the fridge and a little bit of cottage cheese, so I was set for that much. But then I was stumped about what meat to put in since I didn't have any ground meat at home. Then I remembered I had some of my Turkey Zucchini Meatloaf left, and decided to get creative!

Essentially I took two slices of meatloaf and crumbled them up, and then mixed it in with the pasta sauce to form a meat sauce for the lasagna roll ups. Since the meatloaf already had zucchini and onions as well as some seasonings, I didn't need to add anything else to the sauce.

I boiled the lasagna noodles, spread some cottage cheese, meat sauce, and a little grated cheese on each one, rolled them up and placed them in a baking dish, topped them with more sauce and cheese and then baked them till bubbly! They were super flavourful and were a great way to use up some of the smaller bits of stuff I had kicking around the house. Here's an "official" recipe guideline. I only had enough bits of stuff to make 6 rolls up, and I've guessed at how much cottage cheese and pasta sauce I had left. I've tried to over estimate so you're likely to have extra rather than run out. You can also easily increase the amount of all items to make a larger batch!

Meatloaf Lasagna Roll Ups:

Ingredients:

- 6 cooked lasagna noodles
- 2 slices of meatloaf
- 1 1/2 cups of sauce
- 3/4 cup cottage cheese
- grated cheese

Directions:

1. Pre-heat over to 400 degrees.
2. Break meatloaf up into small pieces and combine with pasta sauce. Heat mixture in small saucepan.
3. Spread pre-cooked lasagna noodles out on flat surface. Spread a spoonful of cottage cheese across each noodle, followed by a spoonful of sauce and a sprinkling of grated cheese. Don't add to much stuff or it will all fall out when you try to roll them!

 4. Gently roll up each noodle and place in baking dish with the seam facing down.

 

5. Add more sauce to the top of the noodles and sprinkle with more cheese.

 



6. Cover baking dish with tin-foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes, or until cheese is browned and bubbly. Enjoy!

Your Turn!

How do you eat your leftover meatloaf?

Jack 'O Lantern Fun Part II: Pumpkin Patterns

The first step of the pumpkin carving process is really to pick out what pattern you want first, and then select a pumpkin that is an appropriate shape and size to match your pattern. There are lots of free pattern websites online where you can browse possible options and these are usually rated by skill level. As a general rule, the higher the skill rating the longer it will take you to carve the pumpkin.



2012 Carving- Witch and Black Cat

If you're looking for some awesome websites to find pumpkin patterns, I would suggest trying these three sites out. I've used them all before and they offer a range of skill levels. You can also use the premise of how the patterns are made to create your own pattern too if you're feeling adventurous!

 

Top 3 Pattern Websites:

Zombie Pumpkins: This website groups their patterns by category. They have a (very) small selection of free patterns and an extensive list of patterns you can buy. I would recommend getting the "Whole Harvest" package which allows you access to ALL of their regular patterns...which at the moment is 305. I have bought this package in the past and then printed off every single one that I think I might ever carve so that I have a stash of them ready to go. You have 9 months to access the patterns, so you don't need to print them all right away. If you're feeling generous and have the extra money, consider the "Monster Harvest" package and contribute to the charity of the year--this year it's the National Brain Tumour Society.

 

 

2010 Carving- The Tooth Fairy

 

Pumpkin Masters: They have a few free patterns to download, but they also have some that you can buy and then print as well. Pumpkin Masters is also very well known for their paper pattern books that you can buy at most department and drug stores. These pattern books come with the carving tools depicted above! You can also pay to download some of their patterns to print from the website as well.

Carving 2012- Bone Xylophone

 

 

Stoneykins Pumpkin Carving: They have 100 free patterns to get you started, but you won't want to stop there! This site has both fully carved-out patterns, as well as the shaded patterns (where you only cut part way through in places). Similar to Zombie Pumpkins they have various sized packages that you can purchase depending on how many patterns you want. You then simply download and print your patterns.

 

2009 Carving- Where the Wild Things Are

 

 

TIP: When ever you use a stencil to carve your pumpkin, either from a book or one that you've downloaded, always make extra copies!! This way you have a clean one for reference after you've transferred it to your pumpkin, and you have an extra copy for future years if someone else wants to use it. (And then make copies of it again etc. so you always have a copy of it!)

Jack 'O Lantern Fun Part I: Carving Utensils

I'm the kind of pumpkin carver that no one else wants to carve with. People complain I take too long--and I'm willing to agree that some years, yes, it has taken a really long time. But what those people don't understand is that I wait all year for Halloween to come around so that I can revel in my favourite day of the year and all its pumpkin glory!

Carving 2012

If your new to the world of pumpkin carving, you don't really need anything hi-tech to carve your pumpkin, but you might want to pick up one of the Pumpkin Masters sets that include a few patterns and some basic carving tools.

 

The scoop is really helpful for scraping the side of your pumpkin to try and get rid of as many of the little strings as you can. These strings can become really annoying when they hang down preventing the light from properly shinning through any small cut-out sections.

 

The little poker/punch is really helpful for punching out your pattern to transfer it to your pumpkin. Because the punch is so small your hand might get quite cramped up if your pattern has a lot of detail, so make sure to stop every few minutes to stretch it out!

 

The carving knives that are included in most pumpkin carving sets are a simple jig-saw blade style edge, and because these are so small they allow you to carve very intricate areas that you wouldn't be able to manage with your standard kitchen knives.

 

Some extra items that you're going to want on hand include scotch-tape to attach your pattern to your pumpkin, some paper towels to dry it off as necessary to make seeing your pattern easier, a permanent marker or pen to "connect the dots" of your pattern transfer, and 2 bowls to empty your pumpkin contents into--one for the goop and one for the seeds! I also like to put some newspaper down on the table before I begin to make clean-up at the end that much easier!

 

Now... the kid friendly part! Older kids might be interested in helping you to draw a pattern on the pumpkin with a marker, and even older kids might be able to do some basic carving with close adult supervision. But what about the wee ones? They get the most fun job! They can help you scoop out all the pumpkin goop with a large spoon. Kids love the feel of the cold and slimy pumpkin innards and it's a great way to get them involved.

 

Do you use patterns when carving your pumpkins?

Or do you stick with the traditional Jack 'O Lantern faces?

 



Gerber Baby Contest

So Gerber is currently holding a contest to select their 2013 Star. The winner will receive a $2,000 RESP--and if anyone has looked at the prices of college/university tuition lately, that would be an awesome prize to win.

The contest is being held through Facebook, so you need to have a FB account and "Like" the Gerber page to enter. You need to be logged into Facebook to vote.

Since I think I have the cutest baby in the world (don't all mothers!?) I of course entered the boy-o. This is the picture that I've submitted:

 

If you're feeling generous today I'd really appreciate it if you could vote for the boy-o here. You MUST BE logged into Facebook already when you click the link. This link isn't working for some people, and for other it is. I don't know why. If it doesn't work for you-- thank-you for trying! https://social.toraccess.com/gerberPhotoContest/gallery?app_data=16156

 

In any case, I encourage you to sign up your adorable little munchkin too if you live in Canada! Because that's a fantastic prize. Good luck to everyone!



Happy October!

October is my favourite month of the year--the changing leaves are in full swing, the temperatures are perfect for wearing your favourite cozy sweater, and it holds all my favourite days: My birthday, Thanksgiving, my Wedding Anniversary, and of course Halloween!!

Every since I was a little kid Halloween has always been my favourite day of the year. I LOVE decorating and picking out my pumpkins and often start planning out my pumpkin carving a month in advance. Now that it's officially October... the search for the perfect pattern is on!

This Halloween will be extra special, because it will be the boy-o's first Halloween! He's already got a costume and several Halloween themed outfits to wear on the surrounding days.

Because Halloween is such a favourite day in our household, we also chose last Halloween to be our "Official Announcement" to the world that our family was going to be expanding. Below is the photo that we posted along with our announcement.



"The Layman family is expanding! The newest Spook is due to arrive in April. Hadrian's not quite sure what to think about it all, but I bet he's hoping it's a Trick. Happy Halloween!"

 

 

 How did you make your "New Arrivals" announcement?

Was is seasonally themed?