Halloween Parties, Pumpkin Carving, & Boo at the Zoo

We were invited to not one but TWO Halloween parties this year and took Liam to Boo at the Zoo on Saturday! The best part about all of it was that we got three extra times to dress up in our costumes! haha Nic and I woke up this morning looking at each other like, "Is it REALLY Halloween today?" because it has just been such a fun and festive October that we feel like it has already come and gone! Nevertheless, Happy Halloween TODAY!! We can't wait to take our big bad wolf out for his very first time trick-or-treating! If it goes anything like Boo at the Zoo did on Saturday, we won't be coming home with any candy because each and every piece will have already been wolfed down before moving on to the next house. ;) Prepare yourselves for picture overload because you know narrowing them down is not my forte!

Our friends, the Southworth's, put on the best Halloween party a couple weekends ago! That big bad wolf landed Little Red Riding Hood and the lumberJack right in jail! ;) 

Everyone brought a festive dish to share! Liam and I both believe that the world just would not go around without pretzels in our lives so mummy sticks it is! ;) We also made these mummy pizzas which seemed to be a hit but I didn't have a chance to try them so I'll take everyone's word for it. If you by chance happen to make them, make sure you TRIPLE the cooking time. 8 minutes people, yeah right, they took us about 25!

Not only was there yummy food and great company at the party but we all brought our pumpkins and decorated them with vinyl faces (so fun and without the mess!). Liam loved it of course because they were essentially big giant stickers so we went home with more than one face on our pumpkin. haha And last but not least, one of my favorite parts of the party was watching all of the little kids dance to Thriller!

On Saturday we got all dressed up again and went to Boo at the Zoo! 

Most of the exhibits had already been winterized and many of the animals were not out anymore but we did get a few close ups of the black bears and mountain lion.

Many of the booths with activities they had set up around the zoo were a little too mature for a two year old but he did find a circle of hay bales filled with leaves and his day was made! I love seeing the joy that the holidays bring on a child's face!

What happens when you find a sucker in the pile of leaves ...

Checking out the friendly goats at the petting zoo!

Saturday evening our friends, the Staley's, invited us to their Halloween party! It was later in the evening and I didn't have much light left to work with so I only got a handful of pictures that are pretty grainy. I had to share these next two of their son, Braydon, who is all legs and cheeks. Cutest future Jedi I've ever seen. ;) And the best part was, he was surrounded by a pile of play food the whole night and was going to town on that banana! haha

We brought mummy pretzel sticks to share again (surprise, surprise. Award for creativity! haha). Liam was too interested in all of their toys to ever sit down and eat with us but the Burdick family brought pizzas and the Staley family made apple nachos. Have you ever tried those before?! Ahhmazing. 

We ate. We chatted. Then the kids played don't eat Pete the monster, pin the face on the pumpkin, and  did a monster craft out paper bags! We had such a good time with everyone! 

Sunday evening we finally carved our pumpkins! Nothing like waiting until the night before right?! ;) Truthfully we've had a lot of warmer days lately that I was afraid they would rot if I carved them any sooner than the weekend before. Liam's reaction to the "guts" was priceless ...

We managed to get him to try sticking his hand in there but only for the briefest of seconds and only once!

But the spoon got a different reaction entirely! It was adorable watching him mimic his dad's hand motions and try to scrape the insides out. When he got bored of that, the spoon became a drumstick on the outside of the pumpkin and we had our very own one man band in the kitchen! :)

For some reason or another, I don't know if it was the texture of the stem or the fact that it seemed like a lid, but Liam was obsessed with picking up and carrying around the top of the pumpkin.

Doing such a good job helping dad ...

Other than "photographer", my job during the process was to draw the designs on the pumpkins and then Nic cut them out!

After lighting them for the very first time, Liam cautiously inched closer and closer until he was close enough to reach out and touch each pumpkin. He took in one deep breath and blew out the candle! Then turned around to face us and said "more" with the most serious face. haha It was hilarious! Between Liam and the crazy wind/rain storm we had here last night, we spent the rest of the evening trying to keep them lit. You better believe these beauties will be lit tonight though for when our cute neighbor kids stop by to trick-or-treat! Happy Halloween everyone!!! Hope it's SPOOKTACULAR! :)