Halloween 2013

Wow! Halloween came and went quickly. Boogs and I had fun decorating the front of the house and the yard.

Halloween used to be his all time favorite holiday. He still liked it this year but was not as into it as years past. He had such cute costumes when he was little - Strongman, Doctor, Fisherman, Mailman.

 

As he got older, his taste in costumes changed - Vampire, Frankenstein, Alien, Skylander Trigger Happy. Boogs got tired of wearing his mask while trick-or-treating this year. He decided he would wear it, even though it was annoying, because someone at one house asked if he were Tigger from Winnie the Pooh. Boogs did not like that at all.

Boogs and my husband always carve the pumpkin together because I can't stand the smell of pumpkins.  This year, Boogs told us the smell of the pumpkin was "unbearable" to him. But, he still helped clean it out. Boogs decided the pumpkin should be carved into Jack from Nightmare Before Christmas.

Boogs spent almost about an hour and a half trick-or-treating. He went with a big group of kids from the neighborhood and then he and his Dad kept on after the rest of the group went home. He has enough candy to last all year.

This year, Boogs sorted his candy but he did not count it. He used to count it to make sure that I would not steal all of the good chocolate bars. Ha!

We have already taken down all of the Halloween decorations. I can't believe how quickly this year is going by. It will be 2014 before we know it. Hope you all had a Happy Halloween.

Quick Halloween Lunches

Most of the time, Boogs lunches are inspired by the books we read together. Boogs chose Monsters Party All Night Long by Adam J.B. Lane for his lunch on Monday. We both thought this page from the book would be perfect inspiration for a lunch.

I tried to find foods that would look as much like the ones in the book as possible. The little signs say - toe jam on toast, snot dogs, eyeball puffs, french bunion soup, finger sandwiches, and scab croquettes.

 

I used toast with jam for toe jam on toast, little smokies with green food dye for snot dogs, kalamata olives with cheese for eyeball puffs, little smokies with cheese in bread triangles for finger sandwiches, raspberries for scab croquettes, and cottage cheese with a corner of toast for french bunion soup. I threw in some carrots for a little bit of veggies.

Boogs was disgusted! He asked me to take out the snot dogs and replace them with regular ones. He also told me he did not want to leave any of the signs in this lunch because they were "just plain gross". He did end up eating this lunch snot dog free and with the signs left at home.


I was tired and had slept in the morning I made this lunch. I asked Boogs if he would mind a "normal" lunch instead of a story-themed lunch. He asked if he could add some picks to the normal lunch to make it have a theme. I let him go pick crazy!

In the ELB: ham & salami on skewers, Babybel cheese, Chex Mix, blueberries, and some leftover spinach tortellini with pesto sauce. Boogs added the picks - Frankenstein, tombstone, zombie hand, two eyeballs, and an Angry Birds ring.


Bento Blog Network has over 40 Halloween lunches this week. Go check them out they are amazing.
Following In My Shoes has some cute last-of-the Halloween season lunches and a fun I Heart Lunch Halloween linky.

Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar! If you want to see more book inspired lunches, click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post or go to My Story Themed Lunches board on Pinterest. I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know you stopped by.

Fun Fall Weekend

Boogs stayed with my parents on Friday night so my husband and I could attend the Black & White Charity Ball for the Texas Advocacy Project. It was fun to dress up and go out like real grown-ups.

 

We met my parents for lunch to reclaim Boogs. We spent the rest of the day at home. It was a cool evening so we built a fire in the back porch fireplace and roasted hot dogs for dinner with roasted marshmallows for dessert.

Daddy also taught Boogs how to do this today:

We decided to break tradition this year and skip the Fall Pumpkin Patch at Sweet Berry Farms. It has gotten so overcrowded these past two years that we decided to try out a different pumpkin patch this year. We went to Barton Hills Farms in Bastrop. It was a great place.

 We all enjoyed trying to make three in a row in the bean bag toss.

We had loads of fun playing tetherball. Boogs got hit in the head a couple of times but kept on playing. We also tried to make the washer on a string land on a hook. Whew, we came close, but did not do it.

Boogs loved the "jumping pillow". He waited in line for it twice. He got pretty high on some of his bounces. There was a local band playing some very "interesting" music. Boogs and Daddy danced while waiting in line for the train.

There was also a little tractor pulled train. The driver went super fast and the ride was extremely bumpy.

Barton Hills Farms has a nice little corn maze. Boogs led the way and we made it through the entire maze very quickly.

We took a break to eat giant dill pickles and sausage wraps before heading to the pumpkin patch. Boogs and Daddy picked our a great pumpkin for carving next weekend.

We had a great weekend and are loving the cool 70 degree temperatures. I hope this cool weather stays for awhile.

This post is linked to:

Frightful Fall Blog Hop

Bento Bloggers & Friends are ready to share their frightful lunches with you again. Well, not all of the lunches are spooky. Some are Fall themed. This is the third hop this week of Frightful Fall  lunches. Be sure to glide through the other hops, too.

I could not make and share just one lunch for this hop. There are simply too many cute ways to turn food into spooky or Fall themed lunches. Make sure you don't miss any of the fun lunches by hopping over to KW Bento at the end of this post.

Stellaluna by Janell Cannon

Poor Stellaluna is separated from her mother when an owl attacks. Stellaluna manages to survive her fall by grabbing onto a branch and hanging upside down all night. In the morning, she discovers a nest of baby birds. Stellaluna climbs right in the nest and the mother bird agrees to take care of her. Stellaluna discovers how much she is alike and how different she is from the baby birds in the nest. Boogs and I have read this book many times and he always enjoys the happy ending.

In the ELB lunchbox: upside down boiled egg Stellaluna (made with the CuteZcute Animal Palz Mini Sandwich and Egg Press), almond butter & jelly owl, Chex Mix bird's nest, Stellaluna's favorite food - mango, and salad with a bug on it which Stellaluna thinks is disgusting to eat.

Boo to You! by Lois Ehlert
The mice want to have a harvest party but are afraid the meat eating cat will stop by. They create all sorts of creepy veggie combinations to scare off the cat.

In the ELB lunchbox: ham & cheese cat sandwich with candy eyes, spinach ears, cherry nose, red pepper tongue, and pumpkin seed teeth, grapes with a jack-o-lantern pick, and salad with a mini pepper monster to scare away the cat.

BOO! Boogs said this lunch was not very scary but it was very delicious.

In the ELB lunchbox: Boo Cheez-It Scrabble Junior crackers, marshmallow ghoul, mummy dogs (sausage in crescent rolls), jack-o-lantern Cuties, and salad with a spider pick.

Leaf Trouble by Jonathan Emmett - I know I posted this lunch last week, but it turned out to be such a colorful Fall looking lunch I wanted to share it in the hop, too. In the ELB lunchbox: almond butter & jelly squirrel sandwich trying to catch all of the falling leaves. Leaves made of cheese, pineapple, strawberry, red/yellow/orange peppers, radish, and spinach. Leaf cutouts on Babybel cheese and on a tangerine. Zbar mini acorns.
 
Now that you have seen my Frightful Fall lunches, click on this orange button to travel to KW Bento Diary to see her Addams Family lunch creation.

Check out the other two days of Frightful Fall Hops Click here to start day 1, Click Here to start day 2. I can't wait until Bento Bloggers & Friends get together for another fun themed hop!


Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar! If you want to see more book inspired lunches, click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post or go to My Story Themed Lunches board on Pinterest. I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know you stopped by.

Halloween 2012

We had a very low-key Halloween this year. We had our traditional Sweet Berry Farm day to pick a pumpkin but Boogs did not attend any festivals or Halloween parties. We had family in town and a couple of birthday parties to attend when all of the Halloween stuff was going on. Boogs did have a great time going trick-or-treating with a group of kids from our neighborhood. My husband and I got dressed up for a Halloween Party. He went as Bubbles from The Trailer Park Boys. I went as an Elvira type vampire. Here are a few pictures:

Those purple spiderweb lashes were really quite annoying.

Bubbles with his cat. We went into Walmart in full costume to purchase that cat. Two different people took my picture while we were in the store. I am pretty sure I will end up on the "People of Walmart" website.

Every year, Boogs decides what to carve on the pumpkin.

He had fun cleaning out the pumpkin guts.

My little alien

None of the kids wanted to go up to this door. Their porch was super creepy.

Boogs wanted to hand out candy after he finished trick-or-treating.

Boogs gets to eat one piece of candy on Halloween night. He looked through all of his candy and decided to have a small bag of Kettle Corn.

Lunches October 22nd - 26th

Boogs' lunches are inspired by the books we read at bedtime the previous evening. Each night, Boogs reads one book to me and I read a book or a chapter of a book to him. I usually post his lunches once a week. Click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post to see lunches from previous weeks.

Fall Mixed Up by Bob Raczka

Boogs absolutely loved this book. In it, a little boy tells about his favorite time of the year. The story begins, "Every Septober, Every Octember, Fall fills my senses with scenes to remember." From that point on, everything about Fall is mixed up. Bears gather nuts, geese hibernate, leaves fall up, squirrels fly south for the winter, kids jump in piles of sticks, trick-or-treaters receive turkey and gravy for treats, and many other mix-ups. The illustrations are gorgeous. At the end of the book, the reader is told to go back through and try to find all the mixed-up things in the story. Boogs studied every page closely. This is definitely a book I have to purchase. In the Laptop lunchbox: pb&j squirrel flying south for the winter attached to a strawberry balloon, hotdog mummy bat, pretzel sticks pile, nuts gathered by the bears, strawberry balloons to help the squirrels fly, and broccoli.


 On Halloween Night by Ferida Wolff and Dolores Kozielski
This is a counting book about all the things that stir on Halloween night. Two boys follow a foggy trail that takes them by witches, cats, owls, creeping bugs, and other creatures. This was a cute little book. In the Laptop lunchbox: ghost & witch grilled cheese sandwiches, candy corn, yogurt, blackberries, and salad.

Halloween Is... by Gail Gibbons
Gail Gibbons is the author of many informative books for children. In this book she explains the history of Halloween, Halloween symbols, and traditions. Boogs thought it was interesting. In the ELB lunchbox: boiled egg ghost, orange jack-o-lantern, salami & cheese cat sandwich, Babybel full moon, witch drawn on Mini Dipper of yogurt, skeleton pick in carrots, and some batty grapes.

Mrs. Piccolo's Easy Chair by Jean Jackson
Mrs. Piccolo and her chair are great friends but sometimes that chair can be quite difficult to be around. When the chair is hungry he softens up his cushions and traps Mrs. Piccolo until she agrees to give him his favorite snack of cheese puffs. When Mrs. Piccolo left the house one day, the chair decided to walk to the grocery store and buy his own cheese puffs. Along the way, he met some people who tried to stop him. So that chair swallowed up anyone who got in his way. Boogs giggled all the way through this story. We read it together twice and then he read it on his own many times before we returned it to the library. In the ELB lunchbox: pb&j chair with the hat (picks) of two of the people who got in his way, nuts and cheese coins that were stuck under his cushion, Pirate's Booty Cheese Puffs, berries, and salad.

Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar! If you want to see more book inspired lunches, click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post or go to My Story Themed Lunches board on Pinterest. I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know you stopped by.  .

Sweet Berry Farm Pumpkin Patch

Every year, we take Boogs to Sweet Berry Farm to pick out our Halloween pumpkin. Here is a  little flashback to his first trip to the Sweet Berry pumpkin patch:

 I cannot believe how quickly he is growing up. This picture seems just like yesterday.

Boogs quickly decided that THIS was the perfect pumpkin.

We all tried to guess the weight of the pumpkin. Daddy had the closest guess. The pumpkin weighed 16 pounds.

We had a quick (non-bento) picnic lunch before getting started with activities.

Boogs is pointing the way to the Texas Cornfield Maze.

The cornfield maze is in the shape of the state of Texas. You have to find 12 Texas cities and get a punch for each city to complete the maze.

Wahoo! We completed the maze in record time this year.

Boogs and Daddy on the Haunted Hayride.

Boogs is now tall enough to reach without help.

The Marble Falls Fire Dept was there to let kids see their firetrucks and gear.

Boogs really liked getting dressed in all of the gear.

He almost fell over while trying to walk in those big boots.

 Halloween and Christmas are tied for Boogs' favorite holiday. I think our yearly tradition of going to Sweet Berry Farm makes Halloween extra special for him. Now, he just has to decide how he wants to help Daddy carve the pumpkin.