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- Happy Halloween!!
Last year – we had PAW Patrol pups, and this year – Braelynn wanted to be another PAW Patrol pup: Everest the snow-pup. We tried to convince her to pick another character, but she was dead-set on wanting to be Everest. There is just one problem: the PAW Patrol costumes are made for little people & pretty much max-out at a size 6. Braelynn was at the edge of needing the next size up with the Skye dress we found her last year – so I knew that was just not going to work. I found Leander the dragon costume & found a knight costume for Abby – so I knew that I could convince Braelynn to be a princess. Thankfully, she eventually came around (even though she has made sure we know she really wanted to be Everest).
So this year, we have a princess, a dragon, and a knight. And if you’re looking at Leander’s costume & wondering where the rest of it is: he pretty much refuses to wear the hood (with the dragon head). He is boycotting hats in general right now so, oh well. - If you’d like a stroll down memory lane & what we’ve done in the past for Halloween – you see those posts here: #271, #223, #171, #119, #68, Braelynn as Snow White
- Seriously though, can we talk about how much pressure there is to have cute Halloween costumes that all go together?! I mean, some people just seem super good at taking an abstract concept & executing it – I am obviously not one of those people – this was HARD.
- Okay, moving on from Halloween – someone I follow on Instagram posted this week & posted & shared that they had found a Spotify playlist of Disney stories. There is pretty much every Disney movie you can think of on this list – and they’re just 10-20 minute audio versions. We have LOVED listening to them!!
- Braelynn particularly fell in love with the Toy Story stories. She listened to them over & over again, so on Wednesday night – we decided it was time to introduce her to the movie. Braelynn gets really anxious if there is any sort of scary themes to any movie, and the first Toy Story does have a bit of a darker theme with Andy’s next door neighbor – so that’s why we hadn’t watched it yet. Since she already knew the whole story though, she (and Leander) watched it intently – it was hilarious. And now? They are hooked. Absolutely obsessed. Braelynn has declared that she doesn’t want any PAW Patrol for Christmas & her birthday – she just wants Toy Story characters. (Maybe next year we’ll have a Woody, Jesse, and Bullseye for Halloween?)
- We carved pumpkins (for the very first time in our whole marriage) this week (you can see them in this week’s photo!) Braelynn & I did the kitty face & Derrick did the traditional jack-o-lantern. It was actually way more fun that we anticipated (and not nearly as messy as I was thinking!)
- OMIGOODNESS – so my life has been forever changed this week. Our TMobile service gives out little freebies every week & this week, they gave everyone 2 months of free Instacart Express – which is the delivery side of Instacart. We’ve been using Instacart since March to shop for our groceries (the last thing I want to do is mask my kids up & go walking thru a grocery store) – but just the pickup side. We have happily paid the $1.99 service fee for grocery pickup! It has been wonderful! BUT this week – with the free Instacart Express – we tried the delivery side & omigoodness – it is revolutionary. Rocked my whole world! I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to go back!
- I have spent all week this week preparing for the BIG Just Between Friends sale that is finally happening in Monroeville!! The spring sale got canceled (thanks COVID) and they just finally got approval to go ahead with the fall sale (which typically happens in August). So, I’ve been gathering up my stuff to sell & tagging my little butt off. I am SO EXCITED to go shop this MASSIVE kids consignment sale next week!! I always find the best deals at such great prices – I am literally counting down the days. (And, as a consignor – someone who takes items to sell – I get in to shop a day before the general public!! That alone makes all the time it takes to gather up & tag items worth it, that and the payout at the end for selling stuff!)
- I did my first day of mini-sessions here in Irwin this past week!! I’ve done mini-sessions for my die-hard fans up in northern PA for the last few years & this year seemed the perfect year to kick off annual mini-sessions for my client base here! It was a chilly, grey, fall day, but I had the best time seeing everyone & catching up (oh & taking a few photos, of course).
- Daylight Savings Time ends tonight – boo.
