Dear neighbor who returned our BOO,

I drove past your house after we went BOOing in the neighborhood and noticed the Halloween bowl on your front bushes. Even though we don’t know you, we thought you would be into the whole BOO thing because your house is one of the most Halloween decorated houses in the neighborhood. You know you could have just kept the goodies and not BOOed anyone else or better yet just used all my BOO stuff and put it on someone else’s doorstep. Even though you have made it clear to the world just how LAME you are I wanted to say thank you for returning our BOO. Now we get to go BOOing again!!

Smooches,

Your holiday loving neighbors!

I knew this day would come.

Eli’s first LEGO set! 

I think Hot Hubby was digging it just as much as Eli.

Awesome!

Eli picked it up right away.

It must be a boy thing!

The finished product – a gas station, 2 cars and…

…a blissful boy!

If you “got” something and want to tell everybody about it? Add a link to your post in the comment section. Maybe you are a coupon maven and spent $23 on $233 worth of groceries, or you splurged at anthropologie (sigh), or won an awesome giveaway, or you got an awesome gift and want to honor that gifter… the list goes on!

  Looking for some Halloween fun this month??

Check out Legoland’s Brick-or-Treat every weekend all October.

We did!!

Cy was bundled up in his pumpkin sleeper… because it was a brisk 86 degrees in Southern California… ha! Cora’s Ariel costume isn’t finished yet (mom!), so she wore her Cinderella princess dress-up. Eli was a pirate (costume made by GG).

We arrived at “the land made of LEGOs” in awe…

We had dinner across from Hubble Bubble’s Dance Party. Two hosts have a dance party with the kiddos. It was cute, but I wish they played more kiddo music i.e. Imagination Movers type songs. Any amount of moms getting down and dirty to “who let the dogs out” is too many!

The kiddos got a huge kick out of the LEGO creations everywhere. Eli loved to stick his LEGO guy on everything.  

We spent most of the time admiring the Halloween decor all over the park and snuggling every random LEGO in sight…

Eli loved the aquazone where he couldn’t get enough of shooting water on the ridegoers.

The Royal Joust horse ride were a huge hit! Did you know they reach speeds of 80 miles per hour!?! Or Hot Hubby was fiddling with the camera settings…  

The highlight of the evening was the Brick-Or_Treat Trail! The trail consists of treat stations where the kiddos get candy, free Chipotle coupons, healthy treats (apple and kids CLIF bar), a commemorative Brick-Or-Treat LEGO, just to name a few!  The whole trail is lit with black lights so everything looks really cool and provides loads of laughs for the kiddos.  

Thanks LEGOLAND for the family fun memories!!

We had the best time and we can’t wait to come back!!

Last night we put together some fun gift baskets to “BOO” our neighbors.

First you have to make a BOO sign. (extra points if you use glitter)

Then you choose a BOO poem. (I chose #3)

Click here to print what I put together so you’ll be ready to BOO! (I also included an addendum because I feel the need to over-explain everything, and a few extra printed  copies of the BOO poem so the person was more likely to BOO another neighbor.)

A night sneaking around the neighborhood wouldn’t be complete without some army camouflage paint under our eyes. (Be sure to practice your tough faces.) If you don’t have the paint stuff (what is it really called??) just use a washable marker.

We did… We even got Cy in on the action… Then tiptoe around the neighborhood and leave the goodies for friends or strangers. We made it super fun by hiding behind every tree on our walk to the houses. When a car came by we would run for cover behind the nearest bush. Maybe we are training them to be burglars?!?

Whether we are prepping them for a life of crime or perfecting our BOO techniques we had SO MUCH FUN! We were also lucky it was raining and we got soaked by jumping in loads of puddles. Isn’t being the MOM the best?

We get to make the fun our children will remember for a lifetime!!  After we got home we made smores in the fireplace.

Because (in case you couldn’t tell) we’re cool like that.

Your turn!!

This year’s Just Spotted OC awards (where I won all that awesome stuff!) was even more awesome than last years! All the best local bloggers made it to Pretend City for the event.

Cheryl from Mommy Pants, me, Kristen from Rage Against the Minivan and Ciaran from Momfluential. (Could I look any bigger in this pic!?!?)   Cora Jane was the bell of the ball…  She even snookered Kristin from The Meringue Bake Shop into reading her stories… (the opening picture in this post are her famous Orange Crush cupcakes)My friend Cheri from Sweet Lily Tutus was also there…Cheri and I have known each other since before marriage. Her son Kai is exactly a year older than Eli. Almost to the minute!

They’re buddiesEli was wearing a tee Cheri made.

Kai was making a tee I made.

Funny how that works… The kiddos had a blast playing at Pretend City and I’m still in shock that I won the Kait Emerson dress AND the catering from Piaggio on Wheels!! I’m feeling so lucky I may buy a lottery ticket!

You may remember not too long ago I was nominated for the Just Spotted awards (in three categories!). I didn’t win (in three categories). But I walked away with the two best raffle prizes at the Just Spotted awards party hosted by the AWESOME Pretend City!!

I’m sure you are dying to know what they are. 

I’ll tell ya…

Prize #1:

Catering for 20 people from Piaggio Gourmet on Wheels. Here is a pic with me and Chef Jose Piaggio the mastermind behind their signature empanada…

View Full Album

Prize #2:

A whimsy pillowcase dress from Kait Emerson Designs. I adore this dress. I put most of my raffle tickets for this prize because I just knew Cora Jane would look awesome in it.

Can’t you just melt in that fabric combo!?!?!

The dress is lovely and holds up for our fearless gal’s stunts!

Thank you Just Spotted for putting on such a great event!

Thank you Pretend City for hosting!

Thank you Piaggio Gourmet on Wheels for catering my future party!

Thank you Kait Emerson Designs for the beautiful dress for Cora Jane!

Every Thursday night Hot Hubby goes Mountain biking here with guys from here then they go to Wahoo’s for dinner. This week he brought home a surprise!

My article for this months OC Family made the cover.

See…

Read it online here, my article is on pg 26-28. Or pick up the actual magazine anywhere (we usually get ours at Wahoo’s or Juice It Up).

In the interest of ‘keeping it real’ I have to point out one change…

The OC Family edited version reads, “Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year The day combines the things I love: family and friends, candy and costumes.”

BUT I originally wrote, “Halloween is my favorite pseudo holiday (what exactly are we celebrating?) during the year. The day is a combination of things I love: family, friends, candy, and of course, dressing up.”

I was trying to be funny (because what the hay are we really celebrating??) and I totally understand why they changed the wording. It doesn’t bother me, but just in case I write another article (in print or on the web) and I mention my favorite holiday, I don’t want to be contradictory because it’s actually Easter. Which indecently also combines my favorite things – family, friends, candy and dressing up (you know how I love to match the family on holidays!). But it also adds one more: FAITH!!

If you’re looking for something fun to do this weekend head on over to the 49th Annual Sandcastle Contest in Corona Del Mar tomorrow.

We’ll be there!! It will be Cyrus’ first trip to the beach.