Our Halloween

 Oh my gosh.

Isn't the cutest lion ever?!

Those blue eyes, happy smile and double chin!

I think I had the best Halloween ever.

Being a mom is the best.

After work, we got Levi all costumed up and sat on the porch for some "My First Halloween" photos.

He looks like such a big boy sitting by himself with the pumpkins!

 

Then we went to our very first house to trick or treat (Nana and Grandpa's)

Then off to our church's Fall Fest

FYI...Mr. Free NEVER takes a serious pic.

 We didn't get many pics because we were having too much fun.

But here's what we did:

Feasted on hot dogs and chili (Levi loved his hot dog!)

Levi got his face painted

Levi won a cake at the cake walk

Rode on a hayride

Made smores in the bonfire (Levi had his first taste of marshmallow!)

Trunk or Treated! (Levi got LOTS of candy! : ) : )

 He had so much fun!

My heart was just so full!

I have looked forward to my first Halloween as a Mama for awhile and it was so fun.

It's like getting to be a kid again, only better!

Levi is now sleeping soundly after such a fun evening!

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

Baby's First Pumpkin

Levi had to make a pumpkin this year.

It is his first Halloween after all!

But....I hear it's frowned upon to hand an 8 month old sharp knives and let them hack at a pumpkin.

So....I went another route.

You need:

A baby (the cuter, the better)

A faux pumpkin

Black (WASHABLE!!!) paint

Wet wipes

We stripped Levi down to his diaper.

And, smartly, chose a black diaper....just in case the black paint traveled a bit..

Daddy coated each hand (one at a time!) and put his hand prints in the "eye spots" on the pumpkin.

He then took one of his feet, coated it and firmed placed it in the "mouth spot".

Tada!

A cute little pumpkin face made from your baby's hand and foot prints!

I then wrote on the back

 Just so I don't forget...

I'm so excited to have this every year.

His cute little hands and feet.

Can they stay this little forever?

Wait...that could look super creepy on a grown man I guess....

Levi and his pumpkin.

He's pretty proud : )

Anyone else have any great Halloween activities for little ones?

Haunt the Halls

Since this is Levi's first Halloween, I am going all out.

Really, I plan to go all out for all the holidays.

It's awesome to be a kid again!

So this weekend I decorated for Halloween.

I only like to decorate right before, because they aren't decorations I want to see everyday for a month.

So take a look around our house...

 

Have a spooktacular week!

A Weekend to Remember

 Mr. Free and I had a fantastic long weekend!

He surprised me with a trip to Minneapolis!

We already had a 3 day weekend, and a month or so ago he told me to ask for the following Monday off so we could have a 4 day weekend.

I knew nothing about what was going on, except that Levi would go with his parents and to pack for any kind of weather.

Leaving Levi was hard, but we really needed some time the two of us.

I know a strong marriage is the best gift we can give him, so as hard as it was, it was good for all of us.

And he had so much fun with grandma and grandpa!

 They fed him lots!

And he carved his very first pumpkin!

 Pretty good, huh? : )

 He even went to Chick Fil  A and had had his very first kids meal!

And, of course, grandma took him shopping!

So...back to us...

We headed out Friday morning.

Mr. Free started driving north.

It wasn't until Des Moines and we stopped for lunch that he told me our destination!

We got there around 5 and checked into our hotel.

We then took the shuttle to the Mall of America.

I was a happy girl!

This place has its own zip code!

 We were just fascinated by how huge it was!

And the large amusement park in the center!

We just bought a few souvenirs and tried to find our way around.

It is overwhelming!

We stayed until it closed then took the shuttle back to the hotel.

Saturday morning, we headed to IKEA.

I was so.stinkin.excited.

 We started the day in the cafe' for breakfast.

 $.99 baby. Not bad.

Brian with a random guy in a kitchen display.

I had so much fun roaming through.

Even though it was crazy crowded.

I was bad and barely took any pics inside.

I was having too much fun.

We did buy a few things...

For Levi (for Christmas) we got:

The Mala Easel.  Just $14.99! Wood with white board on one side and chalk on the other.

We also got a ginormous roll of paper that feeds up and over the easel.

A plush tool belt with plush tools. 

 A plush moose. Doesn't that just seem "Minnesota"?

This adorable eating set $4.99

 And these cool stacking cups which we will probably put in his stocking ($2.99)

 We also got 2 items for our mini living room makeover:

A wall mount for our LCD TV ($19.99...so  much cheaper than anywhere else!)

We also got the Lack Shelf in Black/Brown ($14.99) to go below the TV to put our Mac Mini and components.

I like the floating look and think it'll look good!

We also got some yummy food items, like hazelnut chocolate and lingonberry jam!

We then went to two art museums and the Walker Sculpture Gardens (amazing!!)

We first went to the Weisman Art Museum, which was free, small and good.

Then we headed to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

This was free, amazing and HUGE!

Look at its gorgeous view!

 We both agreed it was our favorite there.

We got Levi this board book there at the gift shop. It is so cool!

I didn't download the pics from the Sculpture Gardens yet, but they were so cool!

It is the location of the famous Spoon Bridge and Cherry.

I tried some Caribou Coffee. Total Yum.

That night we headed to Matts Bar, to try the "original" Jucy Lucy.

(A Jucy Lucy is a cheese stuffed burger...it oozes out cheese...mmmm....)

It was definitely a dive and had like 15 tables.

It.was.amazing.

Holy yum.

Sunday Morning

We hit up IKEA again, solely for the $.99 breakfast, then went across the street to the Mall of America again.

Brian indulged in a Godiva shake. The only girly drink he will have.

 We walked around a little bit...

 Then rode this bad boy.

The Sponge Bob roller coaster.

 We knew we had to ride a coaster there..and this was highly recommended.

 I was a little woozy afterwards...

We then headed to Minnehaha park

 I love fall. Isn't this gorgeous?! This was our drive to the park.

We had a picnic lunch by the "52 foot waterfall".

It was dried up. : (

But, still a beautiful area.

*sigh*

 

We then headed to the Walker Museum. Definitely our least favorite art museum.

It did have great views from its roof though...

 We then visited to Minneapolis Stone Arch Bridge.

We then ventured to The Nook in St. Paul for their version of the Jucy Lucy.

This place was on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.

My burger was very good...but Matt's Bar wins.

We then went and walked the mall a bit more before calling it a night.

Today we drove and drove and were so excited to hug our little man.

We missed him like crazy.

We kept remarking "Oh, Levi would like that!"

"Can't wait to take him here one day!"

Such a great weekend. : )

Back to reality.