Three Amigos - Halloween 2016

What a fun Halloween! Three years ago, the boys were in the NICU and dressed as little surfers. Two years ago, they were cute little bees. Last year, they dressed up as the three blind mice. 

This year, as you probably saw on the previous post, they dressed as The Three Amigos! I really, really liked these costumes. I love throw back ideas, although I realized that a lot of people either don't know or don't remember the Three Amigos. Those that understood it though, loved it! We got a lot of laughs, compliments and comments on social media.

Holidays and festivities continue to get better and better with the boys. They can (mostly) follow direction, and they're really starting to "get it" to some degree. They had a total blast trick-or-treating and the evening made us appreciate and love our little neighborhood even more. This Halloween, however, was ridiculously HOT. It was around 80 degrees, I think. It cooled down a little after the sun went down but it was not chilly by any means. Poor little guys had these black sweatsuits on (who knew back in mid-September that it would still be this hot at Halloween?!?!).

I picked the boys up from school a little early and went out to Fountain Inn for a mini photo sesh that one of my church friends was hosting. After a quick visit there - pics coming soon - we came back to our our house to try to get a sibling pic. MaSha, bless her heart, was running around putting hats back on, picking up horses that had fallen, trying to get everyone's attention, etc. I appreciated all of her effort, although we didn't end up getting a great shot. Bummer.

Here's {one of} the best ones we could manage.

Stokes, Ryan and William

After our picture taking extravaganza on the steps, we headed over to the neighborhood get together for the annual costume contest and pizza dinner. Our neighborhood, which used to just have a few kids, has exploded with littles! It's amazing to see! The houses are turning over and everyone moving in has kids. The turnout to the costume contest/get together was so great. We had it in a cul-de-sac near our house (very convenient!!!) and one of the houses in the cul-de-sac had these HUGE speakers that are used at weddings and they were playing all sorts of Halloween music, like Monster Mash, Ghostbusters and Thriller, to name a few. All the kids were eating pizza and running around and playing. It was total, complete, unabashed, unfiltered and fabulous mayhem. I loved it.

Ryan LOVED the music! He was cracking up and kicking
his legs so that his stroller would move.

Brothers checking out the scene and Ryan laughing
to the music.

Great turnout!

Kids playing in the cul-de-sac

William

Time for the costume contest
All the kids gathered for the contest to start

So many cuties!

First group - 2 years old and under

2nd Group - 3s and 4s
We didn't win this year, but the competition was steep
with this cute and creative jellyfish!

3rd group - 5 through 8

Although we didn't win the contest this year, we loved participating and were so impressed with the costumes (both kids and adults!) that we saw.

Right after the contest was over, trick-or-treating began. MaSha kindly went back to our house to pass out candy while we let the boys trick-or-treat. We just made our way back home from the cul-de-sac, so we only did about 10 houses or so before we got home.

First stop was Mrs Lee Ann's house!

Then we went by Hunter, Savannah & Lizzie's house

Trick-or-Treat!
Stokes actually opened the door to this
house before they made it to the door. I
had to try to close it quickly but the lady
that lives here and I had a good laugh. :) 

Hanging out at the neighbor's house for a little while

We made it back home to MaSha!

Once we got home, the boys ran around the yard and ate candy while we passed more candy out to the trick-or-treaters that were coming around. Our neighbors, Doug, Marlena and Gregory, came by to make our house a 2-for-1 stop for the trick-or-treaters and to hang out. We had such a good time talking and laughing with them. When the visitors became few and far between, we decided it was time to go in, turn the light out on the porch and get the boys in bed.

Eating Halloween candy
(every time I took a pic, the flash made
him shut his eyes!)

YUMMY

Not Tired!

William was helping Dada by blowing out the candles
in the jack-o-lanterns.

The boys told us that they had a great time and loved Halloween. I'm sure they will be loving this candy for some time, too, based on the sheer amount of it in our house right now. Paging willpower. All in all, it was a great Halloween. Can't wait for next year! If you have any clever ideas for costumes for the boys for next year, I'd love to hear it! :)

Don't forget.....

Wherever there is injustice, you will find us.

Wherever there is suffering, we'll be there.

Wherever liberty is threatened, you will find...

The Three Amigos!

Outtakes from our porch photo session. Y'all, I just wanted ONE good picture. That's all I ask for. I took 31 pictures in the same spot (this is not an exaggeration) and can't say that I'm impressed with any of them. #epicfail