Halloween 2020 Quarantine Style!!

While this year continues to look much different than the others, we made the best of it & enjoyed Halloween on a Saturday! We've waited years for Halloween to fall on a weekend so we could really enjoy the evening without it being on a school night... well we got another weekend holiday but it didn't include a celebration like we had hoped. The girls were still excited to dress up! Margaux was Mario, Maeve a box of donuts & Marin was a trendy cheetah girl?!? If that is what you want to call it!

7 happy kiddos looking forward to trick or treating...

Margaux & her Mario crew along with Maeve and a few of her sweet friends.

Lots of photos before they masked up & headed off to do some socially distant trick or treating. The littles ran around our neighborhood masked collecting candy but were home much earlier than they usually are. Just not the same, but they had fun in the short time they were out.

As soon as photos were done, Marin went to a friends house to meet up with her crew. They had a fun outdoor party celebrating together without trick or treating. She'll be annoying her sisters for their candy tomorrow I am sure!

Happy Halloween to all... Almost time to officially start decking these with jolly! xoxo

 Not sure it has ever been snowing while we carve pumpkins?!! First time for everything & 2020 is definitely the year of crazy things. Also, the snow was great inspiration for Margaux's pumpkin carving. Last year a christmas tree, this year a snowflake!

Maeve carved the Harry Potter symbol, Marg the snowflake & Marin the Chick-fil-A logo.

They all turned out so great. Funny  how they can all three pretty much carve on their own. Not the case watching my sister with her three kiddos!

First snow of the season, the fall front porch scene looks a little odd, but also pretty. The first snow is also always the best time to jump into the hot tub. They couldn't wait to get in.

So hard to believe it's already the end of October. My days off are drawing closer to an end as I approach time to start my 12 week long term job. Enjoying my morning coffee & embracing for teaching from home for the first time ever! Hopefully I can rock it just like the girls are. And their teachers are simply amazing. We are so thankful for them. Wish me luck! xoxo

One of our kids favorite seasons, apple drying season! Hours spent in my parents garage washing, drying, slicing, soaking & loading rings of apples onto drying trays before they go into the dehydrator.

The girls have become apple assembly line pros! We've got the whole process of filling up the dehydrator down to about 45-60 minutes. Very efficient!

Last year they dehydrated 12 batches. We'll see what gets done this year. Later in the year once the supply goes down they begin to hoard them!

And a photo from Grandma's birthday... minus Katie & Mike who were drinking wine in Michigan & Maeve/Sloane who didn't want to come up for a pic.

So much fall fun! Girls are home from school again. Not sure if I mentioned that. They made it in person about 4 weeks & now we are all virtual from home again. They are rocking it, all doing such a great job. We are so proud of them making the most of this odd school year. xoxo

 Today the girls worked hard with the Veraghen kiddos on a haunted house for the adults to walk through. They built, practiced, dressed up & completed their look with makeup. 

And it was great! The adults got to walk through tonight. I may have jumped, screamed & said a few swear words while walking through. I am not a fan of being scared, but it certainly made them all giggle hearing me.

No devices & some good old fashioned creativity. We loved it! Reminded me why I will never be the parent driving the kids/friends to a haunted house this time of year. Not for me! xoxo

 Happy 15th Anniversary to us!

Crazy to think our beautiful wedding was that long ago. The years certainly do fly by when you're having fun. I am so thankful for Gary & this life we've made together. Today we had dinner with the girls & lit our unity candle for the 15th time since our wedding day. The girls made us some really sweet cards too.

I always hoped we'd celebrate #15 somewhere beautiful and with a beach! Guess we'll have to reschedule that for #20. Although I am not upset about it... we had a great day together.

15 down & many more to go! xoxo

Too much time together in the house during a pandemic makes for lazy kids that apparently become used to their mom doing everything around the house. 

Time for first official Brown Family Meeting!!!

The girls were mortified! Marin could not believe it but Gary actually made a slideshow that included the concerns & the areas we felt they needed to improve on around the house. Complete with a list of clear expectations. So damn funny! Gary presented the presentation on the tv & lead the meeting standing at the tv. Marin had many questions, Margaux giggled under her breath pretty much the entire time & Maeve {the rule follower} paid attention & was definitely the best listener. We'll see how this all goes over... ask me again in a few weeks how effective this was with the girls. Pandemic problems!! lol xoxo

 Apple picking day today. Fitz was running a low fever due to his nasty tonsils so they didn't join us for the first year in a long time. Our apple picking trips get shorter each year as we get more efficient... meaning Gary & myself. The girls basically eat & take pics these days. 

So many goofy photos & it is impossible to get Margaux to be serious for a photo. She is her fathers daughter. 100%

Maeve was definitely the most into actually picking apples. She was on a hunt for all the small, very red ones. She likes those little ones for her lunch she told me. The bag was full of bite sized apples. 

2020 Apple Picking Crew

Love these girls & all our bonus time together....

Now what to make with all these apples??? Once the windfalls start we'll be dehydrating like crazy. That is definitely their favorite way to eat the apples. xoxo

First 50k in the books for Mike Johnson! Exciting day for us all & Gary was so happy to run it with him. With all the races cancelled this year, it was nice to get out & watch them do this run very distanced from any other runners. 

The kiddos did great too! We had a big bag of snacks packed since we aren't going into any restaurants so we had to be prepared for the long day. They were happy to cheer them on as we saw them around the course. Cutest cheer team!

Hoping 2021 brings more races & outdoor fun for us all. I know Gary is anxious to be competing again & has his list of to-do events growing by the day. xoxo

Needed some outdoor time today so I took the kids to the local trails to do some walking/hiking & geocaching. A new thing for us. Super fun app that maps you to small marked boxes via a gps. We did a lot of hunting & were able to find a few. The kids loved it.

Always need to stop for photos with this crew...

After the great hikes/waterfalls we tried out a lookout tower at this park. The kids were not impressed. I think they've become quite the little adventurists & their expectations are much higher now. Mountains or waterfalls impress them now!! 

Soaking up these semi-warm days while we can. Feels good to be  outside. xoxo