Our Happy Halloween

Okay, so here was our list of to-do's for Halloween.

Costume photoshoot - check
Halloween Crafts - not yet, but it's only 10:15... I still have time!
Play a Halloween Matching Game- check check check (because we played it 3 times)
Paint/Carve a Pumpkin- check
Dance the Monster Mash- check
Eat Chili and bones from a pumpkin- check (though I was the only one who ate chili)
Trick or treat- check

Plus we went to the store! AND read every Halloween book in the house.
We have like 20. What the?

Not bad! huh? Completely tuckered out my girls.
(Not to mention we had a TV free day! woot woot!)

Brinkley really caught on to trick or treating this year.
We were walking along and she would keep saying to me:
"we're not going home yet mom?"
And I would say "nope. We can trick or treat as long as you want!"
Which made her happy.

Then, all of the sudden, one block later, she refused to say trick or treat anymore. And two houses later - she was DONE.
Whiny and sad and just done.
Fine by me. The less candy there is in the house the less I eat of it.

Here she is stealing candy from our bag to give away!

Darcy wants some too!

This pumpkin has a story too. She got it at the pumpkin patch (to which I forgot my camera. Duh!). She headed into the patch, looked around for a while, and then picked out the ugliest pumpkin there was. But she was so excited.
I myself, love a perfect, cute pumpkin. And being the control weirdo that I am almost traded it in about 15 times for a better looking pumpkin. But I had to keep telling myself that it was her pumpkin and she specially picked it out and loved it.
{internal battle raging}
In the end I resisted the temptation to pick out a new one that would make my front step look pretty.
Instead the warty, bumpy pumpkin sat happily by the nice one I got from the grocery store.
Isn't that nice that she can love something ugly?
:)
Oh, and then she painted it.
That didn't help the poor thing either. Oh well.

The ONE downside to our Halloween?
That Daddy wasn't here to share it. :(
We miss you! Do good!

I'll post where he is in another post... but right now I have to do my Halloween craft before Halloween is over!

Are you a good witch or a bad witch?

I really wanted Brinkley to be a superhero for Halloween.

She would not have it.
She wanted to be a princess.
She's a princess everyday. BORING.
She and I finally both settled on her being a butterfly fairy (whatever that is) instead.
I was going to be an awesome mom and make her costume.
That completely flopped.
Never again.
Never again will I attempt that. I can sew and create... but apparently not that well.
So then I got stressed.
But then the clouds parted and my mom came down from heaven... I mean Utah.
What do we do when we get together??? Thrift of course.
And we happened upon this $4.00 witch costume. Brand new. I think.
She tried it on and wore it out of the store. And was excited everyday to be a witch! We all loved it! Hallelujah!

Now the standard has been set... I can only spend $4.00 on a costume from here on out forever more.

Now, about these pictures.
When I started editing them, I did them in what I call "bold and bright" because I am a geek.
But then I thought I would just try them with a different effect. More "antique-y."
This presented a problem for my indecisive self. I couldn't decide what I liked better. So I posted them all. Sorry. I have a tendency to over post pictures. And words.

Here's our little witch.
Of the good sort.
(she even got to wear purple eyeshadow, she was so excited)

And the second set: Which do you like better?

What a little Ladybug

Darcy was a ladybug for Halloween. And a stinkin' cute one to boot.

I will admit, I was having an off day as far as photography goes. This is honestly the best I could do. That and my camera battery died within ten minutes. I was just so mad at myself. She was not cooperating and the shoot was cut short. Ah well... Find joy in the journey, right?
In most of these pictures she is drinking water that was dripping from a rock.
???
Don't ask me how she finds these things. She's just a one year old I guess.
And we were tromping through mud.
I didn't think this through very well, did I?

Anyway. Enough of my ranting and complaining. The purpose of this is to show off how cute of a ladybug Darcy is!

Happy Halloween!

Hey! We're zombies now.
Zombies that also want to suck your blood. Cool huh?
Hope you have a spooky day!
Love, the McBrides


We sure have a full day planned:
Costume photoshoot
Halloween Crafts
Play a Halloween Matching Game
Paint/Carve a Pumpkin
Dance the Monster Mash
Eat Chili and bones from a pumpkin
Trick or treat

Will we have time for ALL of that? I do not know.

Oh, McCall

We did not have a good family picture of all four of us since Darcy was born... 15 months ago.
Say What?
What's wrong with us?

Problem solved.

Check out these Beautiful pictures of our little family done by the ever so popular and incredibly talented McCall Newland.

McCall, You are simply incredible. I am proud to hang these in my home. My heart sings every time I look at them. Thank you, Thank you! THANK YOU!

Now, McCall claims she's no pro. Something about not having training, blah, blah, blah. I think you will be like me and say otherwise. There is something to say about raw talent. She knows good photos when she looks through her lens. Good job McCall. Our family owes you one!


(oh, and not to mention we happened upon this amazing location!!! That was one lucky find McCall! Simply perfect.)

Umm, hello eyes! doesn't that just make you want to die they are so stunning?

A Few Photoshoots - Part IV

Brinks

What's that? You want to see cute pictures of my kids too?
Okay.

A Few Photoshoots - Part III

Ty and Em

This was my first couple photoshoot.
May I just say that it was freaking awesome???
It is a whole lot easier photographing adults than kids. Not that I don't love kids, but this was just so easy! They did everything I asked and no one got hungry, tired, cranky or whiney. And we made no potty stops.
We had such a good time. At least I did. I came home with an adrenaline rush. I know that sounds weird, but I was just so excited about the fact that I actually am a good photographer that it made a little bit giddy.
I loved every minute with these two. Even when I almost got hit by a car... twice. :)
We took these on the 16th street bridge, a weird empty parking lot by the river side trail, and in the Strip District.
Okay, I may still be a bit giddy about these.
Please call me if you want your pictures taken. This shoot reignited my love for my camera.
I love these guys! I really do have good neighbors!