Typical Suburban Family

The boys have been talking about Halloween for about 7 months now.  They love to dress up and they tell me daily what they want to be for Halloween. They negotiate with each other and discuss at length that if one is Spiderman the other needs to be Batman or if one is Darth Vader the other needs to be a clone.

We looked and looked and came across these cheap boys costumes from Costume Discounters and I couldn’t resist.  Darth Vader was perfect for Owen!  Wouldn’t you agree?

You can’t even tell it’s him in there!  I love it!

This deluxe costume is complete with a jumpsuit with a molded collar chest piece and boot tops a belt flowing cape and mask.  The quality of the costume is amazing.  The boys have been taking turns wearing this costume and playing with it.  I let them too because I know it can handle it and still last until Halloween!

Ryan definitely enjoys it just as much and looks just as cute in it, but he still tells me that he is going to be a Clone for Halloween.

Have you started to think about Halloween yet? What costume do you have your eye on?

Disclaimer:  I received this costume free for review purposes from Costume Discounters.  All opinions are my own.

Well, maybe Halloween is not right around the corner, but you get the idea.  It comes fast.

This year it will be here even quicker with a newborn, not to mention a summer on maternity leave and two active boys keeping the days busy.

As I was putting away and organizing all of baby sister’s clothes this afternoon I came across previous Halloween costumes that they boys wore and we started talking about what they wanted to be this year.  There come up with so many great ideas and there are so many Kids Halloween Costumes to select from!  Where do we start and when do we finally commit to something without them wanting to change their minds a million times?

Have you given any thought to you Halloween Costumes yet?  What is topping your kid’s favorite lists?

The boys are discussing a variety of super heroes amongst Star Wars characters or Police and/or Firemen.  I told them they could help pick out a costume for baby sister too and so far they’ve come up with a princess or lady bug or bunny.  I wonder what will finally be settled on?

The boys had a blast trick-or-treating this year.  They were so into their costumes and they both knew the drill when it came to Halloween night.

We rushed home from school, ate dinner and got into costumes.  We were ringing doorbells in no time!

Both boys ran as fast as they could from house to house to house to house.  They had a blast!

The best part of trick-or-treating is our neighborhood.  We have such a great ‘hood and everyone gets into the holidays.  Some were a little scarier than others and the there were a few houses the boys refused to go to because of the scary music and scary stuff at them.

Along our route we managed to pick up numerous neighborhood kids and our group became quite large.  So fun!!  Our neighbors are great and the kids are all around the same age.

After our pumpkins were filled with candy we headed home to hand out candy ourselves.  The boys had just as much fun doing this as they did collecting their own candy!

They would peek through the windows waiting for the kids to come and then jump up and down as they would pick the treats to give each one.  Ryan would always comment on their costumes and would always prompt them to say “thank you” after he placed candy in their bags.  Too bad he couldn’t always remember the “thank you’s” as he did the trick-or-treating!

Delta is a contestant for the Animal Planet Virtual Halloween Pet Parade and she needs your vote!

You may have heard my stories about how she eats crayons, rocks and other random things.  About how she sneaks our dinner off the counter before we have enjoyed it.  Or how she loves to golf in the backyard with the boys.

Well, despite all of her naughtiness, she deserves the spotlight from time-to-time and now it’s her turn to shine!

You must rate each costume between a range or 1-10 and you must cast a vote for each pet in order to view the next contestant. But don’t worry, it will only take you a minute or two to rate all of the pets on parade.

While all the animals are adorable and precious, Delta NEEDS YOUR VOTE of 10!  This is the pup and costume you are looking for….

Vote now at the Animal Planet Virtual Halloween Pet Parade!  Please and thank you.  Delta thanks you too.

Are you planning a Halloween party?  Do you plan to bring cupcakes to your child(ren)’s school?  Well, you’re in luck!  I have some Halloween cupcake topper printables just for you and just for free.

I will send you a PDF of these fun Halloween printables. There are 12 toppers per sheet in the three images featured above.

All you need to do is subscribe to Typical Suburban Family via RSS, Google Friend Connect (GFC) or via email.  Then leave me a comment (or email me directly at jean (at) myhellodesigns (dot) com) that you did this and I will email your printable to you!

No customization allowed on free DIY printables.

In 2007, when Ryan was about 9 months old (about 6 weeks prior to Halloween) I started looking for Halloween costumes.  Much to my surprise everything was picked over and sold out.  I couldn’t believe it!!

Every year since then I have been on the ball and typically start looking for costumes in August.  But then I found CostumeSuperCenter!  Pretty much any character or profession your child wants, they have it.  Their selection of kids costumes is amazing!

We decided to try them out and Ryan chose the Mr. Incredible Muscle Child Costume.  He begs to wear it every day and talks about his costume and Halloween nonstop.

Ordering online, you don’t what you’re going to get.  You can’t feel the costume and the quality of them, but take it from me, I was amazed at the quality of the costume!  And prices are very reasonable. And I think this smile tells you exactly how happy Ryan is with his Halloween costume this year….

Now Owen needs to decide what he wants to be.  We’ll definitely be ordering his costume from here as well.

Disclaimer:  No monetary compensation was given for writing this post.  I did receive one complimentary costume from CostumeSuperCenter to review, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own.

With the chill in the air it feels like Halloween is right around the corner.  Yes, you heard me correctly that there is a chill in the air in Atlanta.  And by chill, I mean mid 70s.

So naturally, with the chill and Halloween approaching, I’ve been on Pinterest searching for fun Halloween goodies to make with the boys.

One of my favorites is the Candy Corn themed Chocolate Covered Pretzels.

Or what about the Spooky Spider Oreo Cookies? How adorable are these?!

Candy corn sugar cookies will be a hit in our household for sure!

Personally, I cannot wait to make eat these! I absolutely love Rice Krispie Treats and these Little Pumpkins are so cute!

And the house wouldn’t be complete with a little Halloween decorating. This is simple, easy and fun. I know the boys will enjoy filling our vases with candy and coming up with fun names for them too. I’m sure eating the candy will be high on the list as well. I’m just guessing on this one though….

Are you getting excited for Halloween, fall and chilly weather or is it just me?  I would have made my Indian Summer Turkey Chili today if I hadn’t broke my All-Clad crock pot the other day.  I’m not sure how many days I can live without it since we use it all the time!  It was a wedding gift and I’m so sad that I broke it.  If only a new one would magically appear on my doorstep since I’m on a we-are-not-spending-any-money without a very valid reason.

Maybe I should consider this a very valid reason.  What do you think?