Buskirk Halloween 2016

I love October despite how crazy it is. This year Annabelle was a skeleton and a Brazillian soccer player, Ryan was either Captain America or Black Panther, Catie was Ariel (along with half the kindergarten), and Andrew was Harry Potter.

Today the two big kids had their parade and class parties while Ryan and Annabelle enjoyed playtime at home with our awesome babysitter Ashley.

The kinders ate bagels and fruit and did a spider craft. I forgot to bring Catie a change of clothes, so she was pretty mad at me. Recess in heels and an Ariel costume is not fun. Once she got over it, the rest of the morning was great.

Kevin & I took turns going between Andrew & Catie's classes. Andrew's class did pumpkin math and carved pumpkins.

They also ate monster crispy treats and crackers.

In between parties and pick ups, Kevin and I had a day date to McDonalds to load up on caffeine so we could survive the rest of the day. LOL.

After an afternoon of making soup and cornbread, we had a little pre-trick or treating neighborhood and friend potluck. Kids played basketball and tag and ran around.

Kevin and I brought back our Gatsby wear from earlier in the year. I added fringe to a black dress to turn it into a flapper costume. I think I'll be saving it for a lot of future holidays. It is so cozy and easy to wear.

Most of the kid crew- we're missing 1-2.

Such cute buddies!

Trick or treating was a blast! Annabelle lasted a loop around the neighborhood and then we went home and cleaned up a bit while Kevin & kids finished. 

What a great Halloween! Andrew and Catie loved hanging out with their friends! Catie is a speed trick or treater. Fortunately we only lost her once. She is all about the candy.

Happy Halloween!

Back to School BBQ

Last night we had our annual neighborhood Back to School BBQ. It was so much fun and honestly didn't require that much work other than collecting lots of money and orders over the past few weeks. I love being the social director and getting to meet all the fun people who live in our neighborhood!

We hired Fuddruckers to bring their catering truck again and it was a hit. My favorite part was that this year they also made grilled cheeses and had their special nacho cheese sauce for the french fries. I was IN HEAVEN eating unlimited french fries. If only they'd had a diet coke fountain drink machine... (next year)

Kids swam in the pool, played at the neighborhood park, and jumped in the bounce house that we rented... and the adults just had fun chatting.

We enlisted some special kid helpers to monitor the bounce house and enforce the rules (so we could enjoy the party)... and I made sure that every once in awhile there was bouncing time just for the 2-3 year olds... which meant that Catie got several opportunities to bounce with only 1-2 other kids inside.

We had a dessert potluck, which meant that we had tons and tons of dessert options. The kids were in heaven. 

Ryan had fun roaming around with me, stealing my food, trying to eat tan bark, and saying hi to lots of guests. I didn't keep a close watch on the welcome & check in table, but I'm pretty sure we had well over 200 people at the party this year (compared to about 160 last year). It was cool to see so many kids of all ages having so much fun! 

Once the clock struck 7:45pm... Kevin took the littlest kiddos home and Andrew got to stay to hang out with me till the party ended. He had a blast roaming around with his friends and hanging out in the hot tub with some older kids just listening to them chat. He thought he was pretty cool. It was adorable.

(ignore the fuzziness... someday I'll figure out how to use my camera at night properly)

After I paid the Fuddruckers guys and bounce house guy and we picked up tables and trash... we finally made it home around 9:30pm! Man was I tired! 

So fun to host another successful event! Kara, Sahar, and I never managed to grab a photo together since during the daylight I was chasing my crazies around... but I really appreciate having such helpful friends as my party buddies!

Neighborhood Easter Fun

I took a hiatus from planning parties and events for our Neighborhood HOA once Ryan was born. Our last event was a Fall BBQ at the end of September. We decided that the holidays were already overrun with events, so we didn't try and squish anything in.

Three weeks ago I realized that it was March and that Easter was actually in March so I chatted with my favorite neighborhood social committee friends and we started planning this year's neighborhood Egg Hunt!

Of course I managed to select the one weekend that Kevin was out of town for our event... just to keep me on my toes.

We advertised and sent our fliers and collected money and gathered up all of the stuff we needed and then today was the big day!

It couldn't have gone more perfectly.

The three crazies and I ran to Target last night to get some last minute items and then I spent the evening stuffing more Easter Eggs. Somehow I thought 400 eggs for 30 kids wasn't enough... so I made it 500. Crazy!

While I was up in the middle of the night with Ryan I made my morning "to do" list and once my toddler alarm clock went off at 7am we were off and running all morning to get things done and ready for the big hunt!

The kids were fed, dressed, and our car was loaded by 9am and then the kiddos hung out watching A Bugs Life in the car while we set up at the neighborhood park. My neighborhood teenage helpers showed up right at 9:50 to help hide eggs- they were lifesavers! We will need helpers every year from here on out... it made the day go so much more smoothly!

People started arriving around 9:55/10am right as Ryan fell asleep in the stroller- hooray!
Neighbors checked in and ate lots of treats and beverages purchased by Kara & Sahar and then the big hunt started at 10:15am!

Of course I totally forgot to reconfigure the start times and groups to work with the new ages in our family, so unlike last year, Catie and Andrew had hunts at the same time on separate fields. Whoops!

I followed Catie around snapping photos and attempting to get her to pick up an egg... she wasn't really into it... and then I took a few photos of Andrew on his field while trying to keep Catie in my sights. She managed to escape and run away and hide several times during the event (maybe her new way to deal with her social anxiety... instead of tantruming? Not sure which one is better). 

Once all the eggs were collected the kiddos checked out their loot and then ate snacks and played with friends.

All the while Ryan slept the day away. He woke up once everything was packed and loaded into our car to go home and everyone was gone. Love this kid!

I managed to convince Catie to sit and eat some snacks so that I could chat with a few friends and meet several new neighbors. There are several kids in the neighborhood that are starting kindergarten with Andrew next year so it was fun to chat and visit with familiar faces that I had seen earlier this week at kindergarten orientation.

We finally had everything loaded in the car around 11:30am and we went home and just sat on the couch for an hour watching TV and hanging out. We were exhausted!

I get energized being around people and meeting new friends so today's egg hunt was the highlight of my week! I am so grateful for amazing co-social directors who work with me to create such fun events in our neighborhood!