Halloween in Dallas

When I mentioned in my blog last week that I had more Fall and Halloween fun planned for this past weekend, that included:

-- Putting on my '70's costume for a party at Kids Club
-- Haircut at the Curly Girl Salon (in desperate need of a haircut!)
-- Marathon fun! Girls were going to Robyn's for a yummy brunch, then out to cheer on the runners on the UES. Two of my friends were running.

I was REALLY looking forward to those things...especially the marathon fun. But, when I began receiving emails/texts/phone calls from my sister begging me to make a trip to Dallas, my mind slowly began to change. Once mom offered a free flight of hers, there wasn't much to say no to! So, instead, my weekend included:

-- cuddles with my new nephew, Shep!

He is super sweet and smells delightfully good!

-- Halloween fun with Ryder & Beau!
We made yummy pumpkin cookies and I brought the leftover Ghost cookie supplies to make more of those.

Ryder, proud of his mad decorating skills

Beau can help, too!

Beth even had a Halloween

apron for the occasion

Sweet, messy face after bakin' so hard

The boys dressed up as cowboys.

Rydin' his pony

Shep was our horsey. Beth has gotten lots of use out

of that costume...it was Ryder's first Halloween,

but she's used it for Christmas plays, too.

The rest of us dressed up, too.

Matchy-matchy in-laws

We all went trick-or-treating, except Buster who stayed behind to give to the kids who stopped by B&B's house.

I love how this next pic turned out

all western-y looking

Beth, preparing for trick-or-treaters

So proud of his loot!

Next door neighbors and bestest friends,

Nancy & Claire stopped by

Enjoying their candy!

Big brother love!

-- Mom made a yummy chilli dinner for the family for Halloween night. It was yummy and really my only chance to see dad and Brian as they both left town the next day for work trips.

-- Bass Pro shop! Beth and I wanted to pick up our dad's birthday gift there. Ryder went along and showed us the ropes (he went several months ago with his dad and my uncle and he remembered where EVERYthing was). He had fun.

There were some HUGE fish there

Ryder loved the boats, tents, and golfing

-- Chick-fil-a. First meal upon arriving to DFW. Thanks, Beth!

-- Late night drives with mom. We love to explore things. Beth's neighborhood was really quiet on Halloween night, so we went to check out a couple of other 'hoods. We started with Highland Park...it was crazy!! We got there around 8:30 and it appeared that all the HP'ers were done trick-or-treating, but the streets were FULL of kids from "across the tracks". Their parents were lined up in their pimped-out cars at the end of the streets waiting for them. We noticed one house that had a huge line in front, so we drove up closer and got pulled over in the process!! Apparently they had turned that street into one-way for the night and we were going the wrong way. We went back to see where the temporary "one-way" sign was and it was so little and low to the ground...no wonder we missed it! Luckily, the cop didn't ticket us, but he was kind of rude. I've been pulled over in HP before...I am not a fan of the HP cops. Mom & I also went to see what "Crazy Liz" does for Halloween since she goes all out at Christmas. She did have a spooky set-up out front her house- would be fun to take the boys by when they're older. We also happened upon Swiss Avenue which was even more insane than HP. A couple of the houses had shows going on....loud music, fire, backdrops that looked professional. It was crazy. There were CROWDS of people in front of these houses watching the show. And their were street vendors on the sidewalks (like in NYC), with their carts selling snacks and glow necklaces. On a residential street - insane.

-- Running errands with Beth and the boys. We just did a little shopping Beth needed to do. On Monday, Beth & I went alone to Buffalo Exchange while mom watched the boys. We both got jeans and I got a ring. Crazy thing is we had been talking about this Bakery I'd heard about, Society Bakery...they have been voted to have one of the Top 10 cupcakes in the USA. I hadn't planned to go this trip, but when we pulled into the only parking spot near Buffalo Exchange, it was a reserved spot for Society Bakery. We didn't even know it was there! Beth was like "What should we do? I don't want to get in trouble for parking here". I was like, "Well, I guess we get cupcakes!" So, we got two and took them home. We were SO unimpressed. I don't know what their icing is, but it's not Buttercream or Cream Cheese and it is not good.

-- Good 2 Go breakfast Tacos. This was another place I'd read about. It's in a little Health foods convenience store & Biodiesal gas station near White Rock Lake. Totally random, but the tacos were super yummy for breakfast! They were filming something in the store that morning, we're not sure what, but there was a pretty big film crew there with a couple of trailers and major equipment. I felt like I was back in NYC.

-- Long walks with Beth & the boys. We did a 3-mile loop in their neighborhood on both Sunday and Monday. The weather could not have been better in Dallas this weekend! I do love fall in NYC, but I really loved the warm weather Dallas was having.

-- Sonic Happy Hour. Up here in NYC, us southerners talk about Chick-fil-a. All. The. Time. But, people also talk about Sonic quite a bit. In fact, most people have a "first stop" upon arrival in Texas, and it is usually either Chick-fil-a or Sonic. I really wasn't ever a big Sonic go-er and never really even knew about Happy Hour. Beth and I decided to partake...I do love their Cherry Limeades!

-- Helping around the house. I did what I could to help...feeding Shep, even one time for his 1:00AM feeding! I also made a couple of quiches for Beth to have for breakfast and lunch.  I cooked one fully and then left the dough for one crust in the freezer and a jar full of the egg mixture in the fridge so she can just pour and bake up a second one fresh later this week.  I babysat on Sunday night while Beth went to her Community Group and succeeded in getting the boys to bed - not an easy task these days.

You can tell their exhaustion in this pic...that

probably made my job much easier!

-- Lot of just playing around with Ryder and Beau. They are so fun!

Kids love for bubbles amazes me.

These boys LOVE to take baths.  This was their 2nd bath

all before lunch on Sunday.

It was a quick trip, but so fun and worth it.  When I said good-bye to the boys at the airport, Beau said "Mama, I want to go to New York with Su-Su". How sweet is that? Wish I could have taken him with me. Thankfully, it's only 3 weeks until I'm back there for Thanksgiving!