ZOO BOO & FALL FUN!

Last Friday night, we made our annual trip to the Memphis Zoo for ZOO BOO! We always tend to enjoy ourselves, but this year was SO much better than year's past! We went on the opening night and surprisingly it wasn't crowded at all! They had better candy and we even got to enjoy the haunted hayride since the line wasn't ridiculously long! It was the unveiling of the kiddos costumes for this year...

LK... Pink Flamingo Showgirl!!!

Of course, she found this costume in the Chasing Fireflies catalouge that comes to our house, but I was NOT about to spend the $80 on the boutique version. So, I told her that we would come up with something of our own. I think we did pretty dang good! :) We still have to add a few tall feathers for this weekend.

Ethan... a Puppy!

He's been in a "puppy" stage lately, so I couldn't resist but dress him up like one for Halloween! Is this not just the most precious puppy costume EVER!! I love it!

Look at those FEATHERS!!! She had a trail of feathers everywhere she went!

My sweet kiddos!

TRICK OR TREAT!!!

Gosh.. I am one proud Mama!! (and yes.. she has makeup on.. what showgirl doesn't wear bright makeup??! ha!)

walking through the spooky primate canyon!

HA! this picture makes me laugh! he's like his Mama.. he does NOT like scary things! :)

WOW! The apples doesn't fall very far from the tree does it??! ha! And even being spooky, LK keeps it sassy! Love it!

Hayride! our best attempt at a family pic! :)

Yes.. that is a HUGE spider (and you can bet that Chris was about 10 feet away from this area at all times! ha!) and YES.. my child let it crawl on her arm!!! OH MY GOODNESS!!! It was fabulous! ha!

After all the trick-or-treating, we sat down to watch Ballet Memphis perform. They dressed as characters and LK LOVED it!!!

One of the characters was a dalmation and Ethan had a fit over him! Puppy Bond! ;)

They let all the kiddos on stage at the end to dance with them.

Singing Pumpkins!

As we were leaving, they were letting kiddos come up on the main stage to show off their costumes. I couldn't get LK's costume back on fast enough.. she was determined to get on stage! And she was ADORABLE!! I think my baby is made for the stage! ha! Not one ounce of shyness in this child.. not one single ounce! (she must get that from her Aunt Lynsey!)

I hate that this one is blurry, but look how cute she is! :)

So proud of herself!

On Saturday, we got all dressed up again and went to the Halloween Carnival at 2nd Baptist down the street from us. I teach at 2nd and LK & E have both gone to school there, so we knew lots of people. We got to see some of my students (LOVE Miss Causey and Miss Lela!!) and of course, our favorite teachers! (talking about you Ms. Jennifer, b/c I know you're reading this!!) We had a great time! The best time of all was when LK won a pumpkin for getting a strike on the bowling game! Who knew the girl could bowl?! ;)

Trunk-or-Treat!

SnoCones!!! MMMM... Good!

They were EXHAUSTED after all that fun!! (and all that sugar!)

What a fun weekend!! I am excited to do it all over again this weekend! :) I hope everyone has had a wonderful week!

Stickles Family Camp Out!!

Saturday night, we decided to try something new! The kids have been begging to go camping, and well.. I wasn't about to drive an hour or so outside of the city for them just to fall to pieces and us all end up in a Holiday Inn somewhere! ha! So.. we decided to try a campout in the backyard first! We borrowed a tent (I was NOT about to spend $100 on a one-time use thing) and set up our "camp site" in the backyard. Surprisingly... the kiddos LOVED it!!! Not one complaint! I was shocked! We will definitely be purchasing a new tent and going "REAL" camping VERY soon! :) And yes.. for all of you real life friends reading this... I ENJOYED IT TOO! ha! (i am definitely not the "outdoorsy" type! haha!)

we had gone to a halloween carnival early that day, so that's why he has face paint on.. left over from his costume! can you tell how excited he was??! :)

E teaching me how to make s'mores! He is an expert s'more maker thanks to "The Sandlot"!

roasting the mallows!

MMM..MMM..GOOD!

after we made s'mores, we all settled in the tent to watch a movie! movie choice... "The Goonies"!!

HOW FUNNY!!

GHOST STORIES!!

We had SO much fun!! I think every family should do this at least once! We all slept SO well outside! (well, except for the sore backs the next day! ha!) The kids definitely enjoyed it and in the end.. that's all that matters! We can't wait to do it again! Luckily, we got everything cleaned up on Sunday before the rain came in! Thankfully, too, b/c it POURED! We spent most of Sunday on the couch, except for the quick trip to the mall.

I'll post more about our weekend soon! I hope everyone is having a great Monday!