Trick-or-Treat — Mandy Senske

I didn’t know I cared so much about Halloween until I saw how cute these babes looked in costumes. It started a couple of years ago. My friend Rachel makes incredible clothes and made Buddy’s first costume. He actually just saw a picture of it the other day and goes “Mom, why was I in pajamas?” Sis LOVED her tule skirt. No surprise there. Her love for hair accessories, nail polish, dresses and all things girly has continuously increased over the years.

We started the festivities in 2016 when the twins were two and I swear it gets more fun by the year.

We are so lucky that all of the cousins on Sean’s side of the family live within 15 minutes of each other and they LOVE IT - we all do. I look forward to the annual cousin pictures at every holiday and I love watching the group grow in age and in size.

2017 was a really good year and brought us Baker. She has been such a good baby since day one. We all adore her, but Buddy and Sis are obsessed and love including her in all of their shenanigans.

I LOVE a good theme. Little Red Riding Hood, the Big Bad Wolf and the Grandma. Can we just take a minute to appreciate the Grandma?

The grandma bonnet and the AMAZING velvet cape were hand crafted by Rachel over at Quiver Full Of Children, she can make any vision come to life + she is an all around good person. We love all of her clothing and hats.

With the twins getting older, they had their own opinions for costumers this year.

Buddy wanted to stick with a theme and wanted to be a “chomping shark." He requested that Baker be a fish and Sis be a mermaid.

Sis was set on being Peppa Pig.

Personally, I wanted a theme for the three of them but settled on Baker and Sis coordinating and Buddy doing his own thing. Baker is Suzy Sheep, Peppa’s friend.

Usually I have their costumes made but I was so behind this year. Halloween fell on a Wednesday and Sis and I were running errands for their costumes on Monday. I was looking for patterns to assemble a shark costume. Buddy told me “You are the best Mommy in the world and nobody can make shark costumes as good as you” and I swear that alone made it worth it. That kid knows how to schmooze me.

I cannot believe how big everyone looks in this picture. Baker and Lulu weren’t excited about it, but ya know, I needed my cousin picture so everyone had to stick it out for a minute. #Iwillbuyyouicecream #smilebaby

Another tradition of ours is to take the kids to my Mom’s place after we go to trunk or treat. This way Grandma and Papa get to see their costumes and show the kids off to their friends while Sean and I sneak away for a date. The kids love it.

Sean and I went out to eat and it was much needed for this mama. Sometimes I can’t believe he is mine. In the busyness of life, I sometimes miss how sweet and funny he can be and I was remembering every bit of it.

Last year Sean said he wanted two good dates nights for Christmas and it was TOUGH to fit them in. Isn’t that crazy? We need to get better about going on dates more consistently, this guy is just too good.

Now on to deer opener, hockey season, and Thanksiving!