Blurred lines: Halloween 2014

No. This is not a post about Robin Thicke or Miley Cyrus. I think they have had enough headlines to last me a while.

This post is about Halloween! We don't celebrate Halloween in our household. J & I had this discussion before we got married and before JOE was born. My family didn't celebrate it growing up and I never felt like I missed out on anything.

However, you know what they say about the best laid plans right? As JOE gets older, it is becoming harder to figure out how to handle this.
Thanks to Disney Junior, JOE loves to call ANYTHING Fall related "trick or treat". She received a Halloween card from a good friend of mine and called it her trick or treat card. She likes to look at the carved pumpkin we worked on last Sunday and always says "let's go look at trick or treat pumpkin".
Needless to say, while viewing the world through JOE's eyes, a once clear black/white line is now becoming blurry and somewhat gray.

I decided that even if we don't go celebrate Halloween because of what it stands for, there is no reason to prevent JOE from getting dressed up. I am not a fan of scary characters and since JOE happens to LOVE Doc McStuffins and Minnie Mouse. I figured her birthday theme is already Minnie Mouse, so we'll go with Doc McStuffins.

I wasn't interested in spending a ton of money on a costume so I decided to make her one. I'll post pics of how I made her outfit later. It was basically a mix of items she already had at home that were getting too small for her and a small piece of material from Wal-mart.

On the left is Doc McStuffins and on the right is a mock up of JOE's outfit.

This entire outfit took less than an hour to make. I finished it on Saturday and JOE loves it! She walked around saying "Hello, I'm Doc McStuffins!"
It was nice to see how happy she was to be wearing her outfit. At the same time, at the back of my head, I am still wondering if I am doing the right thing by letting her get dressed up for festivities I don't believe in.

On Sunday, we decided to carve a pumpkin. JOE wanted to show her dadda her handy work but not before trying to pick the "bu-berries" off the bushes in front of our house. I am tired of telling her these are yucky berries. She refuses to listen.

 Our very first carved pumpkin. Its a Pirate Pumpkin.

The additional markings on the top are thanks to JOE. She had to add her own touches :-).

Complete with the black tooth that's almost falling off and the mole and eye lashes. 

I put in a tea light at night and here's the finished product. Not too scary I hope.

On Monday, JOE's caregiver brought JOE a surprise! She got her a Doc McStuffins outfit! Great minds huh? :-).

So here she is again wearing her outfit and checking herself. First her mouth...

And then her eyes...

For those readers who don't celebrate Halloween and are also parents, how do you handle it? Have you found it more difficult to not acknowledge the holiday in the midst of all of the festivities around us everyday?

Will you be handing out candy?

I know this might come off as a controversial post since on the one hand, I am saying I don't believe in Halloween and on the other hand, I am carving pumpkins and making my daughter an outfit. But that's why I titled this post "Blurred lines" because I honestly am hoping to get your opinions on this.

Photo Dump Wednesday: The many faces of JOE

Hump day! I haven't done one of these in a few weeks! Today's photo dump post features the many faces of JOE...my almost 2-year old.

Here she is wearing her Doc McStuffins headband and watching her favorite show. Can you guess which one it is?

And out of nowhere last week, JOE tells me "momma look, I'm a cowboy!" Thanks to Disney Junior's Sheriff Callie!
To finish out her outfit, I got her one of my summer hats and clipped it at the top. She in turn got my clear headband from the drawer and proceeded to use it as her lasso!

Yup...she is full of character this one.

I told her to take selfies with me and this is what I got.

I do so love taking pictures of her beautiful face while she is sleeping!

Oh and check out the length of this girl's hair! It is getting longer! Unbraided, it goes down to her butt! Not even sure of how to handle this long term. Her dad says no to cutting it. I wasn't really serious about cutting it though. I just got frustrated one Saturday when she wouldn't let me detangle it and it was all matted. The joys of having a girl!

Hope you're having an awesome week so far! October is almost over! November for me marks the start of many holidays. Woohoo!!!

Wedding Series: My Sister's Big Fat Scots/American/Nigerian Wedding (Part 2 of 2) - PICTURE HEAVY!!!

Gosh...I just realized I never posted the second part of my sister's wedding pictures! Yikes!

Anyways, this is a very picture heavy post so I won't add too much wording to it. A picture is worth a thousand words after all. 

Enjoy!

My nephews getting down on the dance floor.

Sorry for the blurry pic. This is the groom and his mom.

The bride and her dad (my dad).

The groom giving his thank you speech.

The cake. YUM!!!

 The newlyweds about to cut the cake.

First joint task as husband and wife complete!

The maid of honor's speech. It was so sweet and clearly, the bride thought so too :-).

The bestman's (groom's brother) speech was hilarious!

And just like that...their first dance.

Beautiful couple.

They are so sweet. They really are very well suited for each other.

And then of course, we all got down. Dance dance dance!!!

Not sure why this didn't sort properly but too lazy to re-order. This is the bride and groom walking dancing into the reception venue.

Check out the smiles on their faces!

They got down!

Each place setting had a box of mint. JOE LOVES those mints!!!

Uncle (my brother) and his oldest niece and nephew.

Sisters, sisters!!! I love my sisters!!! I am the oldest girl, then the one to my left in the picture is next and then the one who just got married is after her and then my youngest sister. Girl power!

Table settings. It all looked so beautiful!

 Menu cards. Everything was delish!

We all got Tumi travel bags to hold toiletries. What a thoughtful gift!

A video of our view from the reception venue. Overlooking Boston.

The bride and groom.

We even got to see a brief video of them growing up. It was so cute!!!

Reception location before it got dark.

And here is the couple in their traditional Scots outfit. How cute are they?

Brides's shoes!

This was a Scottish horseshoe gift to the bride from the groom's mother. It is meant to bring luck.

And here is my little girl. She STAYED on the dance floor!

We love to dance in my family :-).

And my daughter even made some friends. The girl and boy are twins. Too cute! The bride provided flip flops for the women to switch into. Very thoughtful.

My sister, her husband and my niece.

They are such a beautiful family!

Anyways, there you have it. We were truly happy and felt blessed to add another member to our family. I look forward to the next family wedding! Just 2 more to go before we get a break and then start looking at the next generation. 

Have a wonderfully blessed week!