Halloween 2018

We started off this Halloween season with some seasonal cookie decorating. The kids loved making the cookies and even enjoyed eating them even more.

Decorating cookies.

Some of our finished cookies.

We all picked our favorite decorated cookies and put a poll up for people to vote. Brinley's ended up winning the vote which was the blue and pink jack-o-lantern in the top right corner. Mine was in the top left as a decorated pumpkin. Jennifer's was the witch and Landon's was the bat.

The YMCA also had a family fall festival and it included face painting. Brinley loved the butterfly.

Landon got a ghost and he was pumped because it turned out looking like one of the ghosts from Pac-Man.

They also had a smore station outside and the kids were so excited about roasted a marshmallow.

The Sunday before Halloween they had a parade downtown which is also known as the Thriller Parade. The kids really enjoyed seeing all the dancers and even said that they wanted to try and do it next year.

Next thing to do was carve up some pumpkins. The kids were so excited about getting to do this again. They wanted to pick some of the most difficult designs, but Jennifer wanted to pick some basic designs because it was a school night.

Landon getting his carving skills better.

Brinley finally letting mommy help her so that she can get done sooner.

Brinley's cat on the left and Landon's scary smiling pumpkin on the right.

Jennifer and I put the kids to bed and then finished up our pumpkin carving. 

All of our pumpkins out on the front porch. Clearly I did the Snell Yeah carving in honor of Benny Snell and the football Cats. Jennifer did the pair of bats on the far right.

 The city decided to change the date of trick-or-treating due to bad weather predicted on October 31st. That made me a little upset because I had specifically asked off for Halloween and now I was scheduled to work. Thankfully I had an awesome co-worker who came in a couple of hours early for me so that I could get out with the kids. Our family costume wouldn't have been the same if I hadn't been able to show up.

Jennifer had told me that she just wanted to let the kids pick what ever they wanted and get them their costume. That didn't sound as good as family costumes. After much consideration we landed on the winner. Can you guess it just from Brinley's outfit. She was extremely excited to be Dorothy!

Someone on the other hand was not as excited about being the Tin Man. Jennifer sent this picture to me one day while I was at work and said she didn't think that the family costumes were going to be a success. I asked her to give me a little time to get him on board with the family.

We're off to see the wizard! This year we decided to do another family costume, and The Wizard of Oz was the winner. Jennifer had refused to hand make our costumes again. So, this year we bought our outfits.

The kids on my make shift yellow chalk road. Brinley got so many compliments on her outfit, especially Toto. Landon got into the part and actually ended up loving his outfit. I found the music from the movie on my phone and would play "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" in between houses. Landon kept asking me to skip with him to the next house.

Mimi and Pap showed up to see Dorothy and the Tin Man.

We even saw some witches feet that seemed like a perfect picture for Dorothy.

We even ran into our neighbor Willow. We could have even asked her to be a part of our group as Glenda the good witch.

Grandma and Grandpa with the kids.

I don't know why I do this every year, but I find it completely fascinating to see what the kids get in their Halloween buckets. The only surprises this year were what appeared to be left over Easter chocolate eggs. I threw those away.

Landon's candy stash. He was so excited about all the candy that he got.

On actual Halloween the day started off with school. Landon wore his ghost shirt. I think this might be his last year getting to wear it. It is a 3T, but it still fits the little guy. 

Brinley was wide eyed for school this morning.

 I had found multiple options for indoor trick-or-treating for the night of the 31st, but I figured the kids had enough candy and we could just enjoy hanging out with each other instead.

We started with dinner at Malone's where Brinley ordered her first ever steak meal. She loved it!

Next, for a little treat we headed over to Krispy Kreme. They had a deal where if you dressed up you could get a free donut of your choice. I had packed a little outfit for the kids, so Doc McStuffins and Buzz Lightyear got themselves a donut.

Then we headed downtown to Transylvania's campus to see all the pumpkins. There were a lot of interesting pumpkins and a few really good designed ones. The kids always enjoy picking out their favorite ones.

The kids were being quite silly.

My crew!

I hope I never have to see this sight in real life.

After we got home we decided to watch a movie together before getting to bed. The kids both wanted to watch The Nightmare Before Christmas.

The kids had so much fun this year with all of our different activities. I can't wait to see what I can get them to dress up into next year. I for some reason just love coming together on a family theme. I didn't get to actually do what I wanted and tell the kids the morning after Halloween that I ate all of their candy so that I could post it on youtube for the Jimmy Kimmel show because I had to work. I did it the next morning and the results were really awesome. I was expecting the kids to go completely crazy that I ate all of their candy, but instead Landon said, "We trick-or-treated for nothing!" and then Brinley tells me that she was ok because she had hid some candy in her backpack. Best of all then she shared with her little brother. I was totally surprised by their natural reactions. I then brought all of their candy back out and told them that I was just pretending that I ate all of their candy. They were really happy then!

You can watch it here if you didn't see it:
I ate my kids Halloween candy

I hope all of you had a wonderful Halloween. Thanks for reading and God bless!

Tent City 2018 & Blue/White Game

Kentucky Basketball is upon us. The kids and I got our first interaction with them down at tent city this year. The night before they hand out the tickets the players usually come out and interact with the fans and hand out pizza. Jennifer was working so I packed the kids up and headed down to see if we could meet a couple of the players. As we were getting out of the car we spotted our first two guys getting back to the Wildcat Lodge, Tyler Herro and Keldon Johnson.

I love Tyler Herro just because of what he did to Wisconsin. Yes I am still just a little bitter about losing to them in the 2015 Final Four. Tyler has highly touted out of Wisconsin and had verbally committed to them. Then, UK offered him and he knew that this was the place to be and flipped to become a CAT! We found out in the Bahamas just how special of a player he really is.

Keldon Johnson is an athletic phenom. He is going to be a special player and more than likely a one and done player.

E.J. Montgomery is a highly touted freshman big man. He got hurt in the Bahamas so we weren't able to see exactly how good he is, but I am excited to see him this season.

Johnny David is one of the fan favorites and this is his senior season. 

Sophomore Nick Richards in the Bahamas showed that he has a new found confidence from his freshman year. Excited to see him continue to develop in this second year on campus.

Brad Calipari entering his third season with the CATS. 

Immanuel Quickley is another one of the dynamic freshmen on this team.

Reid Travis is a grown man that is coming to play with all of our underclassmen. He is a graduate transfer from Stanford University and is here to play one season to try and get ready for a professional career. I hope the big man can make his one season in Lexington worth it!

Jemarl Baker is kind of a mystery. He is supposedly one of the best 3 point shooters on the team, but we have never been able to see him play due to multiple injuries to his knee last year and his back this year. I really want to see what this sharpshooter is all about. Hopefully he can get and remain healthy.

Ashton Hagans is another highly touted freshman. He actually reclassified over the summer and skipped his senior season so that he could join this class at Kentucky. Excited to see what he can bring to the table.

The player that will be one of our leaders is PJ Washington. After a good freshman season he debated going pro, but at the last minute decided to come back and get better for at least another season. I am excited to see his high energy and leadership during this season.

I even got to take a few pictures too. I got one with senior grad transfer Reid Travis.

EJ Montgomery and myself.

Jemarl Baker

With the football team having an amazing season it was awesome to also see a few of the players show up at tent city too. It was interesting that there was a lot more people wanting to meet these football players than the basketball team. Of course I wanted to meet them too!

The kids with Kentucky born and raised Kash Daniel.

C.J. Conrad is a very nice young man. I have met him multiple times over the last few weeks. He has been volunteering every Tuesday at the children's hospital where I work to help boost the spirits of kids who are in the hospital. I actually thanked him for doing that because I know a lot of kids that really enjoy seeing him.

Lastly, I caught up with Benny before he left. This young man has created a national buzz for our football team. He has brought an excitement to UK football that has not been present for quite some time.

Just this week we got to see our wildcats in action at the Blue/White intersquad scrimmage. It was also my first working function as a member of the Committee of 101.

My first Committee of 101 assignment was to be a section leader for section 39 and 40. I helped all the people in these sections find their seats. I can't wait until the team starts playing actual games.

My little wildcats!

My beautiful wife and I. Not very often will you find me more dressed up than her.

The kids were in a rare, wild mood! Landon was up screaming to the team and dancing all over the aisle. It was pretty fun to watch.

My little family. I love watching the wildcats play and it is especially more fun to watch with these guys.

I think this basketball season is going to be pretty special. We have a lot of really talented young men on our team and I hope they get it all together and make an awesome run for number 9 in March and April. I also can't wait to see how this surprise football season turns out and just how far this team can go. I know that regardless of how things end up I know that I will always be proud to be a Wildcat! Thanks for reading and God bless!