Somewhere Over the Rainbow: Family Photos (Behind the scenes) and FIRST HALLOWEEN!!!!

Things have been fun, fun around the Conroy house lately. Last week we had our family photos/Cash's one year shots and this week was the BIG FIRST HALLOWEEN! We did our photos a bit early since we will be moving right after Cash's birthday, and there will be no time for photoshoots :). I also wanted to get the pictures of little Casharoo digging into his cake in his cowboy getup before his actual party. Of course his party is cowboy themed (what else?) so I just had to dress him up in a blue jean cloth diaper, cowboy boots, a bandana, and a cowprint birthday hat. One day he is going to hate me for sure! The poor babe was only three days old when I put a turkey hat on his bum bum and placed him on a platter for our family Christmas card photos. I had to end his first year with some sort of whacky getup. It may take hours to play a slideshow of all his awkward baby moments at his graduation/wedding because his parents get a kick out of torturing/dressing him up.

Of course, I stressed and stressed over what we would wear for weeks for the stupid pictures. I just had to have the perfect color palette for us. I didn't want to be matchy, matchy; but I also didn't want to look like a bunch of clowns with every color of the rainbow. The photographer said we chose the perfect colors, so I guess all my hard work paid off. I made sure to correct her by saying "I" chose the perfect colors. Frank backed me up and told her he usually wears plaid every day. That was one thing I DID NOT want. No plaid this time. I did sneak it in under his sweater so he would feel more like himself ;)

Well, the day of the photos Cash didn't take an afternoon nap (of course) so I was pretty scared about how he would behave. I was fully expecting a repeat of his newborn shots (nightmare). Gone are the days of smiling pretty, happily strolling on the beach or at a plantation. Getting pictures made now is MAJOR WORK! I don't help the situation by wearing the most uncomfortable shoes, a dress that is shorter than I would EVER normally wear chasing a toddler around, and expecting my bangs to look perfect in the Charleston wind. I also HAD to get a shot of Cash in his turkey outfit along with his suspender/bowtie outfit. I made sure to buy cowprint balloons online and have them inflated the day of; only for them to blow away in 2.5 seconds. Poor Frank was sweating to death by the end of it since it was still 80 in October, and he was wearing a sweater (so it would look like fall)!

Needless to say, when I saw what Mrs Carissa Graham came up with I was amazed. She did great. She captured my sweet family perfectly. I am so happy with the pictures. Of course, I am my own worst critic and pick myself apart in every picture, But, one thing is for sure...my men look so handsome I can hardly stand it. I just can't get over it. I see love when I look at those pictures, and that is all I wanted.

I wasn't worried one bit about getting good ones of Cash going to town on his first cake. I knew as soon as we sat that thing in front of him it would be on. And it sure was! He dug right in. My sweet friend Anna did such a great job on his cowprint cake. So thankful she helped me out. We got some shots on his daddy's hobby horse first. Frank's uncle gave him that for his first birthday. Frank refinished it for Cash's nursery when I was preggo. Cash is just now really starting to enjoy "riding" his horsey. He is so cute in those pics. He was actually reaching out to us because we had the balloons (before they blew away). So I guess they did help us get some good shots. Once that cake was in front of him he was all business. He was just slopping it up. He didn't really even touch the cake part..just played in the icing. He loved it. It was fun until he started eating dirt/leaves too. Things started to get pretty messy. I realized that I forgot a towel, and we had about five baby wipes. So, we just scooped him up in a blanket and put him in his carseat covered in icing. He had a little snack the whole ride home. He sat back there sucking on his arms the entire time. We put him right in the tub and had to wash everthing! It was a crazy, fun time!

Hair is a tad crazy, but that baby sure is cute

Old Man River

One week later the messiness continued. This time it was in the form of orange face paint and cheese snacks! I finally finished Ty and Cash's Oompa costumes the night before Halloween. Frank decided he would be an Oompa too because he couldn't wear a mask this year. Cash is a tad afraid of all things scary, so masks are probably a no go for a few years in the Conroy house. Frank as an Oompa was WAY better anyway. It was freaking hysterical. We had so, so much fun. Katherine's Veruca Salt costume and my Violet Beuregard pulled it all together. Everyone came over for pizza/halloween themed snacks before we all walked down to the neighborhood clubhouse for the parade. All the cute kiddos did a lap around the street in there costumes. It was so fun. There were so many costumes. The Willy Wonka clan was a HUGE hit! Everyone was stopping and sneaking pictures of us. Frank was loving it of course. Always loves to be the center of attention. They boys were loving eating the cheese snacks they poured into the bottom of there wagon (thanks Jackie)! It was actually the best thing. They just happily rode along sharing a little snack. The Keith/Durstine clan came too. Anna and her mom were momma/grandmomma monsters to Miller's baby monster. It was precious. Anna's dad was hilarious with a creepy mustache and wig. We weren't sure what he was supposed to be so we decided he was Heraldo. I gave him Cash's microphone and he went to town. The Malaniak's came along too. Christian was batman. He racked up big time on candy (mostly from our hosue). Frank went a little crazy with the candy purchases this year. I think he said he spent 70 bucks!!! He ran out really fast last year so he wanted to be prepared. We really only had one bag left after all that.

We walked around for a bit then headed home to bathe the orange faced/green haired babes while the guys got to hand out candy. Always on duty. That's ok though. It was the best halloween with my baby boy. I know he won't remember it, but he will at least have plenty of crazy pictures to look at. He will either think we were super awesome parents or super creepy ones (I am going with the latter). A fun time was had by all for sure!!! Sure will miss our neighborhood next Halloween (and all our friends who made this year so fun).