Keepin it real. halloween style.

 So Halloween has came and went. It was a blast. Crazy. Stressful. Some epic fails. Fun. and Chaotic. Seriously, I can't get over how crazy chaotic holidays often end up being. Just being REAL. So after having Zakiyah, I have been waiting for the pumpkin photo shoot that I saw on Pinterest. My inspiration.......

Well things don't go as planned. with a 10 week old. with 40 degree weather. with a cold pumpkin. with two small of carved out holes in the pumpkin. with stress from mama and dad. seriously, what a disaster. First of all, yesterday Andy went out to get us pumpkins for carving and some smashing for the Gate. He literally went to over 3 stores and they were all sold out. So we ended up having Jorden get them (assistant YP). Good Ole Cass fam waiting til the last minute.... So I got carving away for baby Kiyah. The whole time Andy and I were bantering because he didn't think we should go outside with the cold weather. I thought it would be fun cuz we could get a shot in like one minute right? ha. NOT. We were outside for about 20 seconds, Kiyah screaming. too small of holes...(no I didn't measure) ice cold pumpkin. Zion wanting to go outside too. augh. So we went inside, re-carved the holes. and put Kiyah in there. This is the awesome pinterest shot:

RIDICULOUS. obnox. I can't handle it. Poor Kiyah girl. So the pumpkin was too cold I guess. :) Fast Forward 5 plus hours...post sitting in front of our fireplace to warm up. I got smart and put a towel down in the pumpkin. This time my sister Chelsea was here to help.  I also had Zakiyah's pumpkin outfit on too. She still was not having it.... 

 Why does Pinterest make it look so easy? Does this happen to anyone else? Or am I the only one?

I finally got this shot. the best one of the series. Feeling satisfied....I kept taking pix.  Chels and I were laying on the floor trying to keep Kiyah entertained....

Then my confidence as a mom was demolished......and the epic fall happened.......

MOM OF THE YEAR. PUKE FEST 2012. WHAT THE HECK? AUGH....... poor baby. We were dying. laughing. screaming. talk about chaos. I can't handle it. God is humbling. Humbling this lady as we speak. sigh. ;)

Then there is Zion in the background. "Mommy, baby sister cyin. She pukin. Mommy, sister no like that." neat. fabulous moment. (May I add that this happened when we were trying to jam pack supper, getting dressed. answer the door bell rings. go trick or treating, and make it to our church carnival by 6pm. ha ha. 

Here are some precious pix of my babies..... Kiyah wore the pumpkin onsie from our friend Becca.  Her booties and hat are homemade by Chelcy. I just love the details in the hat. LOVE it. and Zion was a hair stylist. She is employee of the month at Tala:) I used color rub in her hair for some brightness. I love the smock. It is Melissa & Doug. Easy and fun. She is into princesses...next year. I wanted to wait to get princess gear on sale. 

We eventually met up with our neighbors and went around the cul-de-sac. It was fun! Last year Zion was so scared....This year not so much. She is bold! We taught her to say-Trick or Treat. She rocked it. I don't know what I would have done without my sister's help. Andy was busy at church getting ready for youth group. 

           

Isn't she adorable. Zakiyah was stroller-riding. cozy and warm. 

Post Trick or Treating....we hit up church for the FALL FUN PARTY! It was so fun! I love going there. There are hundreds of people there. It is free. It's warm. They have a whole toddler area for games. Zion had a blast. My mom and dad met us! They had a blast. Last year they came too. Zion was so excited!

Noelle painted a rainbow-Zion's fav. on her cheek. Noelle is Zion's nanny when I am working at Tala. She is in our youth group. We love her and the Cors fam.

proud Z. 

 Zion's fav... the balls to jump around in..... 

dress the pumpkin face with a eye mask on. so cute. 

Zion is in Rainbows class this year at our church. It is a preschool aged program for kiddos. They learn bible verses, do crafts, have play time. etc. She LOVES it. Mrs. Cindy and Mr. Brad are her teachers. They are the best. They were working in one of the rooms so we got to see them:)

 

Zi with her besties....Sophia and Lila. Their mama and I are BFFs as well. They were so cute.

Zakiyah napped for the first half of the carnival...but she is so prec.

 hanging with Grandma Beege.

Zi and Bapa Wayne dominating the nerf gun.

After the carnival, we went and say Daddy at The Gate! We did a "Late Show with Andy Cass" last night. Always fun. Daddy was missed last night....Zion always loves to go to the Gate though.

Zion showing Ozzy her art. Elizabeth was Zion's nanny for the past year. now living in NYC. but home visiting, trip extended due to Sandy right now.

Cass Fam 2012 Halloween....so cute our girls......overflowing with gratitude.  They are growing so fast. Here are some oldies....

Here Andy and I are at our yearly Supper destination for Halloween, Chipolte! I was a baby burrito of course. ha. Pregnant with Zion Leilani. 2009 baby. 

Zion the Lion. I loved this costume. And she is at Chipolte here:) 9 months old. 2010! 

Me and the cutie pie. 

Here is the bumble bee last year. 2011. I loved this costume. She looks sooo little. 

So how was your Halloween? any puking shots? ha. 

Wedding Weekend Part 2

What a crazy weekend we have had. Oh how I love weddings. But boy do they tire this lady out. whew. We had a blast celebrating with Katherine and Cordie though. It was such an honor to be apart of their day. I just love celebrating TWO people coming together and giving God the glory for his plan for our lives. I thought I would share some pix from our camera with you. It was hard to remember to take pictures between running around with the wedding crew and chasing after Zion. Friday was a fun day filled with Pedis at a local spa. The Bridal party needed it:) We had the rehearsal on Friday in our youth room because Studio324 was being occupied.  Andy officiated the ceremony so he organized the rehearsal for the most part. 

We started off with some prayer and I had to snap this of Zion praying. It always melts my heart to see her pray! LOVE. She is sitting next to the Maid of Honor- Elizabeth (Bride's sis, also our old nanny) and Chelcy (her hus was a groomsman, and I used to live with her family back when Andy and I were dating) and Kiyah of course...

Here are the flower girls all lined up for the practice. They are were sooo excited! Sophia and Lila are my best friend, Jody's girls:)

sorting out the details!

Here are some great pix of our family of 4! Zion and Zakiyah's outfits are from Becky Miller at church. They are Zutano! I love them. so cute. It was their first time matching like that. I could get obsessed with it....

I picked up my headband, sweater and skirt at Forever21. I loved wearing something that was comfortable and fun! Love myself some peachy pink and sea foam green.

Kiyah Nova--9 wks old! In love with this cutie pie. She is so special to us. sigh....

I love how she furrows her eyebrows like me. She looks so serious here!

 Sister LOVE! the best. my little z pies.

Cassanova and I. love you longtime sugar.

After the rehearsal, everyone headed over to 300FIRST for an amazing dinner that the groom's parents hosted. I had a french dip. It was fab. Saturday came quick. Our dear friends, Isaac and Bri came over at 7:30am to watch the girls for us. They are always a huge blessing to us. They love our girls so much. I knew that there was not going to be anytime to get Z/Z ready with all the chaos of the wedding. We had lots of coffee, Panera goodies and rocked it out to Rihanna in Tala. I did the bride's hair as well as Elizabeth. It was a blast.

Katherine and Elizabeth got the cutest shirts they were wearing the day off. I love the little things. We put extensions in Katherine's hair and she wore it down with a beautiful italian inspired veil.

Zion held Katherine "Tia's" hand for quite a while. It was so sweet. She was wanting to be apart of the girl time. Everyone came to our house to get ready for the big day. We did pictures right in the field by our house.

Here is Zion getting her hair done by Jordan. Jordan is one of our old youth gals that is studying at Aveda for Cosmo! a girl after my own heart.....:)

Here we are getting all ready pre-pix! love this one. The colors were Coral/Navy. Isn't that a great combo? I love it. I had all of 15 minutes to put makeup on/do my hair and get dressed. Life as a hairstylist....and host of many in my house! 

I just can't handle the tutu's!!!!! Here are the girls walking in the brisk weather to the field. They were troopers.

Here are the proud girls with their Princess. Isn't this a great shot? love it.

pix with the bride. pretty impressive right?

The lovely wedding party with Cordie and Katherine......I love the colors. the styling. Katherine made all of our flowers, the flower girl tutus and necklaces. Our scarfs are from Express. The groomsmen were wearing a lot of H&M. I just think it came together beautifully. 

Once we got to Studio324, we hung out upstairs waiting for the ceremony to start. It began at 1:30pm. While the wedding party hung out, Zion got some Tia time in. I thought this pix was prec. She loves her Katherine. 

Some details from the wedding. Cordie and Katherine incorporated their love for music by having us sign records instead of a guest book. We also got to take home a guitar pix with their pix on it.

They used Barn wood to label everything as well. i love barn wood.

cute.

The programs were sitting on an old school desk. Loved that idea.

Here is a fun shot of the studio. They set up a pergola in the middle with lights and tule. Which was fun to use and divide the space.

the fun pergola....

Zion girl with her mama...she was pretty tired at this point..no nap for a 2 1/2 year old is asking for trouble. Lets just say that she conked out at 7pm last night.

 My sisters: Chelsea and Cara got to come to the reception! We got this great picture of Zion, Ryder, Cara, Chelsea and Zakiyah. Love my sisters and my babies.....so prec.

 Speaking of babies....Look at Zakiyah is this shot. Isn't she a beaut. She is wearing a coral onsie from Target, Etsy headband, and tutu is made by the bride. I just want to squeeze her cheeks.

  A family picture of our matching outfits. I must take advantage when Andy is dressed up to capture the moment. I got his vest/shirt at H&M and pants at Express. He was looking good!

This is Michael and Bobby (Bride's bros) and Betty (mother of bride). They were sitting in the old theater chairs that the B and G got at GoldRush here in town. The flower girls sat on them during the wedding. I heart them. I want....just sayin. ;)

Remember how I said this kid had no nap? Yup, that is when this mama lets her dig in my purse and put on as much lipgloss as she wants. choose you battles people!

My Osborn ladies. love you both....Are you sure you have to leave for NYC again Elizabeth? please don't leave..... love you guys so much. so beautiful.

 and Miss Bri- my life saver. She literally watched my girls all day for me. What a blessing. She deals with my spastic ways. Oh man, am I ever a spaz. love you friend. Kiyah and Zi love you too.

Speaking of blessings.... Jesse and her hus- Andy came down as well to celebrate with us. Jesse used to live with Andy and I. Her parents run the orphanage in Mex that we go to. Jesse and Andy are expecting a baby boy this winter. It was so fun to see them and connect. They live in Minneapolis now so we don't get to see each other often. So after the wedding they came over with Isaac and Bri. We ordered pizza and vegged around the fireplace and chilled. It was the perfect way to end our day. 

So yeah, Cass fam is tired. I got to do another bridal updo this morning for my friend Kati. It was a blast. She brought me much desired Caribou. I am off to bed now. xoxo