HAPPY HALLOWEEEEEEEEN!!

And oh, it was a good one!!

Mars, the French maid.

It was a stretch for her....... the maid part that is........ since she doesn't know much about cleaning......but I think she pulled it off.

The Maxican pinata (my personal fave). Get it? MAX ican pinata!!!

The plan was that he'd have a bat & hit himself with it, then throw some candy with his other hand....... but it would quickly get out of hand....other kids snagging the bat.....pinata abuse..........it was ugly.

So we got rid of the bat.

I almost peed my pants the first time he put this thing on & started running around in it.

Hilarious!!!

Gus, the T.O.'d mummy, who was just rudely awakened from his nap & put in this costume.

Commander Fox Zane, in his element......in his somehow-still-intact beloved costume.

Zorro Jake, who had some mask issues.......it was more like a blindfold.

And.....Princess Lea.

Brian was disappointed that I didn't go with the other Princess Lea costume.

You know......... the one in the Jabba the Hut scene..........gold metallic bikini one???

Ya, RIGHT!!!!

I tried to put my own hair up into the buns. I thought, it's pretty long, and I did do my hair like this ALL THE TIME when I was 8, & I idolized Princess Lea, & wanted to be her. No, this is not the first time I've been the Princess for Halloween!

Anyway, I tried to do the buns & they ended up being the size of ping pong balls.

Where did all my hair go?? It must be thinner than I thought!

Getting older really sucks rocks!!

So.......I had to go with the wig.

I had a lot of little boys staring at me. It was weird.

Brian, the zombie butler.

He has to be this every year so he can fit in with the haunted house.

And he did practically kill himself this year.

He came down with the worst cold & could hardly talk that night!

The annual block party!

Always a blast.

Lots of Friends + Lots of Sugar = Good Times

The Arnett's & the Choules's costumes totally rocked!!!!

Mars & her super cute friends.

Brian passed out after it was all over. Poor guy!!

When Max got home after trick-or-treating with his friends, he layed back on the couch & sighed & said, "I looove Halloween."

Til next year, spooky Halloween house!!!

The end.

It's almost here!!!

We got our pumpkins carved.......

Punkin went to church with us......

I love a man who can come home from work & make some mean mashed potatoes......

And now it's time to turn our house into the haunted mansion!!!

We added a few things this year............we did more to the living room & had spooky piano music coming from the skeleton at the piano, dead trees lining the walkway, more skeletons at the dining table (we truly have skeletons in our closets), the flickering lamp, and ......last but not least........the THUNDER & LIGHTNING MACHINE!!!!!!!

Brian is so obsessed with it!

Like, every night this week he gets that thing cranking "just to test it out". It's hooked up to a sound system, so it's so loud . It looks & sounds just like a genuine thunderstorm!

It scares Gus to death. He'll run & find me & we have to lock ourselves in a closet. So sad!

Where's my little skeleton????

The kids are so excited they can hardly stand it!!

The Candy House

Right next door to us is The Candy House.
My darling neighbor likes to keep a bowl stocked with candy by her front door......most of the year......at least the cooler months.
She has a name, but my kids lovingly refer to her as The Candy Lady.

Neighbor kids fill their pockets on their way to school, then stop by again after school.
And we get to live right next door! (Lucky us!)
That means, whenever my kids decide they have a hankering for a little sweet stuff.....say, right before dinner..........all they have to do is slip out the front door & it's sugar-buzz city!!



Well, Gus caught on to this sweet deal pretty quick.
Then he discovered his new best friend, "punkin", the Halloween candy bucket.
Punkin is like the best thing that ever happened to my Gus Bus. Punkin goes everywhere with us.........so full of candy-filling potential......

So, as soon as he wakes up in the morning he grabs Punkin & heads over to The Candy House.
Then wanders back home with his stash......after rearranging some Halloween decor(sorry Candy Lady)......and leaving a trail of candy wrappers..........

My sweetie-pie!!!

Flashback Tuesday!

A big shout-out to my dear friend Michelle!

She just had her 6th baby!!

She was voted "Most likely to have 12 kids" our senior year in high school.

You're half-way there!!!!

Yay Michelle! (cheer kick)

It cracks me up that we would go get studio friend pictures like this, but I'm glad we did.......

our big hair & blue eyeshadow all frozen in time......

You are such an amazing person & friend.....

AND mother of 6!!!

Congratulations!

"Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken." - Oscar Wilde

This one is definitely one-of-a-kind.

I wish there was some way to bottle him up right now at 6 years old to open up when I'm old & gray (already happening) to enjoy his funny little view of the world in all it's quirky glory whenever I wanted to......

He missed his soccer game this weekend because of a tragic injury.

At his brother's basketball game the night before, he was running around barefoot under the bleachers & somehow tore half of one of his toenails off. Oh, the trauma & blood-curdling screaming!!!

And this poor toe happens to be on his kicking foot.....the one that made all 9 goals at last week's soccer game.

Before you get too impressed, let me just note that he is the oldest player, at 6 years old, on a team of mainly 4-year-olds & some 5-year-olds........not that he doesn't have skills........but he's got 2 years on most of these little guys, with their little tiny shin guards running the full length of their little legs.........

Anyhoo, Zane was very concerned that his team would have to play without their "star player", as he calls himself.

Apparently we've maybe been a little TOO complimentary on the sidelines.

So he tells me, in all seriousness & truly worried, that "Someone else will have to be the star player this time."

I think they'll manage.

Just Gus & I

It's just my Gus & I at home these days.

He gets a little bored with me (always trying to sneak away to my computer) & is so happy when all the big kids come home from school, with all their noise & chaos.

So I tried to take some self-portraits of us........not the most flattering angle.........but I love Gus's expressions. He's my little buddy & is actually pretty fun to take on errands....... for a 2-year-old, unlike some of his siblings that I did not DARE take ANYWHERE if at all possible (Max) , unless I was up for some public humiliation.

He doesn't try climbing out of the grocery cart, hardly ever cries or whines, he really just LOVES being out & about!

I'm loving this one-on-one time with my little Gus...........knowing all too well how this time flies by sooooo fast!!

Flagstaff Fall Fun

Last Sunday we drove up to Flagstaff for cousin Dax's missionary farewell.
Honestly, I wasn't looking forward to getting 5 kids ready for church & up to Flag (2 1/2 hour drive) for a 9 AM meeting............call me crazy!.........
but, once we got up there, it was a total blast & we stayed the whole day.
Brian led the kids in a super fun kickball game on the golf course behind Jenni & Jim's house.
Zane somehow got a homerun.
He said, "This is the best day in my whole life!!"

It was FREEZING up there!!!
And some great fall color up in the mountains!
So, of course Mommy had to take some pictures.......
I LOVED how fall-ish it felt up there........not enough of that down here in the desert,
so we tried to soak it in for a day.......

What is it with boys and sticks?!!