This is Halloween, This is Halloween! Part 1

It's taken me this long to recuperate from Halloween. It was crazy busy and super fun! So fun, I didn't get all of the pictures that I wanted. Isn't that usually the way it goes? (Lisa excluded of course tee hee)


We went to our church Halloween party. It was the last one before our ward split. Lindsay won cutest costume and Abbey's costume was misunderstood, as usual. Oh, I haven't said what either of the girls were this year. Lindsay was a genie and Abbey was a demented baby doll. Anyways, I was very happy to have Lindsay win something. I made her costume. If you've ever wondered what a labor of love actually looks like, just look at her costume. I will take close up pictures of it and post later. I don't think I've been this proud of myself in a long time.

The night before Halloween, Abbey's school was having a Halloween Party in the evening. Her first middle school activity. So exciting! She and a few of her friends went and had a blast. They did crafts, ate pizza, played games, and danced.


For Halloween itself, we were having a party before trick or treating. Jeff did the decorations and they looked awesome! I could have left them up for a few days, but they were down the next morning. We had a few families over and it was crazy! The kids couldn't wait to go trick or treating, which means noise level was off the charts. I think Jeff wished for a tranqualiser blow gun after the first 30 minutes. For dinner we had chili, baked potatoes, and hot dogs. The chili was my SIL Lisa's recipe, delicious! Lots of compliments too Lisa. For treats there were caramel apples, scary cupcakes, and cookies. Half the parents took the kids out and half stayed back to help hand out candy. We played Beatles Rock Band and American Idol all night. When everyone was back we enjoyed scones with honey butter and assorted hot beverages. It really was quite lovely.


The one thing that made Halloween really special this year was my friend Melody came over from Kennewick to hang out with us. After everyone left the party we left to get out of the house. We ended up at Applebees. We had grand plans of staying up all hours watching scary movies, but alas, we are old women now and gave up around 12:30. Melody is one of the positives of living in the Tri-Cities. I'm glad that I have her.


So, this ends our Halloween of 09. So busy this year. I made costumes, treats, attended parties, did hair and make up 3 separate times,watched all Halloween TV specials, threw a party, and celebrated Jeffoween. One thing I didn't get to do for the first time in my life? Gut and carve my own pumpkin....well, it might have happened before. Next year I think I'll opt for a more laid back schedule.

Now, here comes a bunch of pictures.

Do any of your Jack O Lanterns look like this?

I was looking around for some interesting and fun ideas for our pumpkins on Halloween. I came across these and I had to post them. My favorite is the third one down. It makes me think of something my uncles Mike and Brian, or my aunt Janice would have done. Anyway, enjoy these cool and unique Jack O Lanterns.

Really? That's what your letting her wear?

I was going around the old interweb today and I saw a headline about Miley Cyrus's little sister Noah. They were pointing out the costumes that she and her cousin were wearing to a Halloween party. The question was "Are these as inappropriate as we think they are?" I would have to say a loud YES!!!!! Someone slap the mothers that got them dressed. I think we need to have them talk to Drew Barrymore and see what she has to say about treating children like little adults. What do you think? Oh, I forgot to mention that they are 9 and 8.

Got some stuff checked off

So Jeff's birthday went off really well. We took him out to breakfast and then let him do what every he wanted the rest of the day. I got him one of his favorite things for lunch, BBQ hot pocket...I know I'm soooo thoughtful! ; )

All though we did plan on making his favorite Asian salad, we went for the backup plan and had pizza. Don't worry about Jeff, he had his salad the following night.

I shopped for Jeff's gifts and the girls wrapped them. Jeff opened the gifts and LOVED them. He got a new WSU hat, Lego Batman, and a big box of Gushers.

I made him a Lemon Cream Cake. It was not too hard and it was delicious! It's originally meant to be a cupcake recipe, but we just did the traditional rectangle. Afterward, I could see why it needed to be a cupcake recipe. The batter was so dense that it cooked the outside a bit more than I would have liked. Still delicious, but I think I'll try two rounds or cupcakes next time. The frosting I made was awesome. It was a little reminiscent of lemon heads, so it was delicious! I will definitely make this one again.

I'm now going to tackle the Halloween costumes which will include a trip to the fabric store to get some trim. We have our church Halloween party this weekend. I am also going to put together a Halloween trick or treating party. It's Tuesday already...doesn't it feel like Tuesday is the top of the hill before you start rolling down the rest of the week? It sure does to me.

Happy Jeffoween!

It's finally here, Jeffoween! Oh, you don't know what Jeffoween is? Well, I'll tell you. You see, it kicks off with Jeff's birthday that starts today and ends with Halloween. When Jeff was little he thought that the following two weeks from his birthday were just an elongation of celebration for his birthday. The origin of the term Jeffoween is unknown. It was in existence before we got together. New holidays are always fun and I thought it was cute so we celebrate it every year.

Today's Jeffoween activities will include the making of any cake of Jeff's choosing and dinner of his choice too. He's chosen Asian Chicken salad for dinner and Lemon Cream Cake for dessert. I don't think we'll go anywhere today. I'm pretty sure we'll see a lot of Lego Star Wars, Zelda, and the History channel on the T.V. today and that's OK. I promise to not ask him to do anything on his birthday. I even got him a surprise treat for his lunch.

The next following weeks will be filled with treats and T.V. specials ending with Trick or Treats.

I love Jeffoween and I love Jeff. He's been my best friend for 14 years and everyday I wonder if other couples have as much fun as we do.

So here's to Jeffoween! Celebrating a lovely husband, a great father, and just an all around good guy.

Happy Birthday Jeffery!!!
Happy Jeffoween too!

To Do List

I can't believe it's almost two weeks till Halloween. This year has gone by faster than any other I've known. I've also noticed when it hits this point it get to what I like to call the point of no return. Kind of like when you reach the peak of a roller coaster and start zooming down to finish the ride.

So, Jeff's birthday is tomorrow and that starts it all off. Then I have Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. On top of all that we are trying to sell our house. I'm not stressed though. I feel excited and happy. I love the holidays and nothing other than perhaps the location is going to change. Even if things don't turn out the same, it's still OK. We're good.

Well anyways, I thought I'd post my list of things I need to do in the next two weeks. I was thinking of my SIL Lisa today, she's sick, and I remembered her love of lists, thus inspiring this post. Here goes....

1. Make Lindsay's Halloween costume

2. Make Abbey's Halloween costume

3. Buy last remaining parts to Lindsay's costume with coupon that I'm waiting for

4. Get Jeff a birthday present and wrap it

5. Make Jeff a beautiful lemon cream cake (we'll see on this one)

6. Get food for Jeff's birthday dinner

7. Get pumpkins and carve into fabulous Jack O Lanterns

8. Go to final ward party...our ward is being split...Lame

9. Buy Halloween Candy

10. Put up Halloween decorations (we need to wait till the day of or the one before)

11. Make Halloween treats for our own consumption and for friends

12. Plan and execute the Halloween party the girls both want to have (we'll see on this one too)

13. Blog more frequently...with pictures

14. Try to find time to work on my first quilt

15. Try to attend a baby shower. Gas might be too much. Might just send gift

16. Start thinking about Thanksgiving dinner

I think I'll try to make these themes for posts. Well, maybe. We'll see about that too.

School Nurse Stories

We just got a call from the nurse at Abbey's school. Apparently she has a headache and needs us to bring her something for it. Now this isn't just any run of the mill headache, not for our girl. The nurse let us know just what Abbey said.

She described it as her brain growing too big for her skull and her scalp was receding at the same time.

Needless to say, the nurse had never heard a child describe an ailment so uniquely. Jeff and the nurse had a good laugh over my very dramatic and pained child.

All I have to say is....That's My Girl!!!