Couples Costume Party

Last week we hosted our 4th Annual Halloween Party. Its for our friends and each year we play different games and have yummy food. This year we themed it Couples Costume Party and asked people to come in pairs. It was tons of fun! We were Captain Hook, Peter Pan, Tinkerbell and the Lost Boy. Max fell asleep before the party even started. And Lily refused to ever go to bed that night.

Lily kept telling people she was a bad pirate or she was Wendy.
My cousins Amanda and Jaime had great costumes! Groucho and Harpo Marx
Janelle and John were the cover of a bad romance novel.

Kristin was "Krew" - Kristin and Drew

Mom and Dad were the ghost of Christmas past and the ghost of Christmas Present, Father Christmas

This is a great shot of our Captain Hook!

I found the cool bottle labels again this year and made people guess what they were.

Janelle's back-up costume

The party was a hit!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! We have had a lot going on this past week. Including OC boardwalk trick or treating, Trunk-or-treat church party, our very own party, Birch Grove Halloween day, and trick-or treating at home. I've enjoyed it but I'm ready for November.

We spent last Saturday celebrating in OC!

My pirate pumpkin

Lily helping clean it out.

We have the most beautiful autumns!

Lily painting her first pumpkin!

she loved it!!! she used every color and it became an interesting shade of green.

She was a variety of things for Halloween. If you asked her "what are you going to be for Halloween?" she usually said something random. but in actuality she was a princess (perhaps Sleeping Beauty), Tinkerbell and Alice in wonderland.

Nina and Lily at the church party

and apparently my kids have been influenced by Pop's love of the Uof U. Don't worry they will learn the BYU fight song soon!
She gave out the candy to the kids. We thought since it was on Sunday the best way to keep the sabbath was to give rather than receive. even though we did have to take her to visit a few neighbors per their request. She begged kids to come to our house. it was her favorite! and best of all at the first house she visited. He asked if she was trick-or-treating and so she took candy out of her bag and tried to give it to him! Reverse trick or treating...too sweet!

Mr. Scarecrow helped her out.

she would hit the two lollipops together and Max would giggle! It was so funny. He loves her!

Max taking a few candies for himself!

Candy overload!

Max and Lily showing off their new duds from Aunt Kathy and Uncle Dave!

My "mask" for dance class this week.

New....

New tricks. He's able to sit upright for a very short span of time. He prefers rolling around on the floor and jumping!
New room. He's had a room painted, re-carpeted, and re-furnished for him. Its an airplane theme with clouds on the walls. He loves his own space and we're all sleeping a little better this way.

New feats! Max is so close to crawling. He can shimmy his way across the floor. He just turned 5 months. He wants to be everywhere and see everything!New friend. Lily adores our homemade scarecrow.
New rash. Eczema has hit Max hard.
New food. This is while trying rice cereal for the first time. so far he's tried rice cereal, banana and potatoes. He isn't too thrilled with any of it. He's interested but nothing is as good as mama's milk.

New moves. Lily is suddenly all about dress-ups. You add dance lessons + dress-ups + music= Lilia's Star Performance. Her favorite song to dance to is "Honey, Honey" by Abba.New acting skillz. She totally loves watching herself in the mirror and making faces then trying them out on us. She loves to play a part. What a drama queen!

Trick or treating on the boardwalk

This Saturday we went to OC to enjoy their fall fest on the boardwalk.
Stores gave away candy and toys, and the city gave pumpkins.

Trick-or-Treating on the OC Boardwalk!

She used the new bags I made them.

They gave away free pumpkins!

my adorable kiddos
I've heard of the Princess and the Pea
but this is the Princess and the pumpkin ;)

my lil' punkin

Virginia is for lovers

Last weekend we ran away for a mini holiday to Virginia. We are blessed to have some of David's family back East. We were invited to spend the weekend with his cousin Johne, Rochelle and their adorable boys!

We played...

check out Lily's Frisbee skillsshe learned from the best!
We played some more...



"You lookin' at me?"
We left our lovely Sunday clothes hanging up in our bedroom in NJ. Johne was kind enough to share his clothes and matching ties with Dave. And baby Asher shared his clothes with Max. Told you they're great family!
Lily adored playing with her new cousins. Jack and Nate are lots of fun and *bonus* have lots of toys. She cried the first hour on our drive home begging to go back to cousins house. She loved it! They had a blast playing together and being silly together too!

Max thought he was pretty big sitting up!


Our drive home was fun too. Don't worry I snapped this shot while stopped in traffic. No David did not want his picture taken while driving.
but Lily sure did!
Max chillin!
Stylin'!We made a quick stop at a farmer's market in NJ. Lily picked her pumpkin!
This was a rare moment in time when David said, " Mel get the camera! That's the car I want" Its an Aston Martin Vantage. David believes its the first he's ever seen up close. and we were stopped behind him in slow moving traffic for about 10 glorious minutes (well, glorious for David).

All in all it was an awesome trip! the only hitch was forgetting our Sunday clothes but even that turned out great. The boys borrowed clothes and I got to SHOP!!! found a great dress for me and a cute one for Lily. Thanks Johne and Rochelle for a fun time!