Hammond Halloween 2011

 I had a hard time coming up with our costumes this year,

but here we are as Bob Ross

 (you know, from The Joy of Painting on PBS, "happy little tree" afro painter guy),

and his painting (found at Goodwill, then forged by yours truly). 

We had our annual Halloween party, and I even made the doughnuts this year, since Jordan and Karin weren't here.  I was a little stressed since I had never made them before, but they were delicious!!!  It seems like a lot of parents hate Halloween, but I think it's so much fun!

I didn't get pictures of all the great costumes, but here's what I have:

Bethany and Blake as Freddie Mercury and David Bowie!

 eating pumpkin bread bowls and soup

Blake is the mummy

 Have you ever seen a cuter Harry Potter?

 Brynlee was Cinderella, and grandma made the cute dress!

(too bad she cut her own hair, so no Cinderella bun)

Marinne and her friends were Justin Bieber fans

 cute cousins

 sorting the loot

yummy doughnuts!

 "Bob"enjoying a doughnut!

 gross!

Steven and Adina

 more cute cousins

The kids even shared their candy! 

 The day after Halloween, they taped some of their Snickers bars on the front door for Ray to find when he got home from work.

Corn Maze

I have been a bad blogger lately!  Rather than trying to catch up, I will start from where we are.  We went to a corn maze at a little farm on Saturday.

 cow train

Farmer Brynlee

 Marinne and a friend

James lost his two front teeth, so I just had to get a picture with the pumpkins and his jack-o-lantern smile!  He says if they haven't grown in by school picture day, he wants to wear fake teeth!  Silly kid!

Marinne is 12!

This pretty girl turned 12!  How am I old enough to have a child this age?

We had a family party on her birthday.  Ray grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, and Costco made the cake, since I was burned out with the cake making.

 She got her bedroom redone, a ticket to see Wicked, and other cute stuff from family and friends, but I think her favorite gift was being allowed to get a facebook account.

That Friday night, she had a friend party complete with Justin Bieber cupcakes and everything purple.

They made headbands, thanks to Aunt Natalli who provided the materials and made a bunch of flowers for them!

We played a "get to know you" candy game, and Just Dance on the Wii.

Marinne and a candle-lit Justin!

The Young Women came and decorated her room.  I'm excited for her to be in Young Women's!  She already got to do baptisms at the temple and go to girls' camp. 

Wasn't I just doing all of that for the first time? 

Happy Birthday Marinne!

Blake's 10th Birthday

Blake turned 10!  We had a friend party at the rec center.  We played the forehead "guess who I am" game, ate pizza and cake.

Then the kids got to go rock climbing!

It turned out to be a smaller group of kids than we planned, but they got more turns to climb, so it worked out.

The party favor was a nerds rope to go along with the climbing theme.

We also had a family party on his actual birthday. 

opening gifts

strawberry cheesecake

His favorite gift was a snake!  He named him Buster (after Buster Posey).

Girls' Night, Bridal Shower & Mother's Day

Ray took the boys to the fathers and sons campout, so of  course a girls' night was in order! 

 It was fun to have three sisters and my mom join Marinne and I.

 We got pedicures, went out to eat, then came back to my house for a movie and treats.

The next day was Bethany's bridal shower...

 The bride-to-be

 presents

 Aunt Natalli and Brynlee

 Marinne and Grandma

For Mother's Day, Ray made me a delicious breakfast in bed, and gave me these chocolate dipped strawberries!

We had a yummy dinner at mom's to finish off the day.  I am so grateful for her example.  She's the best mom ever!  I'm also blessed to be a mom to great kids!

I recently read Little Women for our book club, and this quote about moms stuck with me:

"You are the sunshine maker of the family."

(Marmee says this to Meg)

I think that's exactly what a mom should be, and it's definitely something I can work on and strive to become.