Punkin carving!!

Before I tell you about the pumpkin fest, we want to say-

Happy Birthday Joe!!

Jaidyn practically BEGGED me to put her picture first, aren't she AND her jack-o-lantern adorable?

This year we didn't have our GIANT pumpkin carving party.  We had a family party, it was small and perfect.  I actually had time to take pictures.  Here are most of them.

Eli with our pumpkins, "pre-carve".

This is the "blood clot" mixture we put in our tasty punch.  I personally didn't drink any, but Haley said it had a very nice texture.  Which is not something all punches can claim.

First, everyone gutted their pumpkins.

Some enjoyed it more than others.

Pumpkin carving is a "dad" job.

Nate was the first to start and the last to finish.  He's a careful carver.

Brandon will eat anything. As long as it tastes like chicken nuggets.

Ella and her jack-o-lantern.

He's so sweet.  I could take his picture all day.

DONE!!

Next up: Trick or Treating!!

Happy Birthday Dad!!

I know it's actually tomorrow there already.  We didn't forget, I just got busy.

Hope your day was great.

We love you!!

Field Trip!!

Last week Sylvan took Eli on a field trip to Bill's studio.

This is a picture of two people holding up a golden house.

Here is Eli sliding down the fire pole and a shot of the van/guest room.

This is inside the van.  TV & A/C.

A cow crossing sign..... just in case.

Sylvan sliding down the pole.

That's one really big fan!!

Sculpture on the patio.

This is the glass walkway to the platform the van is on.

Eli walking on air.

"The best part was climbing the rockwall Bill has installed in the back of the studio, and he gave me an ice cream sandwich.  Being an artist rocks." 

Today's winner is..

Happy Birthday Hannah!!

Hope you have a great day. We love you!

Birthday week continues....

And it goes on and on....

After carefully considering all the heinous forms of retaliation that could come my way over this post, I have decided to go forward with it anyway. Because what good is it to have a blog if you can’t pay tribute to your own brother on his birthday?

He was such a sweet little chap.

Always happy to be photographed with his family. Look at that big ol' grin. 

 (that's his first family, they're in the witness protection program now, I heard the little one was adopted.)

Then he started to get facial hair (he's 7 years old here) and decided he wanted the limelight all to himself. (did you notice the outhouse in the background? If memory serves me correctly, those backgrounds were exclusive to the Bluegrass state, if you know what I'm saying.)

He was quite the ladies man.

And if you think he's kidding when he says he can take you out, well......

Happy Birthday Jon!!

You're the best. 

(The photos above appear in their original unaltered forms.  No trickery here.  He really did have hair back in the olden days.  Lots of it.)

Birthday week '08

Our family has close to 100 October birthdays, most of them are this week.  Today is Isaiah's birthday.

We hope it's a great one. 

Today is a very special day.

It's Brandon's birthday!

Here are a few things that make Brandon so great.

AND

Oh, and Lily Tomlin had this to say...

And lets not forget..

We Love You Brandon!! Hope you have a great day!!!

Holy Moly! We almost forgot!!!

Happy Birthday Haley!!!!

We hope our willingness to look like dorks on the internet proves how much we love you.

Finally, an update!

On Monday Scott and Heather and the girls came over for family home evening. As usual it was kid crazy and of course Heather made the best salad EVER, again.

Don't you love her hair?

Annie, who loves classic rock and roll. I believe last time she was wearing her Rolling Stones shirt.

Here she attempts the dangerous "crawling under Nates legs" stunt. She's a real daredevil.

This news worthy feat, brought to you by Nate, was photographed about 10 times, then a video was made, so you could SEE the action of a can tilted to the side. I'm only giving you the one shot. You can thank me later.

Ivy brings me a lovey bunch of flowers everyday on her way home from school. Soon we are going to have to have a talk about trespassing, but for now, aren't they lovely?

Vandals.

Friday we finally put up our Halloween decorations. Brandon and Ella came over, we couldn't have done it without them. Luckily no one argued and boys and girls were on the same side all day! (Insert evil ironic Halloween laughter here)

Wesley was so happy to help us. It was touching.

This is my favorite display. Do you like the jar of skulls? They're from rats, I've been saving them for months.

Ivy used to think this was a fortune telling crystal ball. I told her that it whispered to me that she should let me pick out her clothes for the rest of the year. She told me she doesn't believe in magic anymore.

When we when out to decorate these two fine actresses found that a giant spider had already visited the tree out front.

And had laid this giant purple egg. I think Johnny Depp is inside.

Okay, your turn. What have you all been up to? If you have a blog update!! If you don't (Utah Lunt's) what are you waiting for?

Can your kids come over?

It's always safety first at our house. Really.

*No children were harmed during (0r after) the making of this film.*

We got all dressed up.

Today Brandon and Ella came over and we put up the Halloween decorations.  I will post those pictures later.  The fun part of the day was when we got all sugared up on candy corn-

And everyone got busy trying on the Halloween costumes.

Eli decided NOT to be a fairy.  I can't tell you how glad Sylvan was to hear that.

That spooky thing behind Ella is Brandon.

Here we have the studious viking 50's girl.

I'm not really sure what this is.

Ella has a bit of a dark side.

I think Edge looks really cute.  Don't you?

Ella is so sweet.

Or is she?