Ghoul's night out

My sister-in-law Sallie threw a Witch hat party shortly before Halloween for ladies in her ward.  I, of course, shamelessly invited myself.  She knows how to make things beautiful, and I just try to keep up.  I never knew that setting food out on a table for a crowd could be done so glamourously.  Wild sunflowers in a vase?  She has an eye for beauty.   Therefore, there was more glitter here than on the floor of Elton John's closet.  We got together for a fabulous dinner (she's also a good cook, as anyone knows who's looked in my recipe book.  Half my recipes start with "Sallie's ____") of salad, bread, minestrone, and chicken gnocchi soup.  For dessert she made pumpkin cheesecake.  So yum!  After dinner we made our witch hats fabulous, with supplies we both brought and scavenged from Sallie's supply.

Cinnamon stick apple cider to drink.   

She had cute little details everywhere, like these glittered plastic spiders. 

I thought this contrast was ironic, with the ghost in back and the picture of Christ in front. 

This cutie posed with my undecorated hat on.  I made this myself, actually, from Sallie's scraps and pattern. 

Have you ever seen eyes this blue? 

It was a fun night, and I got a very cute hat out of it.  I forgot to take a picture of the people, or the completed hats.  At least I got the food, right?  Nothing more important than that!

Carving pumpkins

Our annual carving of the pumpkins ceremony.

Scott and Brighton collaborated on theirs to make a 3-eyed alien. 

I have to include one of the famous tongue shot! 

Scott tried to get some cool lighting shots of the pumpkins, but they didn't turn out, and, unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of the finished product.

Keaton kept taking the lid off this one and putting his face into it to see the candle.  Mine was the only one that had a real old-fashioned kind, which Waverly discovered and kept blowing out.  She wished the pumpkin happy birthday many times before so doing.  While trick-or-treating, many homes had to relight their candles upon our departure.   

Savannah's was the kitty one on the right, mine the face on the left.

Caramel candy apples

This year's batch of caramel apples were more yummy than they were pretty.

The cinnamon sugar ones are still my favorite by far, after trying lots of different variations. 

These two little fingers liked the chocolate chip and M&M ones best. 

Mmmmmm.... 

Crazy hair day 2010

Crazy hair day at school.  That is a spring in Irelynd's hair.  Scott was her stylist.

Cheap labor

One day while cleaning the windows, the twins demanded to help.  I gave them both a wad of paper towells and they went to work.  Waverly stayed for the first two windows, then lost interest to better things, like building a lego castle, a favorite pasttime.  But Keaton stuck right with me, even still cleaning after I was ready to be done.  He was so intent on getting them clean.

I love the look of sheer concentration on his face. 

He is determined those pesky spots will come off. 

Sometimes ya gotta grit your teeth to get the job done. 

Waverly came back briefly to see what was taking him so long. 

A hand for support to reach those tough-to-reach spots up high... 

Just can't get those tough spot off. 

I've been waiting for either of my girls to show any sign of a neat freak hiding within.  Still waiting, but in the mean time, maybe I've been watching the wrong kids.  My boys seem to be neat freaks in the making.  Especially this one.  Love it!

Random twin pics

Waverly has a current fetish.  Well, always with cupcakes (she got something of me after all), but mostly with "pitty curts", or pretty skirts.  If it ain't pretty, she ain't wearing it.  At 2 she refuses to let me or Scott pick out her clothes, and she has to have options.  Like, lots of them.  She'll change her bottoms at least 3 times through the day.  She can't remove her shirts yet, but just give her time!  I'll find her clothes wherever she decided to strip.  And, it absolutely, no negotiating, has to have pink on it.  I've never had such a girly daughter before.  I'm loving it, but I just wish she'd let me dress her in what I thought was cute, because we have very different ideas of what "cute" is.  This outfit she's in is a compromise.  I dressed her cutely to go to dinner for the non-twins' birthdays (all three are within 30 days of each other).  I put an unacceptable, non-cute skirt on, and she insisted on the purple one (I guess it's close enough to pink if she's in a pinch.)  Oh, we're in trouble in a few years...

The twins love love love helium balloons.  They went through a period where they asked, or rather, demanded, one every live long day a few months ago.  Here they are enjoying the leftovers from Brighton's party.  They took turns with it while they danced to the music.  It's times like these that make it worth times like every other time with them.  THey do make me laugh. 

3 "men" in a tub...

One day these three went missing.  This is where I found them.  Along with about 6 gallons of water everywhere else.