The Halloween Circus

Every year my cousins Anne & Dave host a Halloween party complete with costume contest. We always dress up--although our "costume enthusiasm" has wavered back and forth over the years. This year, my brother came up with a theme for my brothers, sister-in-laws and us: CIRCUS FREAKS. And that we were. Our costumes were hilarious to create and involved a lot of...spandex and hand bedazzling. Needless to say, we won first prize. Welcome to the Greatest Show On Earth.....

A trapeze artist and the Ringmaster.

Lots of glitz and sequins.

The Lion Tamer and The Contortionist (or pretzel-lady as Kyle likes to say).

The World's Strongest Man.
With his counterpart...the Bearded Lady.
The Circus Freaks (complete with beyond life-size lion)
Evan Lysacek and his DWTS partner Anna Something.
Blue Man Group and a Totem Pole flanked by Lady & the Tramp.

Pumpkin Carving

The weekend of Halloween happened to coincide with Olivet's Homecoming so Chad's parents came to stay with us. It worked out great as they were able to babysit for us on Saturday night while we went to our Halloween party and ideally they would be able to see the kids in their costumes on Halloween....however, the flu that had recently been in our house, was not done with us yet. They both got the flu on Saturday night and left first thing in the morning. Boo! At least before they got sick, the kids had some fun playtime with them and spent Saturday morning carving pumpkins together!

Halloween at Homewood

As is the tradition, I took the kids to Homewood dressed up in their costumes to deliver treats. This year we were joined by Heather & Harry and Lisa & Lauris. The kids just ran around the place like crazy and had tons of fun together. I think I finally stopped sweating after they were tucked away at nap time. Phew...fun but crazy.

Lauris the bunny and Gavin the puppy.

Sydney has big hugs for Uncle Kyle.

My little lady bug.

Syd and Harry (Mickey Mouse) help with the mail delivery.

Gavin the puppy.

Elevator Ride!!

Hope Homecoming

This year marked my 10 year college reunion...and it just so happened to coincide with Delphi's 100 year reunion! What a reason to celebrate! I went up to Holland for a weekend full of fun festivities. Friday night was a girls night--complete with dinner with my girls, Delphi lit meeting, party at the Park Theater and out on the town. Saturday, our hubbies came up and we went to our 10-year reunion dinner and then out with the Leonards and Hassenriks. So fun--up until the point that Chad got the flu Saturday night. Eww. Other than that, so glad I went and was able to go back and spend some time reliving the glory days! :)

Dinner at the Curragh.

Lindsay & Lesley

Jamie (7 mo preggo!!), LP (all the way from Texas!!) & I

Delta Phi dear gold and blue, forever we'll be true to you....

Carrie, Tenille and Koop

Woo-hoo Delphi!

Drinks at the Park Theater.

Partying at the Park.

Carrie, Les & I.

LP & Jamie still holding out.

End of the night...the final four.

Home sweet home our Junior year!

Pledge Paddle making up the wall.

Can't believe how this house has changed...but is eerily still the same....standing on the stairs on our way up.

Cottage should be blue...but it still has a place in my heart.

10 year reunion dinner.

The Leonards.

Chad & I

Boys will be boys.

11 Months

How are we rapidly approaching 1 year already? Well...since I can't stop her from growing, I might as well get right to the status update.





- Walks. EVERYWHERE. Preferred method of travel no doubt.

- Done nursing officially. Last time was the morning after my return trip from Homecoming. She was still fine with it and would have nursed forever but I was ready and truthfully, there wasn't much left for her anyway.

- She is experimenting with so many new sounds and will often try to repeat your inflection. In fact, although I am the speech non-believer....even I have to admit, I think she says DaDa, MaMa and Uh (for Uh-Oh). I wasn't buying it but sure enough, she'll scoot right up to my feet and say MaMa until I respond.

- She's starting to "pretend" and loves to pretend watch us drink out of her bottle or eat her food.

- She LOVES to be tickled and kissed in the folds of her neck. She just giggles and giggles. I love it.

- Starting to love to "wrestle" with Chad and I when we are on the ground. She will walk up to you and just flop on top of you until you roll around with her.

- She's just starting to show food preference. Its almost as if she realized that this solid food thing was a permanent deal so she didn't have to shove it all in for fear of it going away. She will now eat things by color or texture or whatever else and although she's inconsistent, she's definitely opinionated.

Bengstons

Our annual trip to Bengston's Pumpkin Farm fell on the same weekend as the Shedd visit. So..we had lots of quality family time together but we had lots of fun! The weekend was beautiful and the day at the pumpkin farm was sunny and crowded! I love watching the kids faces as they encounter all their new surroundings. Another fun fall day for us!