"My Ha-wo-ween Buhf-day Pah-tea"

Matthew's 4th birthday party was held a few days before his actual birthday. We started the day off opening a gift sent from Mike in China...he got him the Littlest Pet Shop Playhouse! Such a huge smile!


The cupcake tower - black sugar and gummy tarantulas decorate these yummy chocolate cupcakes :)


Dining room with spooky spiderwebs...

Graveyard dip...complete with tombstones and ghosts (click to enlarge and read the tombstones)...

The birthday boy tuckered out a half hour BEFORE the party even started! Poor little guy had a bad headache...this is how I found him :(

Watermelon brain!

The birthday boy, his brother and friends Hunter and Keli...

Grandmapa and witchy Mom...

Party chaos at present time...

Our oldest and youngest guests have a bonding moment...

Some of the distinguished guests included Grandma and Grandpa, Grandma June, Auntie Brit, NanaDee and PapaRobin; Mindy, Glenn, Noah and Nathan; Pop, Uncle Jon and Auntie Mel...and of course the friends from the previous picture...Hunter and Keli...(Andrew's best buds from kindergarten last year)

I love this picture because you can see the sugar-fiend in the background attempting to snatch another cupcake...

Witches brew taking shape...

This was SO cool!

The pinata was super fun! That sucker took a LOT of whacks before it cracked! Even still, Matthew ended up hanging from his feet to get the candy to drop!

Andrew had some great hits, but no success!

Matthew gave it his best :)

Scared Auntie Mel in the background!


Grandma Jen takes a swing...

The monster won (took her stick!)

FINALLY! Look at the super happy faces - love it!

The leftover dry ice kept Jon busy for about 3 hours...fun to watch his experiments! Best 99 cents ever spent!

Overall, a wonderful party. Birthday boy got rid of his headache in time to enjoy his guests and gifts! He got EVERYTHING he wished for and more. During the morning, as Andrew and I were prepping, he kept thanking us for his party - it was so sweet! His gratitude and appreciation were beyond his years...I was more than happy to do anything I could to see him smile. And, I'll do it again next year. :)

Fall Happenings

Took the boys to a special storytime at Barnes and Noble one weekend - they had a little coloring time, a story, craft and even a snack. Afterwards, we walked over to Panda Express for a special lunch together - my little guys were SO PERFECT that day...such a joy!


I remember being childless and hearing about the antics of little boys...and always thinking to myself, "MY boys will never do something like that to me...." Well, they will. And they do. This is 'funny' to Andrew...a mouse on mom's head (yes - a real one)...

Best dog in the world...looks out for the boys at night so I can rest easy :)

Andrew helped me get ready for Matthew's party - 2 days of major prep, including filling the indestructable pinata (more about that later!)...

Matthew and his buddy Junior hang out under the huge umbrella - Andrew's last soccer game was true Oregon soccer...rain, mud, cold, wind, dark - ugh.

See? Rain...dark...and you can almost feel the cold!

Pizza party after the last game - Coach Tanner/Dad hands Andrew his trophy...

Happy kids!

My super proud 6 year old!

Pumpkins and "Fright Night"

Pumpkin carving day, with Auntie Jen!


Mr. So Serious with a *real* knife - he was very proud :)

Swine flu pumpkin!

A little out of order here, but Jen took Matthew to pick out pumpkins...

Matthew and 'his' tongue...

Climbing the rocketship at Andrew's school...

Brotherly love...great workout for mom!

See? It took Jen's help to get them UP that hill!

Look at the face on Andrew! Too funny! Must have been a heavy pumpkin :)

Matthew requested a jack-o-latern that looks just like him! I think Jen did pretty well, huh? :)

Mom of the Year Award goes to....(yeah - real knives - those pumpkin carving things are MORE dangerous, in my opinion...and gimmicky anyhow...)

sine flue

Another angry/scary face - ha ha!

The jack-o-latern gang...

Coach Jen collects balls at practice...

Happy monkey on the way to Fright Night (kind of like trick-or-treating, at Andrew's school a week before Halloween)

My monkey and super cute Harry Potter...

Making treat bags at the first station...

Witch-Mom

Matthew had the funniest bean-bag-toss stance!

Trixie the wonder dog, minus her costume...

Watch out! He's good at casting spells!

An attempt to help his brother ended in screaming and fit #528 that day! Oy - NOT a happy monkey...

See? (but ack! Isn't he SO cute?)

This is what our day looked like...

The limp, soggy thing in his hand is a quesadilla he demanded and carried for awhile...

Momma and her babies...

We stopped by Pop's office for some more pictures...Jen gets Andrew adjusted...

Dino Jen and her boys...

Mrs. Southard (in the brown sweater across from Andrew) is Andrew's 1st grade teacher...she was helping out with making treat bags...

Playing games at Fright Night...monkey putt-putt...

Computer lab/game time...

There was a high school boy dressed as Optimus Prime - Matthew was totally enthralled by him - he even had the voice changing mask!

A tale of tails...