The official Halloween party pics

We had a photobooth for the party this year constructed and ran by my friend, Randi.  It was awesome.  True story.  See also below.

Ella was a vampire girl.  Makeup courtesy of Aunt Robin.

Ella and her friend that she invited to the party.



3 ninjas talkin weapons and stuff (L to R: Landon,
Luke, and Jason)



Ella and Chase

Jeff, Robin, Myles, and Chase



Santa made a visit (Cameron)

Troy dressed as the Hulk

Friends acting goofy



Aron's parents

Luke and his friend, Sam, acting tough



Aunt Annie, Uncle Kevin, and Benny

Connie and Sam



Scary ninjas: L to R Luke, Gavin,
and Landon

Luke and Landon

Robin's parents



Mason

Our neighbor friends



Bryson



Aron and me

Jay, Abbie, and Stacy

Dorks

Pictures I took of our party

You're right...they're not as good as my friend, Randi's, but these will have to do until I post some of hers.

 

The back of my house...with tons of carved pumpkins courtesy of Robin.

I know you can't see it very well but this is the OSU/Penn State game that was projected on the back of our 2 story garage in relation to my house lit up in the background.  Aron was super geeked about this.

Here's a shot of some of the food.  We had 9 different types of soup brought by our friends this year: Chicken noodle, potato ham, pizza soup, tortellini, chickadilla (black bean, chicken yumminess), beef barley, callico bean, broccoli, and white chicken chili.  All were super tasty and wonderful.

Stolen from the official Halloween party photographer

If I admit that I stole it outright, she can't sue me for copyright infringement, right?

We had our annual Halloween party over the weekend.  The kids had a blast and so did the adults.  I'll post more later but thought this made a good preview.

Book Review: Cliff's notes version

 This upper-middle class guy gives away all his stuff and money while severing his ties to family to travel around the U.S. in the early 90's.  He's all earthy and free range...you know, like a chicken or what not.  He overestimated his abilities and met his untimely demise in the Alaskan wilderness.  It's nonfiction but is written like fiction by piecing together his wanderings from interviews with those he encountered, his diary, and pics from his camera.  Quick read and pretty decent.  Recommended for young men 18-25, those in transitions phases in life, and chickens (duh).

This book got a lot of press a few years ago when it was spotted in Posh Spice's hand.  I found it to be just OK and was more of a vehicle for veganism.  Although I have dabbled in vegetarianism (it was in college and everyone else was doing it...you know, like dressing goth or being a Republican), I found I could do without the blatant propaganda clothed in the form of a health book.  Recommended for beginner vegetarians looking to get shamed into being vegan.

 

 This is the second book of the Lorien Legacy books.  The first one was moderately ok.  This one I would say was minimally ok.  It had a hurriedly written feeling with little to no finesse.  There are bad aliens still after the good aliens.  They fight on earth but humans manage to not notice.  Not really recommended unless you need a palate cleanser...like a lime sorbet between courses.

This was our book club selection for the month.  It was pretty decent.  Basically, it's a couple of star-crossed teenagers with cancer.  I'll not tell you how it ends although you could probably figure it out.  Recommended for those processing deaths from cancer or if you need a good cry because you just realized that your son is the male Honey Boo Boo.

Here's my current read.  I don't usually do very well with reading Christian-based books (I was unable to finish The Purpose Driven Life) but this is going pretty well so far.  Not that I'm not a Christian or that I don't like reading.  It's just the way it is for me.  I'm about 65 pages in.

Long time, no post!

Sorry for the lack of posts but we're busy getting ready for Halloween party 2012! See you soon!

Overheard recently at our house...

This is a true story.  For reals.

 

 

Me: Get up, Luke. It's time for school. 
Luke: Did you just call me Kyle? 
Me: No. 
Luke: How old do you have to be to change your name? 
Me: Probably 18. 
Luke: It's not too late to call me Kyle. 
Me: True 
Luke: You can call me Ky for a nickname. 
Me: Just get up, please, Luke. 
Luke: You mean Ky. 
Me: I mean "move along, Kid, or you'll have to eat breakfast in Randi's van on the way to school."
Luke: Ky.
Me: What? 
Luke: You mean "Move along, Ky." 
Me: Just be quiet and go downstairs......Ky.

Luke's 7!

Yeah, I can't believe it either.

Slimed

Mother, I just painted my nails.  Surely you can't
expect me to make slime now.

We went to a benefit recently where there were tons of fun kids things to do like painting nails, face painting, pony rides, etc.  One of the more popular items for me was making slime.  Take one bottle of glue, 1 teaspoon borax, a cup of water, and a few drops of food coloring to make your own slime.  Demonstrations for slime making that day were courtesy of the Little Buckeye Children's Museum.

Take one teaspoon borax and dissolve it in one cup of water.

Empty an entire container of Elmer's glue into a large container.

Add a couple drops of food coloring to the glue.

Add the dissolved borax and water to the glue.

Stir it all around.  Voila!  Slime

See also recipe here.

She's got a new profession...

 

I guess I've got runners on my hands...

The kids participated in their first "race" today by running in a one mile fun run.  We didn't really think that they would run it so we dressed them in jeans.  Sorry kids. 

 

Pre-race

Pre-race face off

Chase (yellow vest) decided to race Aron.

I didn't actually see them finish because they blew past me at about the 100 yard marker so I made them reenact it for me.  No, I'm not lying about the reenactment.  Stop laughing.
Far left in the grey jacket is Luke, next is Chase in the yellow, Ella is next in the purple jacket and Myles is bringing up the rear in the black.

In the end, Luke was in first and Ella second.