Wednesday, November 19, 2008

A reason to celebrate!

Having great friends is reason enough to celebrate,
but going out with those friends to celebrate is even better! :)
Krista and Dale took us to the authentic german restaurant
to celebrate Krista's birthday
and Jim's successful completion of his dissertation proposal.
Oh yes, we dusted off the old lederhosen and Nathan dined in style! :)
Like father, like son. :)
Everyone was in good spirits as we celebrated with:
good food, (ah yes, my cheeks are stuffed!)
some folksy accordian music,
a little ballerina dancing,
some cutesy entertainment,
And the oh so traditional German chicken dance,

starring the"von Caldwell'"family. :)
Hugs to the Helms for their kindness, friendship and love!

Happy Halloween

Inspired by miss Krista's new webkinz, my kids all wanted to be bats for Halloween. It doesn't get easier than that! We snipped some black, sparkly fabric, attached it with hair bands and safety pins and voila-three totally happy bats flying around the yard. :)
Lindsey was a "Minnie Bat."

Aimee is the infamous Cinderella.

We got so much use out of this year's costumes. Elise wore hers to ballet, we had a block party and then a "trunk-or-treat" at our church. I was wary about collecting so much candy but Elise reminded me it was okay because we could just give it all away again on Halloween (that's my girl)! :)
The kids decorated the trunk (spreading out the spider webs that I can't touch) for the ward activity.They were super excited to show off the pumpkins they carved with Jim.

Nathan was delighted with his scary face pumpkin.

Aimee really only cared about one treat: her little "sweetie-pie" webkinz.Sweetie-Pie goes wherever Aimee goes. Lindsey so kindly shared sweetie-pie with Aimee one day and the rest is history. Lindsey is being very sweet herself about it and it's a perfect example of the way she loves and nurtures Aimee.

Some Trunk-or-Treat festivities.
It was especially fun for us because Allison and Krista came too.

Here's Nathan's excited to get candy look that came just five minutes before the "uh oh, I think I had too much candy!" look which was followed by the "I feel a little better" look after he 'lost his candy' all over the bushes. Lucky for us Jim had arrived just in time to take him home. :)
Thank you Daddy for saving the day!