Trick or Treating 2013

Capps as Ironman, Mac as a pirate, Tavis goes a Daddy with a Flashlight, Daegan as Ski Patrol and Mollee as Katniss, with the braid and all.

 

 

 The two "Daddy with a Flashlight"

 My pumpkins with the Christmas lights - a running joke that I never took them down

 Mac was really in charcter

 The annual Halloween Group Shot

 A visit from the other Browns before Trick-or-Treating...

 (a hug from Uncle Daniel for the birthday girl)

 Libby's first Halloween

 Libby (aka Little Mima) with Uncle Jase and Aunt Gretchen

 First stop, always the Delaney's

We become parents of a teenager

Moo Moo's big present was her bedroom remodel surprise, but after dinner and before trick-or-treating we had a small celebration.  I had taken doughnuts to school for Mollee's GAP group and we made a cake out of the leftovers.

And we had one more gift for her

A Ring!

Then Daniel and Heather stopped by to give her their gift and Pops and Mimi stopped by to see costumes.

Omar doesn't let me forget to feed him

Mollee's New Room

I did mention this in a previous post, but we surprised Mollee with a room re-modeling while she was gone at a youth retreat.  She has talked about re-doing her room and I have secretly been buying things for a month.

This was what she came home to and I think she was a little confused - since her birthday isn't for four more days.

Here is her new room!

We painted grey, bought a chair.

Lots of new accents and Aunt Heather made the curtains!

And new bedding.

A few of the accents:

Some boxes made out of same material as bedding, along with her Moo Moo's displayed and some pictures.

Sparkly heart and a shelf with important items.

A new vase along with two items from Mima's house.

Her makeup box on the wall, along with her Monster High dolls displayed on her dresser.

And her favorite part, her new light.

These are the BEFORE pics - blue room, little organization and yellow and blue bedding.

It was fun and I think she was pleasantly surprised and she seems to like everything we did!!!! *phew*

Fire with Armao's

The boys always enjoy a good firepit s'mores building with Mr. Armao!

Happy Anniversary Babe!

Sometimes, this is how you spend your anniversary.  To 17 more years babe!

 More on this in another post - but Mollee was on a youth retreat this weekend.  She is turning 13 next week, so we decided to surprise her with a room makeover.

 Daegan was so helpful and so excited!!

What Phase 10 has taught me about my kids

I love game night with the kids.  Sometimes we play Rumikub.  Sometimes we play Toy Story Yahtzee.  Sometimes we play Blockus.  Sometimes we play Dance Party on the Kinect.  Or Adventure Sports.

Tonight we played a few rounds of Uno Flash (a major favorite that I recommend to families with kids of all ages).  We played that for the sake of Mac being able to play.  Then we moved on to Phase 10.

Jason and I have a long history with Phase 10.  When we were dating, engaged and then newlyweds, we played this game all the time with Charlie and Amie and Philip and Sarah.  Every extra evening was spent with these two couples and we played this game A LOT!!  Our next phase of life, with five little kids, we had Dusty and Rachel over every Sunday night for dinner and a round of Phase 10.  We even wrote "Rachel" on all our Skip cards because she thought we always skipped her.  :)

So, tonight we taught the kids how to play.  It is a slightly complicated game to understand at first, but the kids did fairly well to pick up on it.  And each of their personalities were brought out, just a little bit more...

Mollee - Moody - she didn't want to play, but didn't want to be left out.  At the beginning of the game, she was doing poorly and in a bad mood.  But as we moved along, she did better and better and her mood improved greatly.

Tavis - Scattered - he had a hard time following the game.  And he couldn't figure out how to hold his cards in a fan.  He had cards laying on the table and kept dropping cards, etc.  I was beginning to see why he can never find his homework.

Daegan - Over-Achiever - he understood immediately, played intensely and strategically.  When he lost a hand, you could see his disappointment, but you could also see his determination.  And he ended up winning - the little turkey!!

Capps - Systematic - he understood and worked out his own strategy in his head.  He had a plan, even though it looked like confusion in his corner.  He had cards laying face down on the table (which drives me crazy), but he could tell you exactly what was laying where - and exactly what he needed.

Playground and the Creek

Today I took a early and longer lunch break with my sister and niece, Ruth and Lilly, since the kids were on Fall Break.

The girls stick together.

The boys at the bocce court.

Mac still doesn't mind if I take his picture.

Being goofy with my Tavis!

Following Lilly around was the game of the day!

Just swinging!

And then down to the creek

I thought for sure this was going to be the picture right before Mac fell in.

Ruth and Lilly

All the kids having a blast!

I was far away and this is majorly zoomed in, but this is Tavis "not getting in the water"....