Family Pictures

All I wanted was a picture for the Christmas card. So why does taking family pictures turn into such an ordeal?! Between figuring out colors, finding clothes, searching for a photographer, selecting the {perfect} day and location... it's just a giant stress headache.

I thought it would be fun to just take them in front of our house. The maple tree was such a pretty color and it could document our last fall in our first house. Well if you know Buffalo weather, this wasn't going to be easy to schedule. And I wanted to do it sooner than later, fearing snow would hit! So that got us right around all the Halloween festivities.(So I wasn't busy or anything)We picked a day and right when Trav got home and we were all ready to walk out the door, the 40% chance of rain started falling. I just sat on the couch, looking out the window and cursed the wretched precipitation and everything it fell on. And we rescheduled for the weekend.

This time, the weather was nice, we were all ready to go, but the photographer decided to not show up. I couldn't believe it.

 Not frustrating, at all.

Well, I wasn't about to get all ready a third time. So I called Rach and she literally threw on a jacket and came right over. Even though she had just had a baby and had family in town. What a friend! I was so grateful. She was even so good to suggest poses, fix my hair, and play "clown" for Collin to smile. Unfortunately, neither of us have nice cameras, so none of these are the greatest quality. Just kinda fuzzy. But oh well! Maybe if I get really ambitious, we'll try again over Christmas in AZ. If I remember correctly, you don't have to worry much about the rain interferring. You up for it, Marcie? :)

Collin was pulling some great, cheeser smiles....

 This HAS to be Weston's best. face. ever.

I want it on his wedding video.

 Love the little hand in the pocket. I've seen this pose before, but I can't help but think it makes it look like we love Weston, but Collin can just kick around if he wants too.

 Here's a few of our {winners}...

Collin trying SO hard to wrestle free... but my face is totally happy about it.

Givin' Collin "the business" about who knows what.

I'm pretty darn tempted to just send this out for our Christmas card.

So I don't love, LOVE any of them, but I am admittedly kinda hard to please. I do, however, love that they are OVER!! :)

Alumni Dinner Dance

Back when we were newbi dental students, we happened to be at the mall when we ran into a few girls from Travis's class. After a minute of chatting, it was discovered that they were shopping for dresses for the upcoming formal dance! They asked if I was doing the same. Awkward silence. Noooo. Nope. I looked at Trav, quizzically. Was never told of any such dance by my charming husband. Rest assured he never heard the end of it and has since spent our remaining years, dutifully "asking" me every fall and spring if I'd like to go to the formal! (Asking has to be in quotations because it's more like informing me, while knowing I'll say no. Why go to something that I know he doesn't want to take me to? But in his defense, and apparently the reason he hoped these formals would forever stay a deep, dark secret... they are expensive and it "just pays for everyone's alcohol". Real reason- he hates to dance.. probably more especially in front of his classmates.)

Well, as seniors, there is another formal event called the Alumni dinner. Our friends that graduated last year, told us it was really fun, so we were looking forward to it. There is a UB dental conference downtown each fall that the students have to go to for a couple days, then they end it by throwing a big dinner for certain alumni classes and the graduating senior class. Only, the week before I found out it was actually also a dance. (dun dun dunnnnn). Well I had already gotten a sitter and a dress, so we were keeping our reservation!

It was at the Hyatt, and it all began with cocktail hour. I approached the bar and ordered a Shirley Temple. The bartender paused, shot a glance out of the corner of his eye and stammered, "Uhhhh, that's 7Up and...???" "Grenadine", I supplied. (Another confused glance.) He was probably trying to look and see if I was pregnant. Trav got an even weirder look when he ordered the same.

Cocktail hour wasn't bad. I chummed it up with Trav's old anatomy partner, Ari. Ari is gay and, much like Cam from Modern Family, you don't have to wonder when you meet him. It's pretty apparent. His parents were also there (his father graduated from UB) and I got to meet his mother. That's when I found out he grew up in the Catskills.

"You lived in the Catskills?!! I've always wanted to visit the Catskills!!"

Now he looked even more confused than the bartender.

"How have you heard of them," he asked. That's when I told him all about, My Side of the Mountain, and how my 5th graders loved reading about Sam running away and making a home in a tree in the Catskills. Well his eyes just lit up.

"Will you be in town over Thanksgving?! You should totally come have Thanksgiving with me and my family!! It will be fantastic!"

I was a bit taken aback. Quite the offer, and apparently Travis claims he brought it up again later. The question will be whether he remembers extending the invitation after the alcohol wears off.

For dinner we were served fancy schmancy salad, with a dressing that was half champagne (cooks off right? :) And steak and chicken with a side of "root vegetable". Sooo, carrots. Then a hideously boring presentation ensued, followed with... dancing! The live band started out with "I've Got a Feelin'" by the Black Eyed Peas, and then that was the end of any songs from this decade, or last. (Remember, the majority of the crowd were alumni from the years '61 and such.) The minute the music started, all the kids from Trav's class cleared out. We wondered where they went until we saw the bar. There they were! Not too much longer though and that alcohol started melting away inhibitions and we had some dance partners! So here is where Travis totally redeems himself from the earlier part of this post :) It's not easy to dance to weird tempo-d (just made that word up) songs from the 60's but I wanted to dance, so he hit the floor with me. And just like those ballroom lessons, he was in it 100% without an embarrassed look or duck of the head. And since I don't need a drink to dance terribly or without inhibition, I know I wasn't the most appealing thing out there. But it was fun. And he was earning major brownie points. And we may have even gotten a little out of hand at one point, to which the rest of his class started hooting and hollering. And I'm sure we both turned red, thinking no one was paying us any attention. Again, we'll hope those drinks fuzz out their memories.

 Here are all da Mormons! Minus the Nielsens and Finlinsons that left earlier. Don't I have a cute date? He's even cuter on the dance floor! :)

HaLLoWeen!

Holy guacamole, this is a lot of pictures, folks. I see some people write that at the beginning of posts, and then there are like 10 pictures following. Woah. Take it easy. That's just getting crazy.

This is the kind of post that deserves that warning.

So I love Halloween. I'm starting to realize that many adults don't. And I feel sorry for them! There is just so much to love about this holiday!

Reason #1 Halloween Rocks:

 the food...

I made these {Candy Corn Pops} for one Halloween playgroup.

 And this, scary meatball centipede for the other Halloween playgroup.

 These {Shattered Glass} cupcakes were for the ward Halloween party.

This bean dip was for our annual Halloween party...

as well as this {pumpkin} cheeseball.

Not pictured are the non-Halloween themed, Buffalo Chicken bites that I also made for the party. I think Travis loved them so much he wanted to kick me to the curb and marry them. If you want to give them a try, they are on Pinterest! :)

 Reason #2 Halloween rocks...

 the costumes!

Weston ended up being an American Gladiator, to go with the helmet. :)

 Don't be intimidated by those guns... he is a little too beefy for his own good, I know. We are trying to cut back.

 And for his super cool, gladiator name.... Blowout. Very fitting.

Last month, when we came home with Weston's lobster costume, Collin just BEGGED for his own. When we asked him what he wanted to be, without hestiation, he said, Shaun the Sheep. And it didn't change all month! The only time he decided he DIDN'T want to be Shaun was after I finally made his costume (you know, after hours of gluing, fuzzy cottonballs to a onsie) and it got stuck over his head. Guess it freaked him out, but we got it all figured out. There was no way he wasn't going to be Shaun the Sheep after all that work.

Obviously, most people don't know who that is, but it's a show (kinda like Wallace and Gromit) that he loves to watch on Netflix.

I was a little tempted to have him be a sexy fireman though, when one day I found him running around the house looking like this. Doesn't it just make you think of those calendars? Not that I've ever seen one or anything.

 So Shaun the Sheep he was! And I'm only just realizing that I forgot to blacken his nose like I had planned on. Darn! 

Also, I know his ears are perhaps more {rabbit-ish} than {sheep-ish}, but whattaya gonna do? Certainly not resew them.

His friend, Gavin, was a chicken. Isn't he adorable?! Rach made the whole thing. I was impressed.

As I suspected, the sheep wasn't the most durable costume. But it didn't help that Collin would be caught plucking cottonballs off his chest and chucking them at the kids. Here he is near the end of the night. I spent some time regluing before the real Halloween.

 I just had to share Miss Millie. I died laughing. The picture doesn't do this 80's aerobic instructor justice, but be assured that that bubble bum is secured with the shiniest, red spandex. What a hoot.

 Reason #3, Halloween rocks...

Caramel apples
(accompanied by our Halloween shin-dig)

I made these babies Friday night and my mouth is watering just looking at them!

 Going back to the {costumes} portion of why Halloween rocks... here are the party guests!

The Leighs were a cat and dog...

 The Mackowiaks were an English {bloke} and a soccer player.

 The Water's were a candy cane and a dead guy.

 The Shaws were Juno and her boyfriend (forgot his name). Rach pays so much attention to detail... compare to the DVD cover of the movie. Way good!

 The Taylors were Forest Gump and a box of chocolates.

 I really debated on whether to show this picture. I mean, really debated. But then I told myself I would just delete it before I printed my book. Pray I remember!

The Hawes (leave it to them to be the shockers!! :) were... the Bobbitts. If you don't know who they are, maybe google it. Or don't. There is a hot dog in that baggie and a knife in Laney's hand. Not much else you need to know. We were dying! And apparently they waltzed into Tops to buy the hotdog on their way to our party and Taylor left his robe open. Hide the kids!! :)

 The Finlinson's were Bob Ross and his beautiful tree. I loved this one, how creative!

 Rachel's sister, Laura, was in town so she came as the Tootsie Roll Pop, Mr. Owl. This was a legit costume. She and her mom sewed it. It won Best Overall prize!

 The Dobbin's were {highschool sweethearts}.

 The Carter's were... well you can figure it out! I think Denyse kept referring to herself as Shaniqua or something. It was pretty hilarious. And completely, non-offensive. People were asking them if they were nervous to drive over dressed like that! For good reason! This IS Buffalo, after all. I think my favorite accessory was her bootylicious backside. :) 

 The Fricke's came as Jackie O and Pres. Kennedy. They definitely looked the part! They won the {Best Couple} award.

Not forgetting.... the Christmas Story lamp and box! This really isn't the best picture... the fringe on the bottom of the lamp is camoflagued with the couch and you can't tell my tights are fish net :( Ah well. What surprised me more were the people that didn't know what we were! You mean your families don't watch this movie each and every Christmas?! "You'll shot your eye out kid!". "He laid there like a slug, it was his only defense." "Ho. Ho. HOOOOO."

Trav was almost Ralphie instead of the box and I was thinking that would have been great for a picture of him trying to inch his hands up my leg...haha.

We usually do a donut eating contest, but this year I added a few more games...

Like the Minute to Win It, {Face the Cookie}.... Luke won in no time at all.

Also, {Junk in the Trunk}, where you have to shake out 6 ping pong balls from an empty tissue box, tied to your backside. It makes for a good show. :) Levi cleaned up on this game.

I really need to post the video that I got of this last game. I just can't figure out how to download video from my new camera. It is a couples game where you have to pop a balloon between the two of you, but you have to stand back to front. Cue the pelvic thrusts. Are you forming a mental picture? If not, google, America's Funniest Home Videos balloon pop and a video should pop up. Um... hysterical. Like we were popping more blood vessels than balloons from laughing so hard. Except for maybe one couple that looked more mortified than anything. :) Put the kids to bed, then play this one at your next party!
 At the end, I put on a groovy song and we had a dance competition! Finally! I've always wanted to have a dance at our party. So even if I had to bribe people with a caramel apple, I finally got my dance party. :) And thanks to Laney and Denyse, it was full of {Elaine-esk} moves and black girl booty shakin. Drop it like it's hot.

It turned out to be a really fun night, but I think I'm relieved it's our last year... it was a TON of work. It consumed my whole week and definitely every second of Saturday. On Monday I think I spent an hour just making to do lists of all the stores I had to go to, things I needed to buy, and stuff I had to make. It was worth it, but it also meant Trav got to spend some time rubbing out the knots in my back Sunday afternoon. But a big thank you to everyone that made an effort to be there to make it all worthwhile!!

Reason #4 Halloween Rocks:

Taking your kids trick or treating, then eating all their candy

We had dinner at the Shaws on Monday night, then Gavin and Collin got to make their dreams come true and go trick or treating for the first time. It did not take this kid long to figure out how things worked. After the first couple of houses, he would start beelining it for the next door. It was kind of funny to watch as he determindly ran with his ears flying straight up. What wasn't funny was when he'd get just one piece of candy, then scream at the person, "More, MORE!" I was with him at one house that, unfortunately for us, was giving out little bags of fritos. He watched as it plopped in his bucket, then in a crazied frenzy started yelling, "NO! Candy!!!" Like, duh mister, this is not the holiday where you scrimp on the sugar. I was so embarrassed and kept scolding him while apologizing and dragging my monster away. Well, Trav wasn't going to have any of that. He grabbed Collin, marched back up there to make him apologize and say thank you, but the man felt BAD and pulled out his wallet and gave Collin a $1 bill! As if HE had something to be sorry for! So even though Collin did apologize, he ended up being rewarded for bad behavior. Well... I don't know... I don't think he understands money yet. So WE were rewarded for having a child with bad behavior.

After an hour of collecting, he had a couple buckets of candy, one puzzle, an outfit (from my neighbors), and the dollar bill. Not too shabby.

It was great weather for trick or treating! We made our way up Huxley and down Woodridge and it only starting raining when we were about to call it quits anyway. And on the retreat home, we caught a glimpse of a truly spooky critter. This thing was HUGE. As big as a leaf. The biggest spider I've ever seen that wasn't a tarantula.

It really was fun to take the boys around, but I did have one of those {When did I get to this point} moments. Like, I've only ever been on the other end of this event... and now I'm on the parent end. I still don't feel old, but I think times like this try to tell me I am.

 

So did I make a good case for Halloween? :) The only thing that didn't rock, was the lack of Twix's in Collin's loot. And my disasterous house after it was all over. But other than that, this haunted holiday is for sure #2 on my list. It also means #1 is on it's way!!!