Halloween Bash 2014

Last night we hosted our annual Halloween Bash!

I forgot to get pictures of the food and decor...but everything was the same as always...skeleton bones (white chocolate covered pretzels), graveyard guacamole, zombie hearts (cream cheese and chili sauce), vampire veggies, Frankenstein fruit, mummy brownie bites, mummy dogs, and goblin eyes (meatballs.)

Even though the food might always be the same...one thing that always changes from year to year is the level of awesomeness that is brought with everyone's costumes!

Here are the Nettos...

Woody, Etch-A-Sketch, and Jessie from Toy Story

**All of their costumes were made by hand!**

Etch-A-Sketch with our very own Batman!

The Klingers...

Lego Woman, bat fairy, construction worker, and Darth Vader

Brian and Kelly...

The Gladiator and his goddess...

Yes, Brian has hair!

Kristen and Drew...

Dorothy and Scarecrow

The Edells...

Paul Bunyon and his Babe...the blue ox

Here he is with both of his babes!

As you can see...one of his babes wasn't feeling the pictures. :)

Finally...here we are...

A  five months pregnant Poison Ivy, The Riddler, and Batman!

All of the lovely ladies!

And of course...the gentlemen!

Last year we added some fun with our "Minute to Win It Tournament." 

Since everyone loved it...the pressure was on to bring it back this year.

 After the teams were randomly selected...it was game time!

First up...

Chocolate Unicorn!

The team that could stack 7 Ding Dongs on their forehead and get it to balance for 3 seconds, won.

Jeff was off to a good start...

Deborah was dynamite...

Drew thought he had won it...

until it was discovered he only had 6 Ding Dongs stacked!

He did go on to win it for his team.

Next up...

Vampires Bite!

Players had to transfer marshmallows from one plate to the other...

only using their vampire teeth!

Kristen was looking good...

Kelly was in it to win it...

Sheri was still in it...

But in the end...Kelly won it and Team One was off to an early lead!

Next up...

Sticky Situation

Players had to bounce a ping pong ball on the table and get it to stick to a piece of bread with peanut butter on it.

Brian took an early lead and dominated with a total 6 balls on his bread!

At this point Team One had three victories under their belt and the rest of us...well...we were having fun! :)

Candy Corn Hose

Each player had to retrieve the candy corn that was in the bottom of each leg of the panty hose...without using their other hand to help!

I won this one...and finally put our team on the board!

With a boost of confidence, Deborah took continued our momentum in...

Candy Corn Stick-Up

Players had to stand candy corn up around the edge of their paper plate. First player to get all the way around the plate...or the farthest in one minute...wins!

With Frank's team mathematically out of the competition...

he decided to take a different approach to the game...

and throw candy corn at Drew's...knocking them over. :)

Deborah stayed focused and...

Winner winner!!!

If you are wondering what happened to Chad...

well...he decided to be the MC/play by play guy! :)

With Team 3 back in the competition...the scoreboard read:

Team 1 - 3 wins

Team 2 - 0 wins

Team 3 - 2 wins

Our final game...

Mummy Wrap

Each team was given one roll of toilet paper, whoever wrapped their mummy first, without breaking their paper, was the winner.

Team Two was off to a good start...

so was Team One...even though I'm not sure that Kelly was feeling the same. :)

Yup...that's me under there...trying not to fall over because I was so dizzy!

Dizzy or not...we WON!!!!

If the judges were looking for the nicest mummy...

Team One would have surely won. :)

With the score tied...we went into a tie-breaker!

Team 1 and Team 3 battled for the win with a candy corn drop.

When it was all finished...here is what the scoreboard said...

Team 3 WON!!!!!!

Last year...you might remember...

our prize was $1 million dollars...in chocolate.

Well, with a baby on the way, I had to explain that our budget had been cut...and Dollar Tree didn't have their million dollar candy bars this year...so each member of the winning team only got $100 grand this year!

Not that I am competitive or anything...but...

my team has won the last two years! :)

As always it was a blast...

and my little Batman lasted until the very end of the party!

He loves his costume so much...that he is wearing it again...right now...while reading with Chad. :)

Avila Valley Barn Pumpkin Fun!

Last weekend my mom, sister, Landry and I made our annual trip to the Avila Valley Barn!

It is a tradition that we started when Landry was about 18 months old...he wasn't such a fan then...but he LOVES it now...and we always look forward to our girls' trip...plus Landry. 

So fun to think that next year we will have another girl in the group! :)

The barn always has a variety of animals that you can feed. 

My sister comes prepared...with her own food...and this is the first time Landry willingly fed the animals.

He stuck to animals that were smaller...or the same height as him. :)

Along with farm animals, they have a hay ride out to the pumpkin fields.

While we waited in line...we had a little photo opportunity.

Landry also spotted a tractor that he wanted to "drive."

He was very determined to get it moving...

but...he finally decided that it was "broken!" :)

My little pumpkin!

Our attempt at a "selfie" on the hay ride!

The minute we got off of the hayride...and the first pumpkin that he saw...he decided it was "the perfect one!"

And then there was another "perfect one!"

And another...well...maybe not. :)

He wanted to search the entire field...even though he already had "the perfect one."

He got a bit "upset" when we wouldn't follow him any farther.

So...he decided to take a seat...

and play the drums!

When we were done with the hay ride someone wanted to be "King of the World!"

Handsome and me...plus Baby Girl!

Auntie K.K., Landry, and me

We got some more pumpkins...plus a pie...and an apple turn-over...before we headed in to San Luis Obispo for lunch. As always...it was a great day trip! Here's a quick look back at how much Handsome has grown!

October 2011

October 2012

October 2013...finally a smile!

And this year!

Baby Bump: 18 weeks

Fruit comparison: Not a fruit...but apparently the baby is the size of a bell pepper now.

Boy or girl: It is a...GIRL!!!!!!!!

Yes, we are SUPER excited to be welcoming a little girl into our family. 

We are pretty amazed at how excited everyone else is for us, too. :)

Sick or fabulous: Still not really fabulous...but there has certainly been a drop in the number of random gag moments. The latest ailment is that this sweet little girl must find my bladder to be super comfy because she is sitting right on it 90% of the time. Nothing like feeling like you are ALWAYS about to pee your pants.

Weight gain: Just over 5 pounds...right around 7 pounds on most days.

Cravings: This is one thing that is the same as my last pregnancy...sweets! I currently have brownies, an ollalieberry pie, apple turnover, and cinnamon roll cake in my kitchen. Ha!

Looking forward to: Deciding on a name for this sweet girl. We have a couple in mind but haven't decided on one yet...and it is kind of driving me crazy.

Other updates: I have been feeling Little Girl move and kick for about two weeks now. At first I wasn't really sure it was her...but it is. Chad and Landry have both been able to feel her kick. Landry thinks it is the coolest thing ever and is constantly asking if he can feel his baby sister. So, he spends a lot of his night laying with me, hand on my belly, waiting to feel her kick. :)

Landry's thoughts: To say that he is excited about having a baby sister is an understatement! Many of you might know that he has been asking for a little sister for about a year and a half. He has been set on the idea that the baby was a girl. We took him with us to the ultra-sound appointment and this was our conversation in the car on the way there:

Me: "What do you think, Bubs...still think the baby is a girl? Or do you think it is a boy?"

Landry: "It is a girl."

Me: "Well...we could find out today that it is a boy."

Landry: "Well, we are just going to tell the doctor that we want a girl."

Me: "Well...it doesn't exactly work that way. We don't get to choose. Wouldn't you still be happy to have a brother?"

Landry: "No."

Needless to say...it is a good thing it is a girl...otherwise we would have one upset little boy. :)

Here is our little girl!

***I want to share that I stole the idea of this list from a blog that I have fallen in love with...

Little Baby Garvin at littlebabygarvin.blogspot.com

She did this with both of her pregnancies and I loved that she had a quick little list of fun things to look back at...not to mention her adorable chalk board designs. :)

Baby Bump: 15 weeks

Here we are...15 weeks along!

Fruit comparison: Supposedly the baby is about the size of an apple this week.

Boy or girl: Still unknown...hopefully we will know in a few weeks :)

Sick or fabulous: Well...I'm not sure that I will ever feel "fabulous" this time around. Thankfully I am getting most of my energy back. It hasn't helped that I have spent about 30 hours over the past two weeks at school events/activities. But I feel that we are turning a corner. As far as nausea goes...not sure that will ever go away either. I know that I could be WAY worse...however...I am getting really tired of the random gagging. Anything and everything can bring it on...yay.

Weight gain: almost 5 pounds. People have been VERY kind saying, "You barely look pregnant"...I am not feeling the same way. Don't get me wrong...I love rubbing my belly...but in comparison to last time...I am feeling "large and in charge" for being this early on. As a result...I am pretty much living in maxi skirts. :)

Cravings: Anything and everything. Today...it was spinach dip from Save Mart and root beer. Yes, I did stop by Save Mart on the way home and grabbed some of both. :) Overall it has been baked goods, again. Although...a few weeks ago there was a night that I did actually eat a bowl of ice cream and followed it up with a few sweet pickles. Yum...I know.

Looking forward to: My next OB appointment in two weeks when they will schedule our ultrasound to find out if this baby is a boy or girl. :) Also...I'm not going to lie...with this heat, tailgates, and a wedding coming up...I am really looking forward to when I can have a nice, cold, adult beverage again.

Landry's thoughts: He is still super excited about being a big brother. He is also sticking to his belief that he is having a little sister. He likes to remind me that my belly is getting really big and that the baby "just keeps growing." He is very concerned at the moment that we don't have any baby food at the house for the baby. He is quite worried that the baby is going to be born and won't have any food to eat...because he ate it all when he was a baby. :)

***I want to share that I stole the idea of this list from a blog that I have fallen in love with...

Little Baby Garvin at littlebabygarvin.blogspot.com

She did this with both of her pregnancies and I loved that she had a quick little list of fun things to look back at...not to mention her adorable chalk board designs. :)