Halloween 2011

I think Halloween has gotten to be a busier holiday for us than Christmas!  We have so much fun, but all the festivities sure keep us busy!

He refused to smile for this picture because he said Darth Maul doesn't smile....duh mom.

Christmas Morning

Huh. For some reason this post never got published. Christmas in April :)

Caeden has been asking for a Wii for two years now and Santa finally brought one....think he's excited?

Christmas Party and Gingerbread houses!

This years Mike's family Christmas party was a lot of fun. We had a great time, relaxing, eating, exchanging gifts and even making gingerbread houses.......

The Mama.....

Of course, to an almost two year old, the packaging is always better than the actual gift.....

Each family got a house to work on together. The boys had fun decorating our gingerbread cottage, but I think they enjoyed eating the rock-hard cookies, glue-like frosting, and stale granite candy even better. To each his own I guess......

Proudly showing off the finished product.....

Hogle Zoo Christmas Light and Santa

This was a fun activity we did with my sister and her kids before Christmas......

I just had to post this picture of my niece, it's so funny. She was showing us how excited she was to go see Santa. I love her so much, she's so stinkin' cute!

Fast-Free-Fun Christmas project!

I found this cute Christmas Carol Subway Art here. Twenty minutes, some cardstock and a little ribbon I had lying around and this is what I had......
Yeah! I love decorating my home for the holidays. Now I need to go get the tree out of the garage......

Halloween (very Belated!)

Am I the only person who shuts down when something overwhelms me? It's one of my biggest faults. You could walk through my house and spot out the areas that overwhelm me because I never do anything about them. Well, the blog is at that point right now. I keep getting behind and then I look at all the pics/stories I need to post and I don't know where to start.

Anyway, point of that tangent is I'm going to try and catch up (again) and that's why I'm posting about Halloween when it's getting into the Christmas season. Better late than never, right?

We had a great year, but we always do. I love Halloween. It's one of my favorite holidays......maybe even my favorite.

Me, the boys, and their Papa & Nana went to do the Witches Scavenger Hunt at Gardner Village. I had never done it before and we loved it! I'm pretty sure it's going to be an annual thing now.....

The annual Jarvis Halloween Party.....

I guess always being a princess gets boring and she had to kick it up a notch.....

No, the big ol' wrap on my finger isn't part of my costume. I decided to cut a big chunk off while preparing dinner and the only way we could get it to stop bleeding was duct tape.....that stuff really is good for everything.....

How cute is grandma?

Weston putting on his cousins thigh-high boots and trying to walk......

I thought this year would be a ruined mess because we got the mother-of-all-rainstorms early in the evening. There wasn't a trick-or-treater to be seen! The boys were done even though they'd only been out for 20 min. They were soaked and wanting to just go get dry. Thankfully the storm eventually cleared out and the kids and their parents came out in force!

We've started a new tradition of setting up a Haunted House in our garage every year. We had such a great turn-out for it this year......I think the word is getting out (yeah!!). Our two teenage nieces, Morgan and Tia, came and helped out this year. They did fantastic and I think they had a great time. It is just too much fun! I was coming down with the stomach flu that night so I didn't even think to get pics, but next year.....

I was a spider web and Weston was my spider.....

The cutest Indian/Harry Potter/ Mountain Man I ever saw......

Happy Retirement Daddy!

I think my dad has been talking about his retirement for the last 10 years. All that waiting and planning has finally paid off because this July he got to retire! We wanted to do a special friend and family party for him, but trying to pin him down long enough to put something together was a challenge! I don't think he's going to be using much of his new found freedom to stay at home and relax! It was a suprise and we had a great turnout of friends and family.



I wish I would have had the time to take more pictures, but I didn't. We had a Safari theme and I had hung large green paper leaves and animal print balloons all over the house. We also had signs with sayings like "300 Miles to Zumbawi", "Do Not Feed The Monkeys", "Warning: Elephant Crossing". The house looked pretty cute!



The kids favorite part was the cake (I know, big suprise).....

You can't tell, but Mike and I are in Safari getup........

Cherie and her beautiful girls.......

Jeff, my brother, and Nicole......

My great Aunt Linda & Uncle Ross......

My great Aunt Sharon & Quinn.....

The guest of honor and his lovely wife.....

I know this is something he's looked forward to for a long time and I'm so happy for him!

Everyone made a guess as to what he would do with all his free time during retirement. Some of the suggestions were:

Get a tattoo and wear a muscle shirt - Mike

Start a daycare for delinquent children - Tanner's idea....with some help from mom

Spend more time with your Aunt Linda -Linda

Spend lots of time with your grandkids - Ross

Travel the world, discover a new bird and name it after yourself: The red-tailed, blue featheres, dumb-dumb bird - Shauna

Take bongo drum lessons -Jeff

Sleep over at my house. Watch Pokemon with me. Play Pokemon cards with me - Caeden

Spend as much time with kids and grandkids as possible. Aside from that, skydiving, bunge-jump, and paintballing. And maybe some much needed rest and time with your beautiful wife. -Kimber

Do a triatholon. Take some cookies classes and then invite us over for dinner. Try belly dancing. Your Favorite Daughter - Cherie

Do nothing - ?

See the world - ?