Family Pictures, Finally

We haven't had family pictures done since Neely was Reed's age.  So it was time.  I'd been hoping to have Heidi do them, and knew she'd fill up fast in the fall, so I caught her early and reserved a day in mid-October.  We ended up getting really lucky and picked the perfect weekend.  She said she did someone's pictures in the same place the weekend before and the leaves hadn't changed color yet. 

The kids did really well, considering how awkward we all are in front of the camera.  Lots of stiff poses from Paige, embarrassed faces from Cason, and cheesy fake smiles from Neely.  Then there's me, just plain old awkward.  Haha.  Heidi still got some great pictures.

 The kids all wanted to be the one to hold Reed in the pictures of all four of them.  She ended up letting them each pose for one alone with Reed.  These ended up being my favorites, because they all smiled the most naturally in these, since they were so happy and proud of their baby.  The one of Neely especially makes me happy.  I don't have many pictures of her like this.  She is either totally candid in pictures I take, of her drawing or playing or whatever, or is giving me super fake smiles. 

 Since Cason and Reed together doubled as a boys shot, she got this of the girls.

 We got some of each of them alone too.

 

Frankenweenie, Pumpkins, and Polymer

We've all had a bit of a cold, so we've been mostly staying at home for the last week or so.  We had a nice weekend though.  We were supposed to get our family pictures done Saturday, but we had a couple kids with runny noses, so I talked to Heidi(who was taking our pictures) and we moved it up to Friday, just in case anybody got worse over the weekend.  She was awesome, and we had fun and it didn't take long at all.  

Saturday we watched Cason play soccer in the morning, and after that spent a nice day at home.  

We haven't done too many Halloween crafts or anything so far this month, so we planned a Halloween movie night.  We ended up choosing Frankenweenie.  I had high hopes for that movie, but I ended up just liking, not loving it in the movies.  It grew on me this time, but I still feel like it could've been better.  I LOVE Sparky (the main character), and the idea behind the movie, just think it could've been better.  Anyway, I'm glad we watched it again, because I like it more than before.  The kids couldn't agree on whether to watch the old short version from the 80s, or the stop motion one from a couple of years ago.  So we watched both.  Paige read Neely a Halloween story while we waited to get the movie going.

We got the mattresses out and got cozy in the living room.  

Jess made some ghostie cookies.

It was fun.

The next day we had a nice, slow morning, and the kids and I got out the polymer clay and made some little things.  I was of course on a Halloween kick, so I went with a Sparky, a black cat, and a ghost.  Paige made a dementor from Harry Potter.  

Since you can only see the top of her Dementor's cloak, here's another angle:

 Cason made Toothless.  He even sat and drew nostrils and scales with a toothpick. 

 

Neely made a "pumpkin polar bear penguin".  :)

 

Then we went to the church to pick our pumpkins.

 

 So hard to get a picture of all four of them.  Cason's eyes instantly start burning when he knows he's having his picture taken and he can't even hold them open.  Ha!

 The kids wanted a cute little one for Reed, and I liked this one with its little curly vines still attached to the stem.  He seemed happy with it.

 Neely said she found the right pumpkin for her.  :)

 Cason was pretty careful about his choice, but it didn't take him too long.

 Paige preferred ones with a yellowy shade of orange.

I tried for a picture of Jess and me.  It was pretty bright out there, apparently.

 

 It's not exactly a huge pumpkin patch, but Neely and Reed were both OUT by the time we got home.

Once they woke up we got to carving.

 

 Then I made everyone pose awkwardly with their pumpkin.

 

 

 It was a pretty great weekend.

Husband Dungeon

Neely has hit a funny phase lately.  She's VERY emotional, and little things will set her off big time.  She's also pretty feisty, and some talking back has been happening too.  BUUUUUT...she's also very sweet the rest of the time, and hilarious.  She got a mask so she could be Cat Woman for a birthday party last weekend, and she has worn it almost all day every day since, along with her black leotard and leggings. 

She's also been talking about being married to Batman.  Cassie was over one day and got video of her being pretty imaginative.  She was asking us who we were going to marry.  I told her Wolverine first, (because I'm trying to convince Jess to be Wolverine for Halloween because I think he resembles Hugh Jackman and a certain Chipotle employee apparently agrees with me), but Neely didn't want me marrying Wolverine.  

Still in character as Cat Woman(but a good version, NOT the villain), she explained why I shouldn't marry him.  At least she has her priorities in order. 

It got pretty hilarious, as Neely talked about how she had Batman trapped in the playroom so that he couldn't escape before the wedding.  Haha!  Husband Dungeon. 

My favorite part though was when she asked me about MY wedding.  I was telling her I would have mine on a different day, to keep from stealing attention from HER wedding day.  She said "You WON'T(steal attention)!  Will you?" I told her I wouldn't want to and her face got kind of sad and she goes "But you would?"  Haha!  So cute and funny.  We were lucky and Cassie caught it on video.  So I guess there was no reason for me to type it all out, but I'll leave it in case it's hard to hear or understand.  Enjoy:

Reed's 1st Birthday Party

Since Reed was turning 1 on the 1st, this was his golden birthday.  I decided to use that for his party theme.  

It turned out to be pretty hard to find gold party supplies in town.  Plenty of yellow, but no metallic gold.  I found plenty online though.  My favorite find was probably the edible gold star glitter for the cake and cupcakes.

We kept his party a little smaller, since we have so many birthdays packed into just a couple of months, and he's not big enough to make requests yet-like bowling or a bounce house.  

As usual I waited too late to clean and start decorating or anything, and ended up having to miss Cason's soccer game that morning.  :(  Of course that's the game when he decides he's a machine and scores like 9 goals.  Ha.  Veronica made some food, and Cassie came over to help me decorate while I finished getting stuff ready.  Trudi also helped me finish some food I was trying to make.  Thank goodness.

Veronica also crocheted a cute little bowtie and suspenders for the guest of honor.  

It came together well and was such a nice little party.

It was just family, and we had fun celebrating our little man.

We opened gifts.  

Like a lot of little ones, he latched onto the first thing he received and spent the next 10 minutes playing with it while the other kids opened the rest of the gifts for him.

We sang to him, and gave him his cupcake.  He wanted none of it.  He put one hand in the frosting, and we waited, and waited, and Jess gave him a little taste to get him started, and we waited....and he started looking annoyed and trying to shake the frosting off of his hand.  We finally gave up and let him out of the highchair!  I guess he prefers chocolate.

People started to head home not too long after that.  When it was down to just us and my sisters, I realized I hadn't put on Reed's favorite music during the party.  So I set it to Mr. Pitiful, his favorite Otis Redding song, and a little dancing ensued.  That will be a happy memory for me. 

Once it was just us, and for the next couple of days, he got to leisurely enjoy his giant "1" balloon and discover all the gifts he didn't realize he'd been given.  :)

I love this boy so much.  So glad he has so many people who love him.  I wish he could've realized the whole party was all for him, but I think he knows he's loved.