Halloween at our house

Here is some of my Halloween decor inside our house.

 

Amanda’s 11 Birthday

Amanda’s party was on Sunday night. We had a party at friends earlier at 4pm, then we went to Amanda’s at 7pm.

Amanda visited her Wisconsin cousins and broke her wrist on Sat. like the first 15 seconds of roller skating!! She was pretty miserable at her party in just a soft cast.

We got her brown and pink mary jane shoes, this cute purple velour and sequin hoodie, a little purple stretchy ring

and this awesome pink saucer chair!

I added the A pillow my mom got her to prop up her arm

birthday cake 1 of 2…

The boys ended the party playing Amanda’s Just Dance 3, poor girl couldn’t dance with her new game. She would select the songs the boys would dance to, so it was still fun to watch.

Halloween church Trick or Trunk

Ethan’s first Halloween party was at our church for Trick or Trunk on Fri. Oct. 21. He chose to be a light up stick figure! He was super picky this year with his costume, ugh, wonder how next year will go. His costume was really neat. I got it from Walmart online. They had it in green, blue or purple. His first choice was blue – but that sold out first. Then when I decided to order it like mid September the green was sold out, leaving just purple. Purple would of course, been my first choice. Ethan wasn’t in love with the purple, but we still ordered it. I was so pleased when we got it and the the purple lit up was more of a blue/purple than a pinky purple. It had 3 features – steady glow, strobe effect, or flashing. The strobe effect was the neatest and showed up cool.

    

and I decorated my trunk this year! It was fun pulling out all my battery operated light up decorations. I even had a strand of lights on the trunk door.

my sister and I passing out candy

 

Ethan was on the committee for the Halloween party for his class and signed up for cookies and napkins. I made these funfetti pumpkin cookies and decorated them.

When he got home from his school party he said his costume never lit up all day!! I was so disappointed that it just stopped working!! He was pretty calm about it, but I’m sure it was a bummer not to be able to show off his costume. It had 3 features! I can’t believe I did not even get a picture of it lit up!  And so upset that his costume won’t light up for actual Halloween at night time!!

We have a plan for Halloween to get glow sticks if we can’t get it to light up.

20th Reunion

Yikes, it has been 20 years since I graduated from high school. Oops, let out my age!

My reunion ended up being just Friday night at a local bar that had a side room (but it is really nice and big place) They had planned the main reunion for Sat. night but it was $65/person and I guess not enough sent their money in so that didn’t happen.

They posted a list of the attendees on fb so I knew ahead of time who would be there, which was nice. I was disappointed that Zub couldn’t make it. Trent had a game that night so we didn’t get to it until 10:30pm! There was no way I was going there alone! Trent and I graduated in the same class, but didn’t date in high school.

They had this great photo booth there, it was so fun!

 

Trent got in the booth from a bunch of his classmates from his elementary school. This was the first pic, the other 3 get crazy.me and Melanie, she was clarinet with me in band since 5th grade!

 

So excited to see Derek there, he wasn’t on the list that was posted so I was truly surprised to see him. I met his new wife of 5 weeks, too!

He was taking our pic and this pic was funny cuz Trent was giving him crap about holding the camera so he is mostly in the picture. So typical Derek, me & T are cracking up a little too much.

we had a great visit with them and realized they live locally now!   Derek, Trent, Mike

Me, Katie, Brenda

Me and Jenny, who I’ve known since elementary school. She hasn’t changed a bit!

I was so worried about going, but so glad I made it. It was so much fun to see everyone. I guess I was surprised by how many people I ended up talking to and catching up with. It was funny how many people asked about my parents.

There is talk that we may have a 25th reunion. I’m sure it will just be at Buddy & Pals again. The dj was awesome that night and mostly played 90s music, which I loved!

Remembering Grandpa

I lost my only Grandpa a couple of weeks ago. He was 91 years old!

April 2, 1920 – September 7, 2011

What a life, right?

My grandparents went on their first date on Grandpa’s birthday. Then they were married on his birthday a year later.

with my mother, their first born – no, not born on Grandpa’s birthday but that would have been neat!

Love this pic of him with his 2 girls.

He was a dairy farmer and school bus driver

with his 3 granddaughters

how I will always remember my Grandparents….

isn’t Grandpa’s head of hair something!  Happy that he passed his thick hair down to me.

I went down to visit him in the hospice, which was an experience I’ve never had before, but looking back now I will treasure that I got to say goodbye to him and comb his amazing hair.  

The funeral was a tough day. Having little ones there we weren’t sure what their reaction would be. E did ok, but did get more upset and almost scared than I predicted. M wouldn’t go in the room and would shut his eyes when he passed the room. I remembered the funeral home from my great grandmother’s service. I think I was the same age as Ethan, too!

I was surprised the small town funeral home even had flat screens for pictures. I was in charge of scanning a bunch of pics and put them on cd for the service. We also made a posterboard of memories. I could tell that Grandma somewhat enjoyed looking at the boards.

We had small reception at a house following the funeral. It was nice to see a lot of family that I haven’t seen in years there, too.

Love you Grandpa!

Shipshewana girls trip

The girls in my fam planned an outing to Shipshewana. When I say girls in my immediate family – it is not counting my grandma. I have a small family.

I took off Friday, Aug. 26 so we were going to leave that morning. My mom wasn’t feeling good so it was delayed a little. We took a trip there 2 years ago and decided to stay in the same hotel.

It is fun to count the buggies we saw on the way in. I drove part of the way, due to mom still not feeling well.

 

ate at the Blue Gate both days

isn’t that meringue pie amazing looking?! I’m not a fan of the taste of meringue, but it is quite impressive

and I HAVE to get a whoopie pie! Well, I got a pumpkin and a chocolate ones.

Mom and Aunt Carol

cousins…

my great Thanksgiving style dinner from Sat. lunch

shopping…

loved this frame with little boxes… think Trent could make me one

love the Indian in the candy store

I was searching for a homemade throw rug, but didn’t find one in my price range.

I ended up buying more things than I wanted. I bought this awesome vintage sign that was made for me

I got a cute little purple purse

Embellish Your Story picture frame and the seasonal magnets,

We saw more buggies on this trip. Isn’t it neat to see them just tied up outside a store?   

Nice time with all the ladies and fun to get out and do some shopping.