The Blur -- marathon post

OK, let's go back to October. I won't give you all the nitty gritty, just some of the highlights (all of which took place in 8 days).

Last year my friend, Sarah, introduced me to this WANDA WITCH and it is now one of the events I look forward to the most throughout the year. My girlfriend, Rickie, threw it with me this year and we had a few months of fun scouting locations and coming up with clues. She came up with some really great locations -- like the drive through at Chick-fil-A and this totally scuzzy motel.

It was so much fun to see all the teams really get into it with pranks and shirts. . .Of course it never is without mishaps. Like when the team our own husbands were on took the wrong cauldron. Oh well, you live and learn. Next year will be even better of course.
Don't they just look like the kind of thugs that would steal someone's clues?? More details can be found on the Wanda Witch blog if you're interested.

Sadie had a PRE-SCHOOL HALLOWEEN party. Cutest little witch I know!
The next big event was DUSTIN'S BIRTHDAY. He was in San Jose working with the Sharks, so he got to go to a game (in a suite) and they set him up with a birthday cake and put a little birthday greeting up on the Jumbotron. Much better than what he would have gotten here between tennis, t-ball, running club and school stuff.

I did take Sadie and Luke to the PUMPKIN PATCH on Dustin's birthday. We did the hay ride, fed the animals, saw the cutest little newborn piglets, decorated a pumpkin with religious stickers, hay maze, bouncers. . . All while dressed in long sleeves because I was trying to convince myself it was fall. It was not.
Next up was NATE'S BIRTHDAY! That crazy kid is SIX. Seriously, time does fly. Nate is so sweet and tender one minute and feisty the next. He is a slight perfectionist and so hard on himself, but he truly has the most amazing heart. He loves babies and will just randomly tell me how much he loves me. He always says please and thank you and gets excited about even the tiniest things. Including his birthday.

The night before his birthday we were in the car and he pipes up "Mom, I'm so excited. It's free dress day and Friday free time and my birthday and my party and Dad's going to come to school and sit with me and we're going to EAT!"

Nate had doughnut holes and diet coke for breakfast (for real! I figure my kids never have juice, much less soda, so diet coke once a year won't kill him), Wendy's with Dustin for lunch and then pizza and lots of other sugary things for dinner (ok, so I probably did more damage in a day than you could do in a year of drinking juice five times a day). And because he is truly my child, he asked for chocolate cake. I love him. We totally agree on chocolate cake being the most delicious thing ever. Except I eat mine warm and Nate won't eat anything hotter than room temperature. Side letter: Dear Nate, I am sorry I am not very good at cake decorating and you will never have some beautiful cake on your birthday. I hope you appreciate the fact that I do truly try to make something you will like. Love, Mom

He had a fun birthday party with 8 of his best friends (mainly because that is how many invitations the Star Wars set came with) and I stupidly invited them to bring their own light sabers. No one was injured and nothing was broken, so we'll just say it wasn't a good idea and leave it at that.
The next day Rickie and I ran 13 miles in preparation for our half marathon and then I spent the day decorating for the WARD PARTY. The theme was Hobo Halloween, so it worked well when nothing I had envisioned was working out well. I figured Hobos wouldn't care as long as there was food and fun. And there was. We had a great time, but I am now harping on Dustin to hurry and get someone called as Activities Person before the Christmas party.

Luckily no one's costume involved too much work. I probably would have done a better job on Sadie's hair had I spent more than 2 minute on it. But I was pretty worn out by this point.



Since HALLOWEEN was on a Sunday this year, we stayed home and had the Missionaries and our friends, the Christensens, over to make it a little more fun. I made orange hamburger buns for our orange and black themed meal and Brenna brought sweet potato fries. We played Wrap the Mummy, and the game where you try to get the cookie from your forehead into your mouth without touching it. Surprisingly the missionaries were really good at it. And then, my new favorite Halloween activity (probably because it involves chocolate) -- Monster Brownies.

And that was the last week of October. It was fun. The next day I took everything Halloween-y down. I'm glad it's over. Mainly because I am obsessed with Christmas.