It was an absolutely gorgeous night for Trick-0r-Treating!
Our city changed the times for this event to 5-7 pm and
it was perfect. It was so nice going from house to house
in the dusk of the day, enjoying the kids and visiting with
friends along the way.
Here are a few pics of the kids just before we left.

Victoria in her Ladybug outfit

The four kids all set to head out!
Colson wanted to be Ben10 again, but
he is just getting over a bad asthma
attack and it just wasn't warm enough
to wear the outfit, so he settled with
his trusty spidey suit!
Brennan was inventive with a
hippy-farmer look! He commented to
me that he would love working on a farm
and wearing clothes like that every day!
LOL LOL LOL
He is quite the kid!

Jacqueline had her Halloween Party
this morning. Her class was having a
tailgating party and they were to wear their
favorite sports team, but her teacher
decided that the kids could wear costumes
if they wanted. Of course, Jacqueline wanted
to wear her mouse dance costume,
(it was supposed to be an MSU Jersey)
Aren't these just two of the cutest girls
you ever saw?????
We think so!
(couldn't help but get mileage out of
Victorias costume one more day)

Jacqueline and Emma
(bff)

Of course, Zac was the hit of the party!
Not sure why he appeared but since
everyone was dancing to high school musical,
including, Mrs. Key (Jacquelines' teacher)
they thought Zac should come around
for pictures.
You should have seen the mad scramble to
get pictures taken with him! It was
hilarous!

We had to quickly rush this shot just
to get her taken with Zac alone!

Colson and two of his "buds"

Colson and Mrs. McDonald
(his teacher)
she made the cutest witch ever!

Colson's very first Halloween party!
He had the best time, and amazingly with 23
kids in his class it wasn't even chaotic!
He will have lots of goodies to eat when his
dental surgery is complete; I was so proud
of him not eating anything with sugar! He even
asked before he ate anything. Bless his heart!
What an awesome "Ben 10" he is!

decorating a picture frame

painting a pumpkin+

Special photo spot!

Victoria already for Colson's
Kindergarten Halloween Party!
She was so good, even without her
morning nap, she was "adorable"

Victoria eating a late lunch! amazingly she
slept until almost 9am this morning, so
her morning nap was late so she missed
lunch with the family. Den made several
loaves of homemade bread last night, a
real treat for us all, and here is Tori
enjoying her slice!

This afternoon turned out bright and sunny, though
a bit on the cold side, it was gorgeous. Den took the kids
outside for a walk with the dog through the field.
Tori had a ball and just loves it outside; she also
loves Winnie too!

. . . . .The fruits of their labor. . . . .
"4 cute Jack-o-Lanterns"
Victoria's, Colson's, Jacqueline's and Brennan's

What a great way to spend
a cold, rainy Saturday afternoon!
I took the kids to pick out
their pumpkins, and of
course they wanted to get one
for Victoria too!

Wow~ I finally get a chance to sit down and pen my thoughts about the weekend. I have to agree with Casey we all had a blast. Friday, Dave and Casey came into town earlier than they planned so we trasped off to the outlet malls looking for birthday gifts. We had a great time of shopping and conversation. Then Casey and I were off to the salon to get a little pampering in for ourselves with new haircuts, getting home in time to get ready and head out for dinner at Red Lobster. I must say that with a crowd of 14 there is never a dull moment. No matter who you sit by at dinner its always fun, intersting, and hilarious. Of course it was endless shrimp night, which several members of our family thoroughly enjoy, so the shrimp kept coming, and coming, and coming. I heard several remarks that they could not believe how much shrimp "some" were putting away. We headed home to finish off the night of gift giving. Brett enjoyed all his gifts then it was time for the kids to give their dad the gift they all chipped in for, a new "laptop". He was totally shocked, I think speechless is more the word and thrilled. Branden was hilarous with a rendition of a "geek squat nerd" or "nerd hurd" nerd. We laughed so hard it hurt. As a mom, looking around the room at her kids, I must say I felt very humbled that God blessed me with such a great bunch of kids. Its "mostly" never boring here, and never ever "quiet" and always "chaotic" but "I Love it!" We topped the night off with videos from when the kids were little. It was fun to relive memories.

Saturday morning, Den left bright and early for a youth conference in Detroit, which was perfect for us as we had the entire day to get ready for his big "5 0" party. It was amazing at how an entire party can come together in just a few hours when so many hands help. All the kids did a great job of keeping this a secret, which in our family,is a miracle in itself. I was thoroughly impressed with my kids, big and small, for the way they engaged themselves with their dads party. It was impressive watching how they worked together, laughed together, plotted together, and even cleaned up together. Sometimes I wonder if all we have tried to instill in our children really sinks in and then an event like this happens and I see it all come into play. My family is awesome and I am so blessed to be their mom, they are the most precious gifts on this earth. . .

We were able to pull the party off, without Den's knowledge, he was surprised and pleased (though he did remind me that next year paybacks will come!!). We have an awesome church family who celebrated with us as well as many friends from near and far.

We left the party and several families came over afterwards for a few hours. We laughed and the kids played. By midnight we were all weary but thrilled with the way the day played out!

Sunday was just a lazy day. After dinner we had our weekly family day, and our ritual of watching "Survivor"; and then everyone pretty much just did their own thing, mostly "Sunday Football" and "Red Sox's baseball".

I am anxious to see all the photos our friend, Gary, took. He is an amazing photographer and seems to be in all the right places at all the right times, and well, even at the wrong places at the wrong times. LOL LOL

Thanks to all my kids for their hard work, their laughter, their hugs, their cheers, their $$ for making their dads party a huge success. A special thanks to Daniel and Brett for pushing to have it and an ever greater thanks to Dan for taking the time and $$ to come from ND to be a part of his dads special day.

Den, I love you and am proud to be your wife! I can't hardly believe you are 50 because you totally don't act or look like it! Kids, I love you all dearly! You and your dad bless my life each and every day. Thanks for all you do for me, personally! I am so very proud of all of you!

I thought we took more pictures of the evening
but realized that "we" didn't but a good
friend from church did and when we get
those we will post them. For now here
are a few shots from the
"surprise party"

Dan and Tori
(we were thrilled to have him home
for the weekend)

Ben put some music on his laptop and
plugged it into speakers. The kids
had a ball dancing to tunes of
the Chicken Dance, the Macarena,
the Cha Cha.
.

.........still more shots
Ben and Casey

Ben, Scottie, Dave
sporting their new tatoos
(they each got a number which represents
their line of lineage)

Here are a few more shots of from dinner
on Friday night.
Colson

Daniel

Brennan and Branden

Blake and Brett (the birthday boy)

We had such fun on Friday night celebrating
Den's "50th" birthday and Brett's "17" birthday.
It was endless shrimp night at Red Lobster and
let me tell you this family probably put them
out of business on the shrimp. We definitely
have shrimp lovers here! We had the best
waitress and she kept everything full and coming.
Just a few pictures of the evening!

Capturing some special moments
of Victoria!

This is her favorite activity:
getting into the books and pitching them
on the floor!

I am counting the days until Victoria is 19 lbs so
we can turn her carseat around. She is constantly
trying to see us in the front seat!