Harry Potter & Another Visitor

Oops! I skipped Halloween!  I'll squeeze it in here quickly.  This is our pumpkin.  Ummmm... let me clarify that. This is our Jack-O-Lantern.  We only did one this year and I'm fine with that.  After five days Emily told me she liked the scary black spiderwebs I put inside.  Yeah, I didn't put any spiderwebs inside "Jack."  He soon found his way to our trash.

Since our summer movie marathon of Harry Potter my kids love Love LOVE all things HP.  Avery was Hermione and her friend was Bellatrix (total coincidence they both say. Yeah, right! I say)

So for 2011 Halloween we had Princess Emily (again), Hermione Granger, Spiderman, and Ninja Jake.

I love the after Halloween sales.  I was able to plan a HP party for the kids.   I found so many great ideas from Pinterest.  (I'm obsessed!)  So anyways, the kids each got an owl with post inviting them to the party.

This was my platform 9 3/4.  Although Josh is crawling under it you can walk through it, safely.

Some of the food from the party.  I forgot to get the main course which was spaghetti  & meatballs but of course labeled in a fun HP way.  Desserts were also fun.

Doesn't Jake look like Harry?  I wasn't really anyone. Bellatrix maybe?

So we had (starting from the smallest) Draco Malfoy, Professor McGonagall, Harry Potter, and Hermione Granger.  I lined up a quidditch lesson and short match to play outside.

Brooms and flying lessons are a must for every wizard.  In this case we were short on brooms so we had to take turns.

Dementors loomed. Luckily, Olivander's wand shop was open so we could get our wands.  "EXPECTO PETRONUM!!"

It was a fun day!  We also let the kids watch the last HP.  That was the biggest reason for this party.  #1 to see if I could pull it off. #2 they'd been asking about the watching the last movie. #3 I thought it'd be fun.
On to Thanksgiving.  Mom came to visit for a couple of weeks.  It was really fun.  Except for that week off of school.  Man the kids gave me a run for my patience.  I lost it a few times!  Ok, maybe a lot of times. Just before their school break Emily had a Thanksgiving play.  I know she's hard to spot.  Look in the middle section, second row, first girl on the right. 

I feel bad for not taking many pictures but we had a really good time!  We had another HP marathon, well, one dose of HP a day.  My mom had never seen them!  I had to "ssshhh" the kids at least a dozen times each movie.  Like I said test of patience. We did some Christmas shopping.  We had a great Thanksgiving with the Allred family- all 25 of them.  It was crazy fun with lots of food!  Yumm!

A picture of Grandma Kathy and the kids. (there always has to be one kid pulling some kind of face.  why is that? I should pull out my camera and make them practice smiling nicely more often.)

A great picture of my mom and I together.

Avery with my mom.  This was her last day just before driving her to the airport.  It was a great visit and a great Thanksgiving!

A Baptism

On October 8th, Jake was baptized.  It was a wonderful day, busy but wonderful.  Spencer baptized him and Grandpa Allred gave him the gift of the Holy Ghost. 

I still can't believe how quickly they grow up.  Four more years until getting the priesthood.  I still remember holding him as a tiny baby.

He's not so easy to pick up and carry anymore.  Such handsome boys!  All dressed in white.

Jake and I.  I'm so happy he got over the embarrassment of hugging Mom in public.  That made me sad for a while.  A lot of times he grabs me for the hugs & I love it!  He's such a great boy!

We had a small celebration at our home after the baptism with family and a few friends.  Emily with Grandpa Allred.  Look at that girl!

Grandpa and Spencer together.  It's good to see them relax a bit.

The kids were able to play outside in our backyard; or maybe I should call it our back dirt since most of the grass we had out back died plus the dirt pile from the spa is still there. 

And we have the three boys... Jackson and Joseph giving Josh a bite of their cookies.  After two cookies each we had to move them on to playing upstairs.  It was hilarious!

And my super strong newly baptized young man.  Shirtless and all!  I love how Josh is trying to copy Jake by making muscles.  I love these boys!

 I am so proud of Jake and his decision to be baptized.  He is a wonderful boy.  Smart.  Sensitive.  I am so blessed to have him in our family.  We love you so much! 

Visitors

Better late than never, right?!?!
So my Dad came to visit a while ago and we took a visit to the Aquarium- a favorite place for my kids to visit.

Grandpa hit it off with Josh and his Thomas the Train set; even if he and I ended up putting the tracks together ourselves. It was a lot of fun for the kids to get to know their Grandpa Reynolds.

Soon after, Spencer's (only) brother came to visit the family and they took a short trip to San Antonio. They had a great time together- good bonding time.

He got a pretty decent family photo as well.  Thanks Mike!