Happy Halloween!

Halloween night, Mommy and the two matching Sugar Plum Fairies.

Quinn was "Max" from "Where the Wild things Are". It was so awesome of my sister Kim to send me all the pieces of this costume, all I had to do was assemble. Thank You Kim, you're the best! It was great that Quinn's naturally tousled hairdo actually accentuated the costume.

Joey wanted to be a fierce Viking Warrior.... I was shaking in my boots!

Our good friend Brandy had a Birthday close to Halloween so we did cosmic bowling
and this is the cake I made her.

Let the good times roll.....

Joey had his third season of soccer. His team was "The Silverados". It was so much fun for our whole family.

This is Grandpa Stella and cousin Madison, Conference Weekend.... Yay, BYU station!

Our city of Lynnwood, built and opened a brand new High School this year. Joey's Cub Scout Troop was invited to be a part of the dedication flag ceremony. It was exciting because this is the school Joey will go to someday.

Mormon's Rock!

About two months ago our good friends the Pedersen's dropped by with a Dairy Queen cookie dough ice cream cake and I just about died laughing when I realized they had to have the Dairy Queen employee write this on the cake for us. Tom and Brandy, you are some funny people!!!

I got thinking about how we are asked to always look for Missionary opportunities, and although I can't say for sure what Tom and Brandy's motives were in that particular moment, I have always been impressed by their courage. And besides.... Mormon's DO Rock!!!!!

Recently I started watching two girls in the morning before school. They are 7 and 10, and their family is wonderful, but they aren't LDS. Our family, does scripture study every morning at breakfast. (I find if their mouths are full, they absorb a lot more.) So I wondered at first if it would be offensive, or uncomfortable for the girls, to be present for that. They eat breakfast with us. I briefly considered moving our family scripture study to another time, but then I felt kind of ashamed that I hadn't even given this great family the benefit of the doubt. We tried it out for a few days, the girls could not have been more polite, and seemingly interested. I had a conversation with their Mom, she was thrilled that they girls would be getting daily devotionals.

I have to say it's been a surprisingly uplifting experience for us having these girls in our home, at our table sharing the gospel on a daily basis. If nothing else I see the spark of good (for lack of a better word), in my kids eyes as they share their own ideas about what we've read in the scriptures, and then quickly peak to see the two girls' welcome and open faces in response.

I find more and more that the Lord is blessing us in ways we are not even realizing we should be asking for.

Our ward recently had an activity, where every man women and child was invited to come and participate at the Temple. We've taken our children to the Temple grounds several times, but they were invited into the lobby along with the rest of the Primary children at the activity.
I was taken back at how elated they were by the experience. It was so special to Joey, Audrey and even Quinn, all of them couldn't believe that they were allowed inside the doors. They each individually described feeling the Spirit that day, what could be better for a Mom and Dad to hear? I just wanted to write this down so I could help them remember that day.

(Joe took this picture.)

Where is the pause button?

I know it's been months since I blogged, and to be really honest, it's partly because September/ October were months from "Hades", and partly because I went to this class on journaling/ blogging that made me want to do a better job. Not that I feel like each blog entry needs to be an Ensign article, but I'm still new to this, trying to figure it out, and I want to document what is really going on in our lives, not just the "picture perfect" moments. There is a whole lotta funny, coo-coo, crazy going on in between each of the choreographed events that I want to be able to remember too.
At the same time...... I have NO time!!! So I decided I'll just keep doing what I can, and at least something's getting posted.
Plus, I'm no writer! If you know us, you know.... that's Joe's department. So if you want the witty editorialized version, I'll give ya Joe's cell number. :)

Quinn is yelling at me that he's hungry, (what's new). So that's it for now.... is that real life enough???

I'm feeling kinda sassy today, is that coming out in my writting at all??? :)

Back to School

The summer flew by, and on Tuesday we started a new school year. Joey is now in 4th grade, and Audrey is in 2nd. Although I am a little heavy hearted to have them away so much of the day, they are very excited to embark upon another year at Lynnwood Elementry. It is however, beneficial for me to be able to give Quinn some much needed one-on-one attention.

What brilliantly clever and studious, yet fashionable, children these two seem! I wonder who their their mother is..... she must have it ALL together!!!
I wonder why they were almost late on the first day then?!?!?

Quinn wanted to be apart of the experience, of course. He has his own back pack.

If you look really carefully, you can see that; "Mom you're embarrassing me", eye roll happening here in Joey's new "upperclassmen" classroom. As, always though...... a really good sport!

Audrey, on the other hand still likes all the attention! Amazingly enough, her teacher, Miss Gough, recognized Joe as soon as we stepped in the door. They went to 7th grade together. What a small world. (Or I guess just a small Lynnwood, Wa.)

Audrey.... You Amaze Me!

About 9 months ago, Audrey informed me that she wanted a "Masquerade" themed party for her 7th Birthday. I guess I shouldn't have been that surprised, she listens to the "Phantom of the Opera" soundtrack at least every other day. Needless to say she had quite a while to dream up exactly how she wanted the party to go, down to the last detail!
So last Friday night at 7, we had 14 giddy little girls arrive totally decked out for a Masquerade that took place on our deck. Unfortunately, at the exact same stroke of seven, this nasty little flu bug that has been going around hit me like a ton of bricks, so Mommy spent the night on the bathroom floor. Luckily Joe is "The Man", and could take over flawlessly, (ok... well with a little help from Amy and Brandy.) Thank you for taking such wonderful pictures Amy, otherwise I really would have missed the whole thing!

We put up the big camping oning and strung up a small chandelier and lights everywhere. (Thanks Tom and Brandy....and thank you duct tape and zip ties!!)

Audrey looked adorable, and this cake was so fun to make! It's amazing what you can do with fondant. The cake mask we got at "Costume Display," along with that fantastic fan Audrey's holding.

What A Party....

Everyone got to decorate their own mask for the Masquerade.

We played "Pin the Mask" on the Phantom....

And we were lucky enough to have the phantom make an appearance at the party himself!
Joey, you are such a good sport!

All in all, I think a dream come true for the Birthday Girl!!!

A Birthday Celebration for the Ages....

Our dear friend Brian Christensen, happens to have the exact same Birthday as Stella. Except, Stella was turning one, and Brian was turning 70! So his wife and I thought it would be too much fun to combine the Party and we were right!!!

The invitation went something like....
"Hey Party People have you heard the news?
Birthday Parties are better in twos!
Bryan's turning Seventy and Stella is only one,
Both born August 5th and a Surprise is always fun.
Come young, come old, just come on time.
We're gonna party like it's 1939!!!"

(Good one ....... Joe!)


Wow Stella, are you going to open it or eat it?!?!

We did a really fun spread. There was Baked Brie, Shirley Temples, and an adorable candy bar with vintage candy choices like malt balls, peppermint sticks and Boston Beans. The candied Pecans were to die for!!!

We had one candle on top for Stella, and 70 around the middle for Brian.

Joey had to help them both blow out all those candles!

Life is Good!!!!

Stella May McNames is ONE!!!!

On Stella's actual Birthday, we had a special photo shoot to celebrate her one year accomplishment! Many of you know that Stella had surgery on her cute eyes last Monday, to help correct her "crossed eyes" or Accomodative Esotropia. She has had various prescriptions of glasses for about the last 7 months, but with the help of our wonderful Ped. Ophthalmologist, determined surgery was also necessary. We wanted to have these pictures taken before her surgery, to always have a vivid memory of how she came to us.

I can now say, six days after surgery, that everything went wonderfully, and Stella is getting back to her normal adorable personality. Recovery has been much better than we were anticipating, thank you for all of your prayers and loving support.

These perfect photos were taken by our friend Amy, she truly is a Renaissance Women!

Joey's 9th Birthday!

Joey has been telling me he wanted a Lego theme party for about 9 months. I have to say, this party was one of the easiest and most fun that I have ever done. The house became "Legoland" for the day and the "Brickmasters" (Joe and I), entertained about 10 kids with all kinds of creative Lego games and competitions. Oh ya, and the Lego shaped candy, cupcakes and cookies helped too! Can you ever have too many Legos though?

These decorated sugar cookies were part of each boy's party favor, along with their matching Lego figure. Joey hand picked which figure should be given to each of his friends. (Just FYI, you can get this cookie cutter at the Lego store.)

Stella and Vivian...... best friends in the making!