Halloween Game Night

 Halloween is fun...but when you're in middle school and older, you're a little old to go trick or treating, right?

So I suggested we have a game night for the girls' friends that are in similar situations. 

The girls were hilarious preparing for the party.  Lydia dressed up as Emma Swan from Once Upon a Time.  Bekah dressed up as a Dr. Who Fan Girl (and Rachel did too).

 Shawn came as Tigger.  Most everyone else just came as themselves.  =)

 We had some good games ready.

 Cost of admission to this party?  One bag of candy.  Each kid goes home with an assortment of candy.

 The kids played games, snacked, and ate lots of candy.

 Meanwhile, the dads played Jenga in the kitchen. 

 They had a great time! I'm so glad this was a hit!

Everyone was home, and warm, and safe...but still dressed up, seeing their friends, and getting lots of candy.  Win-win as far as I'm concerned!

Decorating Pumpkins

 Wow! So we definitely waited long enough to decorate our pumpkins this year!  Getting it right down to the wire!!

Bekah wanted to make a Dr. Who pumpkin (surprise, surprise!), so David helped her with the template and the design. 

 

 

 Lydia had her own ideas and was anxious to paint a design on her pumpkin.  I chose to keep things simple and relaxing and just painted a few fun things on the smaller pumpkins. 

 Lydia's really gotten into all things Peter Pan this year.  She's been drawing Peter Pan designs and decided to put one on her pumpkins this year. 

 

 I continued on with my simple designs.  Ha ha!  I really loved how this M&M turned out. 

 Meanwhile, Bekah's eyes got tired and she was having trouble focusing up close, so David took over and finished up her pumpkin design for her. 

 Here's Lydia's finished product.  I think it is PHENOMENAL!  Good job, Lydia!

 Here's Bekah's finished product.  She was so pleased with how it turned out. 

And here are my finished products.  Ha ha!  Just simple and fun. 

 

Shelley's Baby Shower

 Last night, we had Shelley's baby shower.  Yes, my friend, Shelley, found out, quite unexpectedly, that they are having baby #5 in February.  With their youngest being nine years old, and their oldest joining the Navy, they no longer have their baby things.  So, yea for a baby shower!

 

Shelley's mom was in town, so we scheduled the shower so she could be there.  Since it's a fall baby shower, we went with a "lil' pumpkin" theme.  One of Shelley's friends and I coordinated on the party.  She hosted, and I made the cake and brought a couple of games.

We had the dirty diaper came (Guess that Mess), where each dirty diaper is a different candy bar...

 And then Shelley's friend Amanda set out diapers and sharpies for everyone to write fun things on the diapers to keep Bryan and Shelley laughing on those sleepless nights. 

 We played the Baby ABC game, and kept writing on diapers.  =)

 Shelley got so many great things that she really needed for the baby. 

 Lydia made this little "snugly" for the baby.  She did such a great job.  This is one of her first crochet creations. 

And I made a couple of hats and a blanket.

 

I have a ton of other photos of Shelley opening presents, but you get the picture. =)

Can't wait to meet Shelley's baby boy!

Treasure Island - Youth Treasure Hunt

Every year, the youth group has a big scavenger hunt.  The youth pastor, Jim, writes a big elaborate story the kids have to follow, collecting clues, getting stamps in their passport, in order to find the location of the buried treasure.

Along the way, there are gatekeepers and there are people keeping them from their prize.

They must navigate all the hurdles in order to find the location of the buried treasure: $300 cash!

All the staff really gets into the whole thing...which makes it so much more fun for the kids. 

The girls were super excited.  They dressed in black so they wouldn't be spotted by the "hunters."

And they broke into teams...trying to balance with the right mix of good team members...but not so big of a team that you'd have to split the money with a bazillion people. 

David was in charge of the bonfire, so we took a quick selfie.  =)

We watched as the kids hit their check points and got their clues (or got penalties, depending on who they ran into).

In the end, it was this girls' team that won!  They could not have been more excited!!

Although our girls didn't win, they still had a total blast.  Here's to next year being the winning year!