4 Years Ago

Today marks 4 years since I agreed to spend the rest of my life with my best friend!

(Don't mind the time stamps on all the pictures, they are from my old camera and I was a weirdo and liked to have the dates on my pictures. Guess I didn't think it was ruining them.)

I still can remember the day like yesterday. It was a surprisingly warm day for December and I was working at our buyback van out in Millersville. A month or so prior we decided that it would be fun to see the Philly orchestra's Christmas special. December was going to be a busy month for both of us (story of our lives) with finals for him and work for me, so it was nice to have a date on the calendar to actually see each other.

We got dressed up and met at his parents since they don't live to far outside the city. Since we don't do that much his parents took pictures of us, or so I thought. I had no idea what was coming that evening, but they did.

Quick side note... I had bought that sweater for him from Banana awhile back and it was the first time I saw him in it. Apparently I put my hand on his chest when I was admiring it, and he had the ring in his shirt pocket and I almost touched it. Oops.

In a quick recap:

We saw the orchestra, which was awesome. Then we got stuck in a parking garage traffic jam. Walked around Independence hall area and stopped in a small park 'to take a picture'. Little did I know that was an excuse to carry his camera bag which held the ring box. After a sweet talk, he said that since tomorrow was one year since we first said "I love you", there was no better way to express that love than to spend the rest of our lives together. Once I finally said 'yes' (and got over the fact that the box actually was glowing and it wasn't in my head), we rushed to the corner for a horse and carriage ride. Which is a story in itself since we were so late because of the traffic. But we got our ride around old city which was super fun. Then we got back to his house where his family was waiting up and had a sweet little celebration set up for us. The next day we drove out to my family to tell/show them and then to church were Kevin had called all my close friends to make sure they were there so I could show off the ring to all of them at once.

Ah the memories. I had no idea what I was getting myself into at the time, but I'm so glad that I did. Best decision of my life.

Love you babe!!!

What I'm Loving

I'm a positive person. Really, I am. But I feel like this Wednesday I want to do what I'm NOT loving. But I won't. Because that isn't what it is. :-)

I'm LOVING that the sun is shining and it isn't raining (or snowing since it's like 9* outside). Since it's been so cold I've been in LOVE with peppermint hot chocolate. I don't know why they are more expensive at coffee shops, I just break a piece of a candy cane off and it melts before I know it.


I'm LOVING that Christmas is in 10 days! Even if I haven't started my shopping yet. OR that I don't have any days off until Christmas day. All the more reason to look forward to it.

I'm LOVING that Kevin decided to take the tree down instead of kicking the cats out of the house. And speaking of cats, I LOVE them. Even if they are a little crazy!

Kobe posing for the perfect photoshopped picture. (Don't mind the mess, we've been sick and haven't cleaned up.)
I'm LOVING that my tummy now moves when this kid moves. And boy does that kid move! I'm LOVING that it hasn't messed up my sleep yet.

I'm LOVING that I'm finally feeling better! Being sick is the worse and I was sick for over 3 weeks, so I'm glad to finally be feeling more like myself.

And lastly, I'm LOVING my husband :-) I LOVE how he knows me better than I know myself and can totally tell ME why I'M feeling a certain way. It's awesome!


So what are you loving?

Top Two Tuesday

I have been seeing this floating around blogland for awhile and since games are my fave, I thought I'd finally link up. Since I love games so much it's super difficult for me to choose just two. Kevin and I are always playing games like banana grams, five crowns, phase 10, quiddler but I decided to chose group games because I don't get to play them all the time and they are uber fun!


1. Charoodles.

I got hooked on this game a few years ago when my besties and our significant others spent a weekend at the one of the boys cabin. Your guaranteed laughs every time you play! The sad thing is that this game is virtually impossible to find any more.
2. Apples to Apples

Yet another great group game. I have played this with over 20 high schoolers. There aren't many games out there that you can do that with. Even if you play with the same cards time and time again no game is ever the same. It all depends on who you are playing with.

Seriously, games are my all time fave. Always a good time!
So what are your favorite games?

A Little Bit of This, and a Little Bit of That

I feel like I'm all over the place any more.

I'm FINALLY kicking this cold to the curb! Yay! It's wonderful to be able to sleep again. Although last night didn't result in much sleep. Kevin thinks he got food poisoning from a diner he ate at, so he was up half the night sick. Which means I was up half the night. I guess the 'mom instinct' kicks in and I can't sleep if someone in the house isn't feeling well.

I then had to deal with a kitty who thought that the corner of the nursery was his litter box! WTH! Not the brightest idea of his. Luckily the wall got the majority and only a little dripped onto the carpet but still. Speaking of kitties, they still believe that the Christmas tree is their new jungle gym and the new game is to race to see how fast you can get to the top. They have learned that there is less climbing and therefore quicker to take a running leap INTO the tree. The higher the better. This results in lots of 'pine needles' sticking to them or falling on the floor that then get dispersed all over the house. Although now we know when they sneak on the counter or table because they leave a nice green trail. :-)

Yesterday was my last day off until Christmas day. I'm not looking forward to working 2 weeks straight. Not to mention that Christmas isn't going to feel restful. It really stinks that Christmas is on the weekend so we don't get any extra days off. I always need a day or two to recover from a holiday.
Some how we came up with the brilliant idea to split Christmas between our families. Maybe it was because of our first year when we decided to split holidays, so I had Thanksgiving and Kev has Christmas. We drove home Christmas night with me in tears because I didn't get to see my family. The following year went well, we drove down to Kev's parents and spent the morning/early afternoon with his family than drove an hour and a half to Lancaster to be with my family. But my family is never simple. We always celebrate with my mom's side since it's just her mom, sister, brother and sister-in-law. So last year we were at their house. Which wouldn't be bad, but it's an hour and a half in the other direction. Then we drove to my parents to spend the night and have our little Christmas. In total I think we spent close to 4 hours in the car. I hate the rushed feeling from having to go from one place to the next. Although how many people can say that they celebrated Christmas in 4 different counties in the same day? Craziness I tell ya. This year is suppose to be the same, but I can't handle it. Especially spending the night at my parents, because that takes us into Sunday, so literally by the time we would get home the weekend and my only 'break' would be over. Plus, we have to drive up the Lancaster Monday night for my dad's side family party.

I love Christmas, but I H.A.T.E. the busyness of all of it. I haven't even started my shopping. Gasp! The nice part is seeing friend. I've had 3 parties already. That adds to the busy feeling, but it's the fun busy. Last Sunday was an old group of college/church friends, Friday night was with my 3 best friends and their hubbys and Saturday night was with Young Life. I made sure I was responsible for desserts at all the parties, whipped up a double batch of pizzelles and I was good to go.

It's been snowing here all morning. It's the pretty kind that just kinda twirls around and is fun to look at but doesn't do anything. It goes really well with the Christmas music in the background.

See, yeah, life is crazy which is why I'm super sporadic on here. I'm keeping up with your blogs on the reader, but it takes too long to comment unless there's really something I want to say.

Hope y'all are enjoying this season!

***SNOW***

It's snowing!!!

Well, I guess technically it's flurries, but I can see it out my window without squinting, so therefore it's snowing to me. The first 'snow' of the year!

Also, the only kinda of snow I kinda like. I hate the cold and I love how pretty the white stuff looks, it also is a super pain and ruins plans, is dangerous and doesn't stay pretty for long. Like those huge piles of black snow in the parking lots in March. Yeah, not cool.

But this snow is just twirling and whirling and not laying so I can enjoy it.

That's all.

Life has been super busy and this weekend is crazy too...guess that happens with the holidays and having to work weekends. :-(

15 To Go!

• How far along? 25 Weeks
  

• Total weight gain: about 12 pounds
  

• Maternity clothes? Again, still none, but I really need to find time (and money) to go buy a few things.
  

• Stretch marks? Nada yet!

• Sleep: I've had a few nights of awesome sleep over the past weeks or so, but I'm now super sick, so sleep is so not happening. Especially since I'll try to sleep on the couch and as much as I love my kitties and they are super awesome to snuggle with, they aren't much fun when they are wide awake and I'm not. Plus, add a Christmas tree to the mix. Yeah.
  

• Best moment this week? Seeing our little love last Monday!!! He/she looks like a real baby!

• Movement? All the time. Maybe he's doing Tai Bo or some crazy yoga?
  

• Food cravings? Nothing really.
  

• Labor signs? No, thank you!

• Belly button: The same. Still in, but smaller than normal.
  

• What I miss? Being able to just grab something from my closet to wear. Instead of analyzing and trying ten things on only to find out it doesn't fit.

• What I'm looking forward to: Kicking this cold. I'm a very easy pregnant woman, but toss in being sick and it's not so fun.

• Milestones? We registered! Finally. And partially.
  

And the bump picture:


Gotta love the belly band :-) And a strategically placed hand to hide love handles :-P

And notice how flushed my cheeks looks...I swear they are seriously pink ALL.THE.TIME! I don't know what it is. I could be freezing or I could be sweating or somewhere in between and they are there. I guess it's better than being completely ghostly white.

What I'm Loving

Wow it's Wednesday already! This week is flying by. Maybe because it's a short work?

That's the first thing I'm LOVING...3 day work week! And I was out sick yesterday, so it's only 2 days for me.

I love that tomorrow is Thanksgiving! I anticipate this day all year. It's HUGE for my family. Sadly this is a small year and there's only going to be about 16 of us. Which may seem big to some, but I'm used to having close to 30 people crammed into my parents house. I pick up my Nana and we go to my parents on Wednesday and start baking and prepping. Then Thursday morning is a crazy. Love it!

I love that I get to see my baby on Monday! Ultrasounds are the best! I haven't seen the little one since I was just under 11 weeks!



I love that we discovered the iPhone has a stethoscope app, so we can hear our babe's heartbeat whenever. (Well, whenever they are running away)

I'm also loving the Christmas music on the radio!

So what are you loving? Head over Jamie's blog and see what everyone else is lovin' :-)

Mitten Mixer!!!

I love mittens! Well, I love anything that keeps me warm, but mittens are so much better than gloves. They keep all your fingers roasty, toasty warm since they get to stay snuggled together.



Meg over at Life with Meg is hosting a mitten mixer. Sign-up, get assigned a buddy and you buy them a new pair of mittens and they will buy you one! Pretty sweet, huh?

So head over to her blog and sign up!

Small Changes Make Huge Differences

Basically everything in our house is a hand-me-down. Furniture at least, lamps and curtains and such are ours. :-) It's great when you're a very young 20-something, just-out-of-college, newly wed. Talk about saving money. Our entire living room set - couches/chair/coffee table/end tables are all from my parents. It's kinda weird because I grew up with it and now I'm still living with it, but it works. Our office is a hodgepodge, mainly yard sale items collected over the years. And then there's our bedroom. The bed set is new, cedar chest is a family heirloom on my side and our dressers have been Kevin's since he was a kid. They were actually his dad's when he was a kid. Just to give you an idea how old they are. At least they match :-)

I have had dreams of painting them since we got them. Seriously. I would try to figure out if they would fit out on the balcony at our past apartment. Seeing that Kevin and I could barely both fit on that balcony I don't think it would have be feasible.

A few weeks ago we bought the wrong can of white paint. Who knew that there was more than one white paint that contained the word "snow"? Lesson learned, don't buy unless you know the exact name. I know that you can return cans of "oops paint" for a lost, but if we have extra white paint and only a few days of nice weather left why not take advantage of it?

Early Saturday morning we emptied out (and off) our dressers and carried them out to the back porch. Of course preggo brain set in and I complete forgot to grab a shot of them for a 'before' picture. Shoot!

Here's my dresser, minus the drawers before sanding.

Here's a picture of the drawers. Check out the handles...dated much?

Kevin's dresser...already sanded.

You can use your imagination what they looked like put together. It wasn't pretty.

After 2 days of sanding, sanding, sanding. A quick (hahaha) trip to Home Depot for new handles. Can't forget filling in holes with wood putty. Followed by painting, painting, painting. Drilling new holes and replacing the handles. We finally have new looking dressers! Woohoo!!!

Seeing how fresh they look totally makes it all worth it. They lighten up the room so much!

So what do you think?
Totally different, huh?

I am absolutely loving them and can't believe how drastic the change was.

23 Weeks

I swear these weeks are flying by! I feel like I just did one of these...I don't know how people keep up with them every week. Saturday I hit the 23 week mark. Which according to WTE (What to Expect) I am now in my 6 month! 6 months! Already!!! That's like half a year! I can't believe it.

• How far along? 23 Weeks, 1 Day

• Total weight gain: just under 10 pounds
  

• Maternity clothes? Same as before. Not yet, but pants would be lovely when I find ones that fit. We are re-doing our dressers, so I had to take all my clothes out and it made me realize that I should go through them because I can prolly get rid of a ton of shirts that I will never be able to wear again. Sad but true.
  

• Stretch marks? Nada yet!

• Sleep: Still missing it. I've been fighting a cold, so nights when I might be able to sleep I can't because I'm up coughing. I've spent nights on the couch sleeping with the kitties or reading a book so I don't wake Kevin. If I can't sleep he should at least be able too :-)
  

• Best moment this week? Kevin being able to feel the baby move, and actually seeing my belly move! It wasn't much, but it definitely moved when I wasn't moving!
  

• Movement? Oh yes! Like I said above, even Kevin can feel him/her :-)

• Food cravings? Nothing new. Although Kevin will make some up for me so HE can get something. lol.

• Labor signs? No, thank you!

• Belly button: The same. Still in, but smaller than normal.
  

• What I miss? Sleeping through the night

• What I'm looking forward to: Kicking this cold. I'm a very easy pregnant woman, but toss in being sick and it's not so fun.

• Milestones? I was able to figure out his/her sleeping and playing schedule. I guess that's what happens when you are awake half the night.

And the bump pictures :-)
It's must be the shirt because I think my bump looks bigger with the shirt than bare belly. Normally I feel like clothes make it look smaller.

• 

Grow baby, grow!

Silent Sunday: Cat Nap

Guess Sasha and I feel the same way. I'm tired and want to nap, just leave me alone. :-)

What I'm Lovin'

I'm linking up with This Kind of Love for the first time for What I'm Lovin' Wednesdays! Check it out!

First off, I'm LOVING the sun! It's been rainy/gloomy here the past couple of days and even though the sun keeps peaking behind the clouds it's still so much brighter than what it has been. I swear that I get SADs over the winter, so a bit of sunlight is good for me. :-)

I'm also loving the little life inside me that loves to kick away. They are still tiny so it's not hurting me, but strong enough for me to obviously feel. My sister-in-love told me that they will be one of the biggest things I'll miss once he/she is born, and I believe it. There's something comforting know that you are never completely alone.

I love that there is still leftover ice cream cake from someone's birthday in the freezer at work. Can you say hello calcium? I think that's a good excuse to eat it, right?

Kevin plays guitar for local Young Life clubs and I'm loving that we are back to the school that we were at last year! The leaders there are like family, it's the district we live in, AND I'll get to see any of my 8th graders from last years Wyldlife, if they go. Yay!

I love that I get to go home for Thanksgiving in a week from today! Hooray! Thanksgiving is like the best holiday. Everyone comes over to my parents house and it's craziness. We start cooking/baking/cleaning etc. on Wednesday evening when my Nana and I come up and it's so fun. This year's going to be small (only 16, ha!) but still totally awesome.

So what are YOU lovin'???

Krazy Kitties

After catching Kobe for the billionth time on the counter I decided to have a little talk with him. We actually have a lot of conversations. He loves to talk. Weird? Anyways, our discussion went a little like this:

Me: Kobe, you know your not allowed on the counter. And you jumping off and running when I come in the room, proves that you know.

Kobe: I know...but I like it up there!

Me: I know you like it, but you can't be up there.

Kobe: I know, I know! But I like it up there.

Me: Well then we need to work something out.... And since I'm bigger, I win!

Kevin was in the other room cracking up and asked if he could use that on me sometime since he's the bigger one. :-)


I think part of his counter obsession has to do with his water obsession. He L.O.V.E.S. water. I have to lock them out of the bathroom when I take a shower otherwise I'll have two wet fur balls in there with me. (Or a bath. Yes, Kobe some how ended up in the tub with me.)

They recently discovered that the bathroom also has a sink. Perfect for them to wrestle in.


And lucky for them, we have two, so they don't have to fight over who gets one.


Please pardon the mess...it's still a construction zone in there!

A Moment...

...Or maybe I should say a movement.

Kev was able to feel the baby move last night!!!

I think baby Reig's might be a swimmer...I was laying on the bed and he (or she) was squirming like crazy. So much, that I wondered if I could feel them on the outside. I put my hand on my tummy for a few minutes and was pretty sure that I could feel them. Although I wasn't positive, because I knew I could feel it from the inside, so I wasn't sure if it was just a mental thing.

I asked Kev if I could borrow his hand, and he gave me a weird look like, "what do you want my hand for?". As I grabbed it I told him I wanted to see if he could feel the baby move. He got super excited. We sat there quiet for a minute waiting for him (or her) to 'swim' by again.

And then the baby did! I was just about to ask if he felt it, when he pulled back his hand and had a total look of shock! It was priceless! I wish I could have captured it.

I remember the first time I felt the baby and now I'll remember the first time Kevin felt him (or her) too!

21 weeks

Can I just say it's amazing what a difference 2 weeks makes!?!? I finally feel like I LOOK preggo. Yay! Only took half the pregnancy to get to this point. Guess I shouldn't complain too much, because I'm sure in a few months I'm gonna wish I was smaller. These 'surveys' are all over blogland, so I'm gonna give it a shot.

• How far along? 21 weeks (and 3 days)

• Total weight gain: about 8 pounds
  

• Maternity clothes? Not yet. Pants would be nice, but haven't found a store that makes them in my size :-( Have to remember to check out H&M. At least my old "fat" pants fit

• Stretch marks? Nada yet! Let's see what happens now that this belly's a growin'. *Kevin swore he saw one when he was taking the pictures, but I looked for like 5 minutes this morning after my shower and didn't see any. Phew! He had me scared!
  

• Sleep: I miss it. My hips have been bothering me for quite awhile now. So between them, rolling around, and just plain insomnia, nights haven't been fun for me. I'm normally the queen of sleeping too :-(
  

• Best moment this week? Having a total stranger at the grocery store clap and get excited for us that we're having a baby

• Movement? Oh yes! I even think I felt him/her do a flip the other day!
  

• Food cravings? Nothing really. I have been in love with turkey bacon, which is kinda weird because I normally H.A.T.E. bacon. Oh, and does Halloween candy count??? ;-)
  

• Labor signs? No, thank you!

• Belly button: It's shrinking. Yes, shrinking. I can barely fit my pinky in it. But it's still really deep. I used to think when I was little that I could touch my insides through my belly button because it was so deep.
  

• What I miss? Sleeping through the night

• What I'm looking forward to: The anatomy scan. Not going to find out the sex, but I love to see my little one :-)
  

• Milestones? Does not being able to button my normal jeans counts?

And time for the pictures...

• 
• See! Definitely a bump there!
  
• 
• 
  
• And a side by side...wow! Totally can see where that 8 pounds went!
• A huge change in those 10 weeks. Much bigger than the last one.
  

Oh, and as you can see, we put the crib together! Yay! The sheets came with it, they aren't the ones we're using, but they work to cover the mattress for now.

Wednesday Tidbits

We're halfway through this week already!!!

I can't believe how it's been flying by.

*My car has been in the shop since Monday - therefore we are going on day 3 of being a single car family. Props go out to everyone out there who only has one car, I don't know how you do it! I have been getting up an hour earlier to drop Kevin off at another teacher's house so I don't have to drive him the 30+minutes to work.

*We went to the library last night and realized that it was Tuesday (Two for Tuesday!) so we got a movie for date night Saturday and I got a prenatal yoga video. Yay! I was so excited to try it out that while dinner was cooking I popped it in to check it out. Nothing. We've been in our house 3 months and have yet to use the DVD player! Hmm. But, I'm proud to say that I found the right wires and hooked it up all by myself :-) Go me! Although, I'll admit that I was hinting at Kev for some help. One time he even asked if "my pink megaphone was telling his blue hearing aids" that I wanted him to do it. (It's from Love and Respect, and if you haven't

*Speaking of dinner, we made homemade chicken potpie last night. My first time making pie crust all by myself. Go me! It wasn't too bad, except I should have used a bit more flour b/c it stuck to the wax paper and was a pain to peal off.

*I broke out my 'fat' pants yesterday. My senior year of college I really packed on the pound and went up a size (or two). I kept some of the clothes after I lost the weight for when I got pregnant. (Or if I gain some again.) So I've been rocking my old fave pair of jeans, with a bigger belt. Love it! My jeans were starting to get snug, and now these are super comfy!

*I am on my third online class. I have aced the first two without to much of an issue, but I can't seem to get into this one. It's on Organizational Behavior. What?!!? Yeah, I'm still not sure. Maybe that's part of the problem. I'm just not into this class. Doesn't help that the professor is asking for a lot more than any of the others I've had. We have on average 5 videos a week we have to watch and write a report on one, we have to post in a forum every week, plus the 2 to 3 chapters we have to read every week! At least it'll be over before Christmas and then I'll have a break until after the babe is born :-)

I know I have other tidbits, but my brain is fried.

What has this week been like so far for you?

House To-Do AKA Honey Do List

Our housing projects have been at a stand still. Kevin went back to teaching and I started sleeping ALL.THE.TIME. We have been adjusted for awhile now, but life just seems to keep happening and we don't get to tackle any projects. Well Kev has an in-service day on Friday, so he'll be home early and we have no plans for Friday night or Saturday! Finally! So we're going to see what can get tackled. Here's my wish-list so far. I know it won't all get completely, heck I'd be surprised if we could get half of it knocked off. I'm sure it'll keep growing too as I think of more.

• Attached all baseboards
• Hang heater in office
• Paint baseboards - Dining room/Kitchen/Nursery/Office
• Paint doors - nursery/nursery closet/bathroom/master closet/loft
  
• Sand new doorway
• Paint new doorway and hall
• Hang casing for doorway
• Install floor strips downstairs
• Scrub paint off kitchen floor
• Scrub paint off dining room floor
• Hang mirror in living room
  
• Hang curtain rods in dining room/bedroom/nursery
• Hang blind in nursery
• Purchase another set of curtains for living room
• Hang curtains in living room (Keep and eye on the cats)
• Install handrail
  
• Build and install rail upstairs
• Attach bathroom vent
• Finish pealing wallpaper in half bath
• Spackle half bath
• Replace battery in smoke dector
• Finish replacing outlets
• Install outlet covers
  

Not to mention the laundry and normal cleaning and mowing and raking the leaves and and and...

19 Weeks!

Last Saturday marked 19 weeks for me! Already!

On Monday I had my 20 week appointment. Thankfully everything's looking good :-) I'm up almost 10 pounds from my first appointment, but I was still under my normal weight at that time. My blood pressure was 112/60. And according to my doc, my baby is definitely a mover. She found the heartbeat, and then I laughed and he/she ran away! Guess I better get my rest now before I can feel his/her tumbling act at midnight!

Without further ado, here's me at 19 weeks and 1 day. (Note: it was taken at 10pm after a long day, hence why I look soo tired)



I can still wear all my normal clothes, although my jeans are starting to feel snug, especially when I'm sitting. I purchased a BeBand this past weekend, so I'm looking forward to trying that out and seeing how it works.

I must say that I was quite disappointed in Targets maternity section. It's seriously 2 measly aisles! I was wondering, and all of a sudden I realized that everything was looking big. I mean like seriously big, not maternity big. I wondered into the plus size section! Oops!

Any suggestions on some good maternity places? Or even better, anyone what to loan me a few things :-)

One of Those Weeks

This week is going to be one of those weeks. You know. A week where you know it's going to busy. A week that is going to fly by. A week where you feel like you have no time to do anything extra.
But it will be a week of fun!

Today I have my 20 week appointment after work (YAY!) followed by meeting with my co-leader and friend to plan of Wyldlife tomorrow.

Tuesday we have our first official Wyldlife club of this school year. (Again Yay!)

Wednesday is Younglife's all-area Halloween club. I guess I don't have to go to this, but Kevin is playing guitar and I love being around to support the other leaders and lend a hand.

Thursday evening I'm catching up with an old roomie and friend.

Friday night is a birthday celebration and a bonfire with friends.

So while it's a jammed packed week, it's filled with a lot of fun and all things that I enjoy and want to do. Now if only I can fit some time to do my classwork and housework in there.

Oh, and I took my 19 week belly pic, so that should be posted soon!

Fall Fabulous

I love this time of year! Don't get me wrong, I'm a summer girl through and through. There's just something about the smell in the air, the colorful leaves and bonfires that I love. I also love pumpkins and apples. There's so much you can do with both of them. Seriously.

This past weekend we had fall fest overload. Friday night we had a Fall Fest at Kevin's school for all the middle school students and parents. Then Saturday we had our own. Yes, we had our very first party at our new house! Yay! Can I tell you how awesome it is to be able to have 20 people over? It has been our dream since we've gotten married to be able to host parties. But alas, our first 2 place couldn't even hold half that amount. So even though we've only been in the house just over 2 months and things are far from being complete and put together we decided friends come first. But I digress.

Friday night was pure madness. I mean that in a good way, I promise. It started out with a variety of activities from pumpkin painting, to seed spitting, to bobbing for apples to turkey bowling. Yes, turkey bowling.

You start out with a frozen turkey, which ends up looking like this quickly.
Nasty, right? For some reason kids love it! It's cold, slimy and disgusting, yet they kept coming back. Crazy kids.

Then you throw it;
roll it;
shot-put-style it;
any way you can to knock down the pins.
Can I tell you how hard it is to get pictures in the dark when you want to get two things that are farther apart than your flash distance? I almost got taken out by the turkey a few times.


Inside was the apple bobbing and pumpkin painting.
Isn't that an awesome idea? It's a tree with the stem as the trunk!
Then we moved on to some group activities. Like eating this:
Spider in the jello. Yum.
And a candy apple eating contest. The catch? One was a candy onion. So glad it wasn't me!
And the end the night, the winners got to pie their teachers.

Saturday night was such a blast! We invited 7 couples over to carve pumpkins. We also had 4 friends stop by later in the night to watch the game. AND we had babies. We had a human baby, my niece, a puppy and our two kitties. Yes, I'm sure it was quite a mad house.


Meet my niece Emmy. Isn't she the cutest little Philly's fan? I love her face here!
And miss Molly, our furry guest. Puppy in the pumpkin :-)

After filling our tummies with autumn-y treats and a tour of the house we set up shop in the dining room. I guess the plus side of not having a real dining room table yet means it's easy to move the table into the kitchen and have plenty of room to make a mess!
YooMyung and Thanh got to carve their first pumpkin! And it turned out totally awesome! (It's the moon you'll see later).

See my cousin's husband is a total pumpkin carving guru. He brought these awesome patterns to use to cut out pretty pumpkins.


Darrell and Alayna did the awesome skull and cross bones pattern.
And Brent and Tara chose the challenging graveyard scene. Props to Tara for her patients with it!
And all 8 of them lined up. I think they all turned out totally awesome!

Like I said, I had a blast on Saturday. We had an eclectic group of friends and family and it was awesome! It probably helped that there were so many teachers in the mix. There were 3- 3rd grade teachers, 2 middle school teachers and 2 phy. ed teachers. What is it with teachers and easy conversation? Must be a required trait.
So what's your favorite fall activity?