birthday bowling with juju!

After a pretty epic Halloween, we took Saturday to drive to see my awesome mom and take everyone bowling! The littles had never been bowling before and mom thought it would be a fun way to celebrate Richard's upcoming birthday. There were lots of cheesy fries, fried pickles, and friendly cheering -- we had such a blast! 

Richard has his own custom bowling ball that he inherited from his father. This guy is serious. ;)

Always up for a pose, you know. :)

This is the bowling alley I went to as a kid, which was such a trip. Still showcasing the latest and greatest in bowling technology, don't you know!

We set up the littles (and Juju!) in a bumper lane, and the "granny method" was obviously preferred during their first turns. I obviously get some sick, twisted step-mom pleasure from these pictures. ;P

Sadie lucked out! ;P

Emmy, celebrating a strike! Everyone was being so sweet to one another, I was sooo proud. :)

Silly pose!

I hadn't bowled in so long, I was seriously the worst. ;P The littles were all within one point of each other, with Sadie squeaking out with the lead! Sadie, R3 and Emmy even managed to get in some time at the arcade, too! (Emily was very proud that one her first game, first try she won a ball she wanted out of a grab-machine -- she was floating on air the rest of the afternoon!) Afterwards, we went back to Juju's for taco soup and red velvet cake! Even Grandpa Jim made it over to celebrate. :) It was a great time! I love hanging out with my precious family. :D 

halloweenies!

This year was very exciting in the Halloween realm! We had all the kittens for the actual holiday for the first time since becoming one big family and Meghan made all her siblings' costumes from scratch (her friends', too! girlfriend doesn't play). Meghan's Nick and Krystall came over, in addition to our sweet Hafele friends so we had ourself quite the party! The big kids stayed at home and passed out candy, and we went with the littles to walk around our new neighborhood for trick-or-treating. It was a blast. :)

Of course, Meg made sure the front porch was decorated to the nines...

... including this creepy girl, which Da apparently named "Beatrix"

Getting everyone ready!

And now, the costumes! Here are the sketches Meg did for each of the kiddos, and I have to say, they came out exactly like the drawings...

Sadie, as a "swaggy clown"

Richard, as a "fire mage" (they came up with this stuff all on their own!)

Complete with glowing staff!

Emily, as a "grim-reaper assassin" (she insisted on an action pose, as well ;P)

Meghan, as an escaped mental patient

Vera, as... Vera with a Chelsea smile! And Matthew, as a nerd ;)

Meghan with Nick, "Freddie FazBear" and Krystall, "Kitty the killer" 

And finally, me and Richard as Dorothy and Toto... :)

... complete with tail!

and my red Keds :)

Our Halloweenies!

Spoils! The littles all made out with about 5lbs. each! Not pictured: the giant mess in the rest of our house, the fire in our fire pit, and the s'mores!

The grand finale -- probably my favorite picture of the night (don't worry, I took the stick out of his mouth ;P)

Hope everyone had a fabulous Halloween! :)

fall blessings

These past few weeks have been so beautiful. We've done some amazing work on our house, including decor, hanging up cafe lights in our backyard, and having the garage sales to end all garage sales (we can see the floor now! a big chunk of it!). We even have a second fridge now! (Is there no greater luxury for a family?) I've become a licensed real estate agent after schooling long and hard on it since January. And of course I've procured a bunch of wonderful, beautiful new clothes to go along with. ;) We've eaten our weight in yummy food and watched lots of funny things. Meg, Richard, and I also discovered that we all love "Rehab Addict," and now the weather is finally starting to come around! Hellooooo, fall!

I've managed to take a few snapshots here and there of whats going on with the Moores, which seems to be our only hope lately. ;) But before I begin, here are a few wonderful things that won't be pictured...

- an amaaazing dinner at III Forks for Darrah's birthday (HELLO)

- family park time on our Wednesday visits with the kiddos (and watching R3 play so sweetly with those who are smaller than him!)

- cocktails and dinner at Johnny Carino's with my sweet mommy and sweet husband after passing my licensing exam
- Meghan, who was a wheeling-and-dealing pro at our garage sale. That girl knows her Meghan Show now. We couldn't have done it without her!

- texting Hilary all the time about 98% of my fashion choices
- of which include 5 total pairs of Jessica's Simpson's Claudette heels in various colors 

- our reception/house-warming party! And all the beautiful friends and family we got to see, all who brought the most thoughtful gifts :)

- our good friend Aaron SHOWING UP to said party (he lives in California!)

- finally meeting the kid who lives across the street from us! He and R3 are damn near best friends already! #thingsstepmomsgetsuperexcitedabout
- Richard driving me all around to get to-go menus from all the "jernts" we want to try around our new neighborhood (our idea of an exciting evening, lemme tell ya)

- chocolate-chip walnut cookies!

- finally syncing my iCalendar on my desktop and phone (um, big deal)
- discovering that my favorite french fries (and a super enjoyable grilled cheese) are dangerously close to my home at Olive Burger
- Sadie serenading us in the backyard with her best "Let It Go" rendition
- watching Emily experiment (and gradually forget about) eye make-up -- thanks, junior high!

And now, pictures!

Tulips from my husband one Saturday. :)

Debbie holding my Sadie and Emily hostage on the floor the night of her birthday. A true hostess, she always knows how to get us to stay longer. ;) (But seriously, we actually dragged Sadie and Emily across the hardwood floor to get them in the car...!)

Finally getting our act together and decorating the house! (It only took 5 months...) Here's are some living room shots...

Enjoying my new hammock on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon (also the kiddos' new favorite destination -- they even rock each other!)

Our new cafe-lights that makes our backyard feel like Spectre at night. :)

Spoils from a midnight run to Kroger one Saturday evening (and by midnight, I mean midnight). Celebratory gluttony knows no bounds when I pass my licensing exam. ;P

Just some of our flowers from our big party (we had 5 big vases and 5 mini vases around). 

The greatest gift set I think I've ever, ever received (from CJ, of course!) 

The Hafeles watching the Cowboys game with us on Monday!

Sadie once told me that cashews were her favorite nut "like Shaleah! they remind me of Shaleah!" (they've only met once). After telling Shaleah this, she then brought over a bag of cashews exclusively for Sadie-bug!

And then said-cashews fueled a really powerful homework session ("you can have two cashews after each time you finish a problem" -- that worked so well that it's hard to forget!)

Emmy, just hanging out on the front porch playing on her Chromebook.

And we're obviously about 2 years late to this party, but Richard and I were dying watching this the other day. Like, "stop quoting it, my cheeks hurt so bad!" laughing. ;P

ky & da on the trapeze!

Yep, you read that correctly! Traaapeeeze! This year for Father's Day, I found a good ole Groupon for a trapeze class for two. I mean, how can you resist that?! Richard was in a down-right giggle-fest when we did the big present reveal in June, and the kids had the biggest eyes watching their sweet daddy get so excited and giggly just at the prospect. It was such a sweet family moment. :)

Anywho, it took us a long, hot minute to get our schedule lined up with an actual class, but it did not disappoint! The instructors were so incredibly kind and patient and sweet. There were a couple of times I was really "humph!" because I wasn't getting it, but they never stopped encouraging. There were about 10 people in the class, all different age and talent levels, so the instructors really switched gears each time a different person climbed the ladder (thank goodness!). 

Modeling the safety belt! Or, the "hey, eating all those egg rolls before coming here was a terrible idea!" belt (that thing was tight, they weren't playing around).

The Father's Day Man, who quickly found his two new best friends.

And now, the videos! Both R and I managed to complete two tricks, and he got it a lot more quickly than I did... I was just so nervous and eggroll-y! (Don't worry, each playlist is 3 minutes total tops.) If you watch any, just watch Richard's -- his excitement-giggles were the star of the night. ;)

(Admittedly, I did a not-so-great job getting video of him because I was, you know, watching it live, and would then quickly think "oh yeah...!")

It was quite the workout! We were so incredibly sore the following days (and I was covered in leg bruises... the back of your knees isn't such a calloused area unfortunately). But we wouldn't give it up for anything. Now we can look at each other and say "Hey, remember that time we trapeeezed!" SO COOL. Seriously, I couldn't recommend it enough. If you can, try to trapeze at least once in your life.  ;)