Fall Events and Celebrations

Yesterday I told you about the sports and activities the kids were/are involved this fall.  Besides all of that fun, we kept busy with get-togethers and celebrations.  Ready?

Hunting ~

We always get together with Hubby's family and pheasant hunt (like years past, I made caramel rice krispie bars) over a long weekend.  This year was no exception.  The weather was beautiful, almost too hot one of the days and we had a great time.

Smiley's Birthday ~

Smiley turned 6 on the 21st of October.  I should really dedicate a post entirely to her since I missed doing that on her actual birthday.  But, for now let me just say that this little girl is a joy to call my daughter.  As I wrote on my Facebook page on her birthday: 

I cried when she turned 1, because that first year had gone so fast and now I am a little in shock as my baby turns 6! Slow down time, you are moving way too fast! Happy 6th birthday baby girl ~ you are talkative, amazing, creative, talkative, kind, caring and talkative (did I say that already?)

Smiley is into all things Frozen and that was the theme for her 6th birthday.  The night of her actual birthday, she had requested homemade pizza and jello ~ easy enough!  I also whipped up some cupcakes for dessert.  

The day of her party with friends came and with pinterest as a guide, I threw together this cute Frozen themed cake.  She invited 5 friends over and we spent 3 hours making crafts,  playing games, opening presents and of course eating cake and ice-cream.  I think she had a great party!

Hubby's and My 15th Anniversary ~

15 years of pure wedded bliss.......
Ok, so I might just be exaggerating a little here ;)  
Really though, marriage can be work ~ lots of give and take, compromise, selflessness, patience, love, forgiveness, respect and time.  If you want something to work well and flourish, you have to nurture it.  We've done just that in our marriage.  Yes, there are times either of us are frustrated with the other for things said, done or not done, but we talk it out.  We are a team ~ two person strong!

So, 15 years and life keeps getting better and better. Through all our ups and downs, laughter and tears, and everything in between we have had each other for all of it.  And I look forward to our future ~ together!

Halloween ~ 
Of course we had to carve a few pumpkins ~ one for each kiddo.  They were in charge of cleaning out their pumpkins, creating the design and helping to carve it (Smiley didn't carve hers ~ safety first!)

On Halloween night, Hubby and I dressed up like a couple of our favorite football players from our favorite team ~ The Pittsburgh Steelers

I dressed up as Troy Polamalu, Hubby dressed up like Brett Keisel aka "Da Beard".  Check out this picture of the two of them together.  I think we are a spitting image of the pair ~ well, maybe not, but we had fun! .  Oh and I totally should have been smiling in this picture! Troy ALWAYS smiles ~ I was too busy trying to act tough! 

The kids dressed up as well.  Smiley last minute (actually the day before halloween)  decided to be a pirate ~ she had been planning on dressing up like Elsa from the movie Frozen.  She even had a choice between two dresses the coronation gown or the ice castle gown, but decide a pirate was the way to go.

Action pulled out the green morph suit and afro wig he wore last year.  He just couldn't decide what he wanted to be and remembered all of the comments and reactions he received last year so he went with it again.

Sassy and a group of 6 friends decided to dress up as minions.  They painted the G symbol on their t-shirts, had white stocking hats spray painted yellow, a friend of hers made the goggles out of pvc pipe and with some jeans and black suspenders, they were set to go.  

The kids trick or treated at a couple of houses in our neighborhood before we went to meet up with friends. 

Unfortunately the night was called a bit early ~ 9:30 because Sassy wasn't feeling well and asked to go home.  The kids were able to attain a lot of candy and had fun with their friends!

Well, that pretty much wraps up the events and celebrations portion of fall thus far ~ next week, I'll show you some of the fun fall pics I took on another one of our annual "field trips" as well as more details on Smiley's Frozen birthday party.

Have a great weekend!

Fourteen

Today marks 14 years that hubby and I have been married.

Like vows go, we have stood by each other in sickness and health and in good times as well as bad.  Thankfully the healthy and good times have FAR outweighed the bad and I anticipate that will continue.

Through these last 14 years, we've learned that we must have patience, practice forgiveness,  know that we can trust, always listen and be supportive.

We've learned to laugh more and have fun often.

We have also learned that 14 years goes quickly by and I'm certain the next 14 will as well.  But I indeed look forward to them and the memories we will be making together and as a family.

13 + 5

We dated 5 years before we got married.  And today have been married for 13 years.  

Nope, 18 years together hasn't always been easy or happy.  

(Halloween 2011)

We've had our share of ups and downs, but together we always make it work.  

We support each other, we laugh, and we love....lots. 

These first 13 years of marriage have flown by and have been filled with amazing memories.  

I know the next 13 will be just as extraordinary!

(via Poppies at Play)

40 Years and sort of a long post :)

Thanksgiving, shopping, 60th surprise birthday party, basketball practices and games, church, and a surprise 40th anniversary party for my parents = a busy couple of weeks.

Thanksgiving was wonderful.

Shopping was uneventful.

The 6oth surprise birthday party was for my father-in-law and turned into a very late night 3am to be exact.

Action's basketball team won their first skills competition in basketball ~ must have to do with the coaching (yes, hubby is his coach ~ Ha!)

Sassy's basketball team lost their first game, but Sassy played some mighty good defense and ended up with 2 fouls and 1 illegal contact call.

The surprise 40th Anniversary party ~ well, that was for my parents!

40 years.

Remarkable.

Here's how it went down.....

Since myself and my 4 siblings are scattered about, we don't all get together very often at the same time.  So we definitely knew if we could all make it that would be a surprise in and of itself.

My sister rented out a room at a great restaurant and started sneaking pictures from my parents house so she could create a slide show of their 40 years together.

I got the evites sent out.  All of my Dad's brothers and his sister live quite a distance from my parents. 2 out of 3 said they were coming.  Both my mom's brother, who lives out of state and sister (who lives minutes from my parents) as well as her 2 kids and their family/significant replied they would also be in attendance.  Every thing was going perfectly.

I decided to make a replica of their wedding cake.  Keep in mind their wedding cake was small :)  Their actual wedding was small and intimate to begin with and made even smaller due to a December blizzard.

I made this "white wedding" (cupcakes) cake that I pinned on pinterest awhile ago as well as my favorite buttercream frosting ~ both I had also made for Smiley's 3rd birthday. They had a simple cake topper of a cross with intertwined rings which I recreated out of gum paste.

My friend E, who is simply fabulous came over on Friday to help me with the decorating.  Ok, fine... she did basically all of the decorating.  She's taken classes and is so good.  I can honestly say I don't do much, if any piping and would just have made a mess of the cake!

We had one picture to go by.  And it was a over flashed picture from the 70's (look for it at the end of this post).  A little difficult so we just went with what we saw.

The day of the party arrived.  A ice and snow storm had hit the area of my Uncle and one of my brothers and they were not able to make it.  Bummer.

My other brother, his wife and sons, my sister, her husband and son, as well as my family met about a block away from my parents house.  We gave all of the grandkids balloons, flowers and treats to carry up to the door and they piled into my vehicle.  My parents thought my husband and I were coming back to town for my father in laws 60th b-day party (which had actually taken place the weekend before) so they were expecting us to swing by.  When we pulled up all of the grandkids ran up to the door and yelled "Happy Anniversary"  when my mom opened the door.  To say the least my parents were surprised!

We hung out, decorated their house for Christmas and told them we had dinner reservations at 6:30.

Hubby and I left early ~ we had to get the cake there!  AND everyone else was showing up at 6 to surprise them.

We got all set up and word came that my parents had arrived.  We braced ourselves to surprise them.  And that they were!  My mom mentioned that there were probably more people there than had made it to their actual wedding due to the blizzard.  (I'm not sure I believe her though, but it was probably close).

She thought the cake was beautiful and less crooked than the one they had at their wedding reception and mentioned we got the colors just right!  I even made them cut the cake and exchange bites. :)

The slide show my sister had made was fabulous.

And the rest of the weekend was filled with laughter, family, memories and smiles ~ lots of smiles as we finally were able to get family pictures taken (another part of their surprise).  We had not had family pictures taken since I was a sophomore in college and they were for the church directory.

Ugly.... very ugly!  I can't wait to see the new ones!

Anyway, happy 40th to my parents!

12 + almost 5 = almost 17

Years that is.

You see, Hubby and I dated for 4 years and 11 months before we got married.  And today, we've been married for 12 years.  So that, equals almost 17 years with my honey.

And I think the years have been good to us ~

I mean, here we are during the first summer we were dating.

(yes, I took a picture of a picture ~ notice scratches and the flash?)

And here we were Friday night 

(and the Saturday before that)

Don't you think marriage is treating us well and bringing out the best of each other?

(I think I've heard it said, that married couples start to resemble each other after awhile... 

What do you think?)

Seriously though, I'll admit,  the days have not all been fabulous. We've had lots of ups and our share of downs.  The downs don't defeat us, they only make us stronger.  We've learned that a successful marriage doesn't just happen, it takes work.  It takes love, sacrifice, understanding, trust, compromise, forgiveness and laughter.   I love who we are, what we have, and where we are going.  And I am so looking forward to the next 12..... 17...... 25......50 years and the surprises they will bring!

But from the beginning of creation, `God made them male and female.' For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.

~Mark 10 6-9

11

11 amazing, wonderful, years together.

And honey, you make me:

 

THE HAPPIEST GIRL IN THE WHOLE USA!

Cheers to many more!

WE HAVE A WINNER!

And the lucky person is.......

Check out why she started blogging by clicking here!

And, I'll be in contact to get your info!!

Oh, and fyi, Action thought he had to give one of his toys to the lucky winner.... he really is excited for you now that he knows you don't want one of his toys ☺!

Thanks everyone who commented and linked up ~ I had fun learning more about some of my favorite people and meeting some new friends!