Halloween Madness

 Pre-Halloween festivities with Janis...

(truth be told, the best part of the Halloween evening)

 Dude, it's Kyle...

 Kaylie and Hannah are actually different characters, Kaylie being Peter Pan, and Hannah being Robin Hood. Duh.

 Will as the infamous LINK from The Legend of Zelda.

Yeah, I don't know who he is either.

 Elijah as the creepy, creepy ghost, and Beth as the scary, scary, 80's exercise queen.

The scariest for last...Cameron as none other than...well, you can figure that out.

Onward to November...

Two Morning Surprises on my Doorstep this Week...

One morning brought fresh snow on freshly carved pumpkins..

The next, brought Michael J. (aka Jacob) after a long night of up-chucking...

I got a long deserved day-off to watch him :)

(It's close to midnight....)

Did I mention I love Fall?

Some wonderful fall randomness...

Hobble Creek Canyon with the Paynters...

KYLE

JACOB

Will and the best Cub project EVER!

Labit's annual Halloween FHE

Including pumpkin carving, caramel apples and a new but fleeting tradition: Home made Apple Cider doughnuts...can't do deep fried anything in my own home. My conscience won't allow it. I'd rather eat doughnuts that I can pretend were baked and not deep fried...

Happy Halloween!!!

One year ago today....

...we lost Buddha.

There have been a few tears today.

And yesterday.

And even just  randomly throughout the year. 

He was loved and he is missed.

Glinda....

The good-witch of years past...

Hannah, 3rd Grade.

Favorite Halloween costume so far:

After 16 years of costuming my children for Halloween

-mostly with Aunt Judie's help-

this is my fave.

Bethany as Elphaba. She looks fabulous!

Why I love Michaela

     The other day Michaela got a text to be in a commercial...it was an advertisement for a new slide at Seven-Peaks. They wanted a bunch of kids to show up on Friday afternoon for the filming. The closing line of the text was something like, "if you look good in a bathing suit, come on down and join us!" Now, the mother of Michaela Labit (me) would have been totally shut down by this requirement, at age 16, 25 or 45. Not only have I never assumed that I looked good in a bathing suit, but by showing up I would have been announcing to others that  I thought I looked good in a bathing suit. It would have been quite an ordeal for me. But what I have always loved about Michaela is that she is so comfortable with who she is. Her decisions are rarely based on what other people think. She makes choices that seem so brave to me, but are so natural for her. For example, she tries out every year for the school musical--has never made it in, but faithfully goes for it each year. I love that. I am more proud of her for continuing to try, than I would be if she ever made it in.

     Needless to say, Michaela was on location Friday, filming that commercial...and though yes, she does look good in a bathing suit :), there is much more to be impressed with. I only hope that some day I can be just like her.

Oh, I Iove happy endings.

Too many  tragedies, not enough happy endings.

This one made me cheer out loud.

I have been thinking alot about my older brother lately.

 He lives in Atlanta, Georgia and I don't see him nearly enough. 

I wish he lived closer. My kids love him and would benefit greatly if he was a bigger part of their lives...

It's a good thing families are forever...

Scenes from a birthday bash..

 Hannah can hardly contain her excitement !!!
(Because, like, she's the birthday girl...)

 Christine ponders some incredibly deep thought....

 For a few moments, Kaylie mistakenly believed she was the birthday girl.

Bella is decidedly unimpressed with the whole shebang.

(actually, this a random photo from some other random day- but she looked so festive and bored at the same time  I just had to include her.)

And that wraps up Hannah's birthday week. No more birthdays for us until December!!!

Happy Birthday Grandma Singer (95) and Hannah Labit (11) !!!