Witches Tea

We hosted a Witches Tea Party yesterday.  My kids were so excited they willingly did their homework, unloaded the dishwasher, and cleaned their room to get ready.

We only invited a few friends since we didn't have many tea cups.

The wizards got their own table.

After Tea the kids all made their own witch hats.

I had a good time with these witches... our wizard refused to be in pictures.

The finished products.

S'mores with the Shorts

We had left over fire and s'more supplies from date night so we decided to invite the Short family over for s'mores. 

Abby is Brooke's best friend from school.

The kids wanted a scary story before bed so we threw an empty box on for more fire and heat and Jake told a (not so scary) story.

Date night

 We had our annual date night on Friday night. We get together with some friends from Jake's PhD program and it's always a good time. This month we kept it simple. We had dinner. I made soup and others brought salad, rolls, and dessert. Then we had a fire, roasted marshmallows and just hung out.

                            

                          

Emma got to join us this month. Our other kids were at primary program rehearsal (for some reason they didn't want nursery kids too ;))

                            

Jennie brought a lot of fun treats for s'mores and we roasted some starbursts as well.

                                                                               The Tenneys.

                     

                    

                                                                   

                                                                                  The Dormans

                      

                                                                          The Paynes.

                      

                 

 Our backyard isn't beautiful but it is so nice to have a big yard to do things like this. It was a perfect night for a fire! 

Pumpkin Walk

I took the kids to the Lubbock Pumpkin walk. Usually we try to go closer to dark but I didn't want to fight the crowds so we went in the afternoon. A lot of the pumpkins were starting to rot but we still enjoyed it.

I really like this picture of all the girls. 

Here's Austin's picture. He fell asleep on the way there and slept the whole time.

The kids don't know who the Flintstones are. I'll have to fix that. :)

I let the kids sleep in the tent in the living room that night. We didn't go to the ward campout because Jake had a test (and I didn't want to brave it with 4 kids alone) so this made up for it. It's amazing how exciting sleeping in a tent is no matter where it is.

Finger Puppets

Kaylee got a finger puppet making kit from a friend at her birthday party. She had a great time making all the puppets and a stage. She loves to craft and create. She put on a little show for Emma.

Joyland...again

After Kaylee's party we went to Joyland to use our groupons before it closed for the season.

This time we met our friends the Dahls. Austin and Soren and great friends.

There were several other families from our ward there that day so it was fun to run into them.

Emma was once again at the Dorman's house. We are so grateful they watched her for us!

Harry Potter Party

Kaylee wanted a Harry Potter birthday party this year. I love Harry Potter too so it was really fun to plan and put together. Most of the friends she invited didn't know anything about Harry Potter so they didn't fully appreciate it.

The kids started off in Diagon Alley where they got their school supplies. 

First stop was Madame Malkin's robes for all occasions. The  kids each tried on robes and got their picture taken (I texted the picture to their moms with and thank you note.)

Next was Florish and Blott's bookstore. They each got a little spell book (there is one left on the table in this picture.) 

Next was Ollivanders Wand Shop. They got their magic wand (a chopstick) and made edible wands from pretzel rods dipped in chocolate and decorated with sprinkles.

Next they boarded the Hogwarts Express. We watched a short clip from the Hogwarts express ride in Universal Studios. 

Once they arrived at school they entered the Great Hall and were sorted  into houses by the sorting hat. Austin got Slytherin and was not happy.

Next was potions class. We grew some basilisk snakes from one potions experiment (the fire in the bowl caused little snake like things to grow in the powdered sugar.) 

Next they made bouncy balls AKA Ogre boogers.

The next class was Care of Magical Creatures. The kids hunted for dragon eggs and made cute little felt owls.

Finally they returned to the Great Hall for snacks and cake.

I made a snitch ice cream cake but I didn't pull it out of the freezer soon enough so it was pretty hard and the chocolate wings I made broke. I had to improvise with paper wings.

The girls were dueling using their wands and spell books while they waited for their moms to come. This girl Addi was the only one who knew anything about Harry Potter and she loved the whole party. She kept saying "wow, you went to a lot of work!" It's nice she appreciated it and Kaylee of course did too. I think all the kids had a good time.