The Annual Family Halloween Bash

With 11 in our family now, I really can call it a bash! This year, though, it was a bash with a twist in that a few of the family members didn't know beforehand that this was the party.  They just thought it was a family dinner at the City Nest. No one came in costumes.

Upon arrival, there was a little craft table set up for the kiddos.

Dinner would soon be served.  (Costco to the rescue with a delicious chicken pot pie, apple slices to swirl in a creamy caramel apple dip and a chocolate cake purchased at a church bake sale.)

Meanwhile, hiding in the shower stall was my secret: a costume for me and grocery bags stocked with costumes for everybody!

A black dress with a with hat and striped socks is easy to throw on!

I slipped into the bathroom, donned my costume and came out with the bags.  Cackling. I may or may not of scared my Grands with this raucous cackling.

Glad I saved that pumpkin necklace from teaching days!

I took the three oldest into another room to change into their costumes: KMan into a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (his Dad had his own costume years ago that wore out), Miss M into a Little Witch and Miss E into a Red Fairy.

Laughter and movement could be detected coming from outside our dressing room - the adults had opened their bags of costumes as well as the ones for the two babies. CarMan was an adorable referee and Miss H was a Forest Nymph.

Their parents consisted of a skeleton man,

Pippi, an orange-haired ice cream vendor and a French maid.

Oh, they are the Good Sports, aren't they?

We played Halloween bingo after dinner.  Candy treats for every "Bingo" kept them all interested until the cards were filled!

Then there was story time for the kids. There was chaos.

My witch hat collapsed in the process.

 

We sure had a lot of fun!

It's such a treat to be with our family!

Meant to. But didn't.

 

I meant to do a blog post about the Nelson Sisters going to Branson and how we had so much fun hanging around with fellow tourists (see above) who made us feel young, zippy and vibrant as we went to shows and hung around by the pool.  But I didn't.

 

I meant to do a post about celebrating the 60th birthdays of our great friends, Marny and Tracy, with our other great friends, Mark and Carol. But I didn't.

 

I meant to do yet another post about being inspired by artwork  at ArtPrize in Grand Rapids Michigan. (You really should go next year!!!)   But again, I didn't.

Then I meant to do a post about our fall cabin trip and our annual walk (almost) around the lake. But I didn't.

I also meant to write about a very special wedding we attended not long ago where there was a lot of sweetness and bubble blowing. But again I didn't reach my intention. 

Add to the list of meaning to, but didn't: the trip to and tour of the classic Marshall Field's on State Street with my sister's book club after reading the book What the Lady Wants by Renee Rosen. Shown above: the group and the stunning Tiffany Dome.

I also meant to write about the fun we had at our recent alma mater Homecoming 2015. At 

which we were joined by our family in a crazy Photo Booth session. But I didn't!

What about that SCH Gala we went to that we referred to as a Prom for grown ups? Nope, didn't blog about that either.

 

 

 

With all these missed blogging opportunities, I resolve I am absolutely positively committed to writing about our wacky family Halloween party that happened already. Nine days before the Real Deal. In which glitter, Mylar strands of orange and hot pink and every toy in the place ended up on the floor and one certain Turtle decided to add his own "deposit" to the scent of the Costco pot pie baking in the oven.  At least he meant to and DID IT!!

A Very Hairy Birthday to You!

 

Kari, John, Wes, Anne, Jed

Yes, it's that time of year once again.  The five adults (not me) in our family all celebrate their birthdays within about a three week time span. Our usual routine is to celebrate them all together while on vacation at our cabin in the North Woods of the Upper Peninsula in Michigan.  I come up with a goofy theme, prepare accordingly and then we have our bash.

 

But this year we had a couple of twists in the celebrating: the births of two more kiddos and the passing of our Patriarch who also liked to celebrate with us.  The time to have the party was uncertain...but certainly our time together would be more "hairy" in the jargon of past years referring to chaotic times.  This got me to thinking of the theme

"It's Getting Hairy Around Here!"

and I was off and running with the use of moustaches to represent the hairy part.
 





Moustaches, headbands, treat bags, stamps, stickers, head coverings..

So I headed out to Hobby Lobby, Dollar Tree, thrift stores and my own supply cabinet and got busy.  I packed a bag full of these items and waited.  And waited. And waited a bit more until we headed up North with the family as we gathered to have a graveside service for Elder. If the

opportunity came, I was set to do the first EVER combined birthday party as a

Surprise Party!

And for the first time, it would include most of the siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews!

The food would be the dinner planned by Renee - our family "Foodie" who makes everything

soooo good.

With the moustache gift wrap and napkins from my bag, the table décor took on a party feel!.

Two cakes for 23 people seemed about right.  One was for the younger kids "UnBirthday" Party
and the other I brought along with candy and popcorn.

We lucked out with weather that allowed us dining el fresco!

Once the eating was taken care of, it was time for the group to come on over to the

Woodsy Photo Booth.

All those props came out of my pre-packed party bag.  I hung a blue table cloth from a clothesline, pulled up a bench and we were ready to go.  I used my cell phone to take the pictures...it was a snap!

Miss E and Papa

 

MeMo with the Grands

Who is this Moustached Miss? Our youngest party goer, Miss H!

Two birthday celebrants with three googly-eyed girls!

Two more birthday celebrants with a uni-browed baby and a son who's lookin' for gold!

Oldest Sister and F

Younger Brother and family

 Youngest Sister and family


Every party could use a blindfold and challenge, right? Miss M and cousin L made this
"Melody" person for us to "pin" moustaches on her face. (They named her.)

Miss E and Miss M loved this game!

Finished the game with all 23 moustaches in place.  Poor Melody!

 

 

Here's our gang no longer in disguise.  Thanks, one and all, for going along with this party-planner --- I know you were good sports!

 

And, Happy Birthday to EVERYBODY!!

 



Field Field Trip

Living in Chicago gives one ample opportunities for exploring fabulous museums: the Art Institute, the Adler Planetarium, the Shedd Acquarium, and the Museum of Science and Industry are certainly top contenders. But, what about the  Field Museum? Our family set out to have a fresh view last Saturday morning - nothing like a 21 mo. old, 2 1/2 year old and 5 year old weighing in on the experience!  

Here are our little Vikings posing on the impressive museum stars.  We were lucky to get them corralled for this shot. (The current Viking exhibit is very good, but these little ones got into mayhem there and we evicted them before they were thrown out by officials.)

They absolutely loved the animals - wondering why they didn't move like they do in the zoo had to be addressed eventually. Trying to explain "dead and stuffed" was tricky with the inquisitive mind of the oldest.  

Snack time break!!

And then on to the dinosaurs.

There was a character dinosaur in the main part of the museum that E and M enjoyed meeting BUT

K certainly wasn't going to come near to it -

unless they held him, and even that was quite uncomfortable for him!

We all (except for this exact Dino moment for K) had a great time on our Field trip to the Field Museum! 

Eighteen thumbs up!  

Party Animals

Back in the day of raising our young children, this video of Old MacDonald (1987 Best Live Action Video Award) was a go-to for restless siblings.  And I report that some twenty five years later, it can still work it's magic on restless Grands.

We planned on giving our grown-up kids a night out while we hosted a little Valentine's party with their little munchkins. They arrived and played the KEEKEE THE ROCKING MONKEY game. That was good for a shorter bit of time than we anticipated. The food was in the oven but not quite ready.  The kids needed something as a filler. So Wes got the old VCR recorder up and running. We set out the little chairs for a theater feel and the old tape worked its charms once again: we sang, stomped and clapped to the classic kid songs such as "Mulberry Bush," "Mary Had a Little Lamb, and "Shortenin' Bread."

Then the timer buzzed and the food was ready!

Being Valentine's Day, the food all had a heart theme.  A low-maintenance heart theme.

Pizza was baked in a heart pan, hot dogs were cut lengthwise and boiled/curled while cooking, 6 oranges were peeled, separated unto segments and assembled into a heart shape.

The kids seemed to like the food.  

Dessert was soon coming which is also a treat for our healthy-eating

Grands who are often encouraged to make fruit and veggie choices instead of sweets.

Yummy Costco shortbread black and white hearts!

(Katie D., do note the flowers in the center...they were from your shower cake!)

(Also note the painted Beast cabinet in the background that I had blogged about in January.)

Following the food we had gift time, bopping with balloon time, conversation hearts bingo,

coloring and a story. 

Our Party Animals were zipping through the activities like air leaking through a popped balloon.

To calm them before their parents returned from time away, we may or may not have

reinserted the Old Mac video. What happens at MeMo and Papa's stays at M and P's!!