Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

From Vincent Van Gogh, 

 

Salvador Dali

 (Is he not the spitting image?)

Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso,

and Frida Kahlo.

I was pretty happy when these cute boys decided they wanted to be artists for Halloween.  Ellis was intent on being Dali, and you can see why! Sam didn't keep his Picasso hat on very long, but he was pretty cute while it lasted.  And Henry was a stunning Van Gogh, flashing his "Starry Night" painting for all to see.

I was also pretty thrilled about getting to sport a unibrow and a hint of a mustache.

Sam was asleep when we all got in our costumes.  When he woke up, Ben, in full Andy Warhol attire, went up to get Sam out of his crib. He took one look at Ben, pointed at him and said, "Hall!  Hall!" (That's his name for Andy Warhol -- it's Sam's favorite of our artist action figures).  I guess he was pretty recognizable, at least to someone!

These pictures are from the night of our Trunk-or-Treat party on Saturday night.  We're glad we got to go do some trick-or-treating, as it looks like Frankenstorm might get in our way tonight!

Drinking in, Soaking up, Heart-singing

Our future is up in the air.  By March we will know where our next huge adventure will take us.  For now, we have no idea where it will be, and anytime I try to think about it, I drive myself insane.

The part that really kills me is that there is a good chance this is our last fall in New England . . . although we have no idea for sure.  So just in case, I'm trying to drink it all in, soaking up as much beauty as possible.  And my heart nearly explodes when I try to tell you HOW MUCH STUNNING BEAUTY we have seen over the past couple of weeks.  It makes my heart sing.

The best place in the universe to go for drinking in, soaking up, heart-singing, etc. is Mount Auburn Cemetery.  You are probably getting sick of me saying this and posting about this place.  But every time I go there I am amazed at how I can't get my fill of looking and taking pictures.  And I know I have said this before, but I can't get over how crazy it is that I can be at a dingy old 7-11 one minute, and the next minute I'm transported into this heavenly world.

Why do we not go here every single week?  I would love to do that.  I just feel lucky that I was able to pry Ben away from the grindstone to go on a PERFECT peak fall day, just before the sun was setting.  I guess the beautiful moments in life carry us through, right?

Apple Picking, with or without Ben

Let's be honest.  Ben has been doing way too much of THIS lately:

He is getting down to the final push for getting his job market paper done.  He had his first big presentation last Friday, which was a big hurdle to get over, but he still has quite a bit to do through Thanksgiving.  

I cannot complain.  Ben's schedule has been really great for the last four years.  He has been home for dinner before 6:00 every night, and for the most part, he has had nights and weekends free.  But when it came down to finishing his research and the big paper -- the one that is supposedly going to get him a job -- he has ended up needing to sprint to the finish.  For the past two months, he has been trying to squeeze in as much work as possible into every extra minute.  He's been waking up and going into the office early, still home for dinner, but then he has been working nights and weekends as much as possible.  

I fully support him, since I definitely want him to get a job, and I want him to do as well as possible.  But what KILLS me is that our lives and the seasons are going on without him!  I used to be able to convince him to take a day off for a family apple picking trip, but it didn't happen this year.  So, we went without him!  I was just sick to my stomach, driving through perfect fall country towns that were absolutely stunning, just knowing that Ben was missing it all!  Still, we had a great time, and it was fun to go with Rachel and her kids.  And the cider donuts were good, as always . . . even without Ben. :)

These boys melt my heart.

Story Land Friends

Good old Tim-o let me steal some pictures from his blog to complete my Story Land post.  

THESE are the people we shared magical moments, very competitive game nights, and insanely mind-altering buttermilk syrup with!!!

Jessica/Crew, Becky/Isaac, Me/Sam

All 4 families at the cute little Swiss-inspired condo we rented.  Looks like H&E are having a good time, eh?

Dave, Jared, Tim, Ben.  I love pictures of "the boys" gathered together.  For some reason, it reminds me of junior high.

Here we all are from above (Did I mention that this was kind of a long time ago --August -- when we all had sun-kissed skin?)

We had SO much fun with these people!  How would we survive without our "Boston family" ?

Thanks for the pics, Tim!

Story Land 2012

Look at how our family has grown over the past 3 years over our trips to Story Land:

2012

2011

2010 (Sam was in my belly)

(Somehow Humpty Dumpty and Ben always stay the same).

Grandpa Dave also never changes.

We took this picture when Ellis was DONE cooperating for pictures.

Same with this one.  I was kind of bummed to be at Story Land with ALL boys while we walked past all of the princess stuff.  No one would ride the pumpkin coach with me.  Seriously!

But I'm kind of in love with all of my boys.  So it turned out okay.  

Sam loved all the rides he was allowed to do -- like the carousel!

Ellis' favorite was the Polar Coaster!  

Both Henry and Ellis were thrill-seekers this year.

No one can say for sure, but this may be our last trip to Story Land.  Sad, sad, sad!  We love this place.

The other sad thing is that I don't have a great picture of the three awesome families we went with: the Wilsons, Spragues, and Niemans.  We had so much fun playing games, staying overnight, eating pancakes with buttermilk syrup, and going to Story Land with them.  We are so lucky to have such good friends!

And don't you kind of think Sam is absolutely adorable?

August/September via Instagram

One boy's pure delight in another boys' absolute misery.  Kind of a trend in our house right now.

Peach canning: join the club.

New apron from Anthropologie.  Or Ben's way of showing me he loves me and wants me to make peach dumplings for him.

Ben watches the game while playing with his new pot holder (he got it to match my apron).

"Just one more taste of sugar."  I'm sure our cake will be germ-free!

Happy birthday, President Monson!

Cake disaster at the park. Henry was helping me carry the cake to share with friends.

Thirsty?

$28 for the little entrepreneurs!

Recycled Olympics party for our babysitting co-op night.

Army jeep roller skates.  Get 'em while they're hot!

Fighting over the scriptures :)

Trying out some options for invitations for the Primary Program.

Probably spend 3 more hours than I should have on the Joy School house.  But it's done and pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.

Henry cam home from our ward party wearing this.  He got soaked in the sprinkler and didn't realize how cold it would be.

New (very classy) decor for the playroom wall.  Match the painting sticker to the artist!

Poor little Sam burned his hands touching the bottom of the grill.  Now he's fishing for M&Ms in a bucket of cold water.  It's the only way we could convince him to put his hands in anything cold.

MIT Brain Study. Henry got an MRI and played memory games . . . then got paid an $80 Amazon gift card!