HALLOWEEN BIRTHDAY BASH

We held our annual Halloween party a couple weeks early this year due to a good friend's wedding taking place next weekend and Halloween falling on a Friday this year (meaning we can't have the party on Halloween because there will be trick-or-treating, and having the party AFTER Halloween is kind of anticlimactic... and the date was out-voted anyway). We had a great turnout and really enjoyed a night of dressing up and hanging out with our friends, while watching the MANY kids run rampant around the house and yard. We are very thankful for all those who were able to attend - you made my birthday extra special this year and I really appreciate it!

This year, Team Lindsay dressed up as the Teen Titans, even including Buster in our theme:

 For anyone unfamiliar with the kids version of this cartoon, this is what we were going for:

Other family theme party attendees included Hogwarts students, the Incredibles, the Avengers, and Batmans and Robins (with a 3rd little superhero on the way). AKA the Jungs, Kennedys, Bournes, and Lillymans.

Then there were some themed couples or partially themed families, with kids who preferred to do their own thing. Grady's costume required some explanation, as most of us are unfamiliar with the various Chuck-E-Cheese characters. Olivia and Lauchlin came as his nurses. Dawn and Stirlin were workout fanatics, accompanied by Sophia the First Emma and Ironman Coltin. Witch Katie and Zombie Seth brought their adorable little dinosaur Houston. Keri came as Jesse with an unwilling-to-wear-his-complete-Toy-Story-dinosaur costume Rohan. We think Carey and his wife Amanda just grabbed some work gear from the back of their truck... And the Gattles came as a pair of fruits with Captain America Grant and Boo Cutie Evie.

Here are some shots of the couple's themes. Stirlin knows his wife is crazy, but he's a good sport!

Guarav came as a "random guy" and Amy was a darn pretty referee:

Nathan, as usual, came dressed in a very obscure yet literal costume, while his wife Heather looked as adorable as ever.

Can you guess what he is?

We had a couple of buffet tables set up with tombstone markers for the Devilish Dips, Dangerous Desserts, Vile Veggies, Freaky Fruits, Awful Appetizers, and Evil Entrees. The Atrocious Adult Beverages and Kreepy Kid Drinks were kept in coolers outside, alongside Jay's keg of 2014 Oktoberfest. The little boys (most dressed as superheroes of one sort or another) stuck together, running laps and fighting bad guys. The girls stuck together too and it was honestly the first time we've seen them group as such and not mingle much for an entire party. And it was actually pretty darn cute to see Cora get to be so girly with her little friends!

The younger Jungs - most polite group of boys you will ever meet, I swear it!

Alex (as a pea shooter, from Plants vs. Zombies), James, Grant, Will, Mason, and Coltin. We actually had 3 Ironmans show up, but I didn't get a picture with Jason in it (he arrived late). And surprisingly, we had only ONE Elsa in attendance (Kara, Alex's little sister, who unfortunately spent the latter half of the party in tears after falling and badly scraping her knees).

Evie, Cora, Darcy, and Emma - they totally camped out in Cora's closet and said "No boys allowed!"

A few other party photos...

Not sure what Stirlin was going shopping for, but at least he had his nice new backpack.

Just in case anyone wanted to see me in spandex. The kids will owe me for this someday...

Costume Contest Winners!

The party ended around 10:30pm after a few of us headed back down to the bonfire with s'mores intentions. It was a great way to end the night!

The kids lasted until almost 11:00pm before they passed out on the couch...

Hoarding abandoned glow sticks...

I put Cora to bed and came back out to find these 3 in her spot!

Happy Birthday to me indeed. So blessed to have this family of mine and so grateful to have the many friends and other family members who never fail to show me they care about me - thank you all for making today a great day for me, I love you!

BIRTHDAY CAKE IS GREAT!

After soccer, mommy got chicken nuggets for lunch followed by THE BEST birthday cake: chocolate chip mint ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. The kids approved as well. Those hearts hanging on their "craft bars" up there are the birthday cards they made me. Between a 20-mile run this morning (that included some fun trail crashing), yummy cake, and a Halloween party later in the evening, this was certainly one of my more exciting (and exhausting) birthdays in years, and I wouldn't change a thing! Thank you Jay for keeping me busy today :-)

JACKTOBERFEST

Delta Brews attended Jacktoberfest this year with representatives Nate, Carey, and Jay. It was Jay's first time attending the event and he absolutely plans to make it an annual adventure. The guys tapped out 3 of their 4 brews within 50 minutes of setting up, and Nate won the Taster's Choice award by the present voters for his Coconut Curry Stout.

Jay came home with a nice swag bag of 5 pint/tasting glasses!

Carey and Jay each won a first place medal for one of their pre-entered brews by the judges. Jay won with his Strong Scotch Ale, and it was a well deserved win. If you haven't tried it yet, it's time to sweet talk him before the last of this year's bottles are gone!

AMCA PUMPKIN PATCH FIELD TRIP 2014

Can you find James and Cora in there?...

And here are a few photos I "borrowed", since there were parents there who brought actual cameras...

Waiting in line. So much waiting in line...

Cora and her buddy Avery, hugging it out.

Sad pants Cora did not want to be part of the K4 group photo. (She wanted to bogart the flour sack swings instead.)

CORPS DAY 2014

 

We started our day with the Corps Day Essayons Challenge Trail 5K. As in years past, it was a hilly course with 8 obstacles and body weight exercises throughout (this year they included: uphill lunges, tire flipping, lunging uphill while carrying a "pet rock", burpees, situps, jumping jacks, pushups, and box jumps). To save my knees, I skipped the box jumps, and we accidentally missed the jumping jacks and pushups because we didn't see the signs. We had lots of fun and we plenty sore by bedtime to let us know we worked hard!

Jay 38:14 (12:20/mile pace w/ 6 obstacles completed)

Denise 38:28 (12:25/mile pace w/ 6 obstacles completed)

 

After the run, Jay went to get the kids from school and pick up some lunch for us. The rest of the day was spent eating, drinking, watching ragball games, and bouncing in bounce houses.

 We lucked out with beautiful weather for the annual event this year!