Halloween

Just wanted to share a few pix of our Halloween before out Thanksgiving and Christmas! 

Justin's outfit was my favorite to put together this year. 

I got his leather (vinyl) coat at our local thrift shop, trimmed the sleaves to fit, and sewed them up.

He's the Lone Ranger. Yes I know his hat should be white, but we did what we could, m-kay?!

He enjoyed the night with our neighbor with hamburgers for dinner, school Halloween party, and trick-or-treating. He made off with a killing of candy! (get it? haha!)

                                                              Here are the 4 Musketeers. Yep, 4. These kids Pal around together non-stop when able to, and it was no different Halloween night. They enjoyed trick-or-treating with each other led by their friend's mom. 

(sorry for the blurry photos...issues with the camera AGAIN. Need me a new one. *sigh*)

                                           Alyssa was a beautiful Princess Fairy

              Amy was a darling witch. She wanted to make sure everyone knew she was a good witch.

Michael was a brain surgeon. I know, YUCK! What isn't shown is the heart he's carrying in pocket. Eeek!

                           Jeremy was a Karate Master. He shared some pretty amazing moves!

After going out for a couple hours, the boys came back and changed into Ninja costumes and shared their skills with one another.

                                 Alyssa and Amy enjoyed going through their candy and trading. This brings back so many memories from my childhood days. I have fond ones of trick or treating with my dad and sharing with my brothers and sisters. My mom always made our costumes so great. 

Alyssa taking a rest after changing into her pajamas.

                                                             Michael gave Justin a candy burial...

                             I think he thought he'd died and gone to heaven. (hehe! I made that one up myself.)

Tyler spent the night studying and watching a movie, and Steve was out of town at a class. 

That leaves me. Scarecrow Mom. 

With a nice night off, I enjoyed passing out candy to trick-or-treaters and watching Man of Steel. 

It was a GREAT Halloween! 

Austen Fans

For those of you who don't know, I'm a hopeless Jane Austen fan. I love the time period, the stories, the romance, the hopelessly smitten love and the main plots to all of Jane Austen's novels. I have read most of them and seen as many of the movies as possible, in a variety of each version. I just finished the last book she wrote, but never completed, called Sanditon. It was finished by another, and, I might add, very well done!

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Being the Jane Austen fan that I am, and a part of a wonderful book group, we recently read the novel "Austenland". 

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It was hilarious and fun in a degree only an Austen fan can fully appreciate. So you can imagine our delight when my friends and I found out that the movie had come out! 

I went with a long time friend, fellow Austen lover, and book group member. 

We laughed until we were almost literally in stitches!

  

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If you haven't seen it, you must! You'll be glad you did. 

Snow Days

5 Days ago we got snow.

To people that live in colder climates, that doesn't mean anything unusual. But here where we live in Eugene, Oregon, it's a rare deal. So they say.

 When we first moved here 9 years ago, the real estate agent told us that we wouldn't see much snow because it was so rare. It's snowed every year since we've been here. Granted it isn't a large amount, and when it snows, all the schools close and buses don't run. They just don't have the equipment for it. For the first couple years this would upset our older boys, being from Spokane WA and Utah. They were disappointed at how once the sun came out, all would be melted by mid afternoon if not, mid-morning, and they missed school that they knew they'd have to make up later.

 This time, however, we have gotten so much snow, that the buses can't run and many churches have canceled their services.

Everything is capped in white and the the temperatures are making no promises of rising above freezing real soon, leaving a layer of ice on the roads.

School has been delayed giving the children time to play and enjoy sledding, tubing, and hitching. Our neighbor across the street even took them snowmobiling (They frequently visit their family in Montana). 

                                                   We received 8 inches of snow in total.

                                                  It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here!