Happy Halloween

Trick or Treat

This was the year of a Candy-Corn Fairy, Snake Eyes, a Gypsy, and a Pirate.

Pirate Girls... Chloe and Isabella

Darling Elle

All the gang at Wade and Jen's costume party.

Happy 80th Grandma!!!

October 15th... Happy 80th Birthday, Grandma!

We had a big surprise birthday for Grandma today. Family from Utah, Pennsylvania, California, and Canada flew in to be with her. She was so happy and overwhelmed. It was fun watching Grams reunite with people she hasn't seen in years. It was also so much fun to hear people share past memories, and of course the food was awesome!

The Birthday Girl!

We love you Grams!!!

Barry and Jim

YUMMY!

Mom and Heather made this a day to remember for Grandma.

Renee and Tyler

Dad and Uncle Jonny

Lauren and Hannah

Jackson and Finnegan were selling the party favors! Not good...

Holly

Jonathon, Aunt Marta, and Uncle Jonny

Always ready to party

Dad, Jim, Jenny, Lou, Renee, Barry, Tony Jean, Rosemary, Mom, and Sandy.

It was quite the party! It was a wonderful day!

Burning Barn

A sad night.

I got a phone call late at night from my brother telling me that our parents barn was on fire. My Mom was in Texas helping with Heath and Sarah's twins and my Dad had just left that day to go camping with his brothers. Life has been a little stressful lately and when I spoke to my Dad earlier that day the mood was melancholy. However, by the end of our conversation we were laughing and saying, "Things could always be worse". Whoops!

We all felt badly for our parents hearing the news over the phone about their barn. So many memories within those walls and many of Dads' sentimental possessions. My Dad had a special tack room in the barn where random and important conversations seem to occur. Tyler even asked my Dad if he could marry me out there.

FAMILY

Every time Tyler would put his hand up to measure Finnegan,

Finn would raise his tiny hand up to measure Tyler.

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Francesca needed a little help giggling.

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The End!!!

("Finally", says Finnegan)

* pictures taken by Ashlee Raubach

My cousin Amy Ruggieri and Me

This year for Halloween our kids have had a really difficult time deciding on what they want to be. I don't remember as I child getting to choose. For example, when I was in second grade my mom made me be a SKUNK! Do you think I wanted to be a skunk? No, I didn't. I was thinking about something more along the lines of a beautiful pink princess with a bright pink sparkling wand. I remember my mom working really hard on my skunk costume and sewing for hours at night. She also sewed a fluffy white rabbit costume for my little brother, Seth, and other costumes for my older brothers. The more she sewed the more distant my dreams of being a princess faded. I didn't say a word. Then they day of the Midway Elementary School Halloween Parade came. I remember hesitantly walking into the bathroom to change. As I reached the door, my mom handed me a beautiful glass perfume bottle with a long tassel. She said, "if you want, you can just squirt perfume along the way". I thought I was going to die of embarrasment! I held back tears until the door closed and then I sobbed. It took me some time, along with a few encouraging words from my school teacher to compose myself, but I did resurface as a "skunk"... painted face and all. I guess I figured, "oh well... I have no choice. Let's do it!". By the way, I won the award for the best costume that year and by the end of the parade I loved my costume.