The Royal Ball (also known as Halloween)

Well, Halloween was in the works for practically a year around these parts. Rylee had a barely walked in the door last Halloween before deciding she wanted to be Cinderella the next Halloween and she wanted Liam to be her Prince Charming. You'd think a kid would forget that over the course of the year or change her mind, wouldn't you? Well, you'd think wrong. So, Mommy went to great lengths to put these costumes together. They turned out really well. And there was lots of Halloween fun along the way. 

There were hayrides....

 And  punkin painting...

(I'd like to point out that Liam, who I wasn't even sure would know what to do during this activity, was super into it to the point where he clearly used every color...vigorously... and cried when we were done)

After taking a year off, we revisited the Zoo Halloween Party and boy was it awesome!

 Minions

Cinderella with... Cinderella! Who wore it best? You decide

 Some of our favorites were there (Liam is off camera, very excited to see them, but keeping a safe distance nonetheless)

 Then we were off on the old Huber's tractor to choose this year's pumpkins!

"This one's too heavy... let's keep looking!"

Back on the hunt!

 There was everybody's favorite... dirt cake!

 There were free fall festivals galore! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

 And barn slides built for 3...

 Outdoor Casper viewings...

 Fun fall DIY treats...

 And cupcakes!

There was Halloween cookie making (I have the cutest sous chefs)

And enough pumpkin guts to go around!

(Again, Liam VERY into pumpkin guts)

And the annual Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown viewing, of course

At long last, Cinderella and Price Charming were off to the Royal Ball!

 Daddy even took the night off to chaperone!

 It was freezing and sleeting, but that didn't stop these professionals.

Cruising in their Coach

 

 And thawing out with some warm Pear Cinnamon Cider  

Stay tuned for next year... she's already decided she wants to be Belle from Beauty and the Beast. We'll see if that one sticks all year long like this one did! :-)

#BPH

Another summer at the Big Party House has come and gone, but not before we got to have all the Hoben grandkids and all the Miller grandkids under one roof. Of course, there was never a dull moment. I apologize in advance for the plethora of pictures. It was too hard to make cuts. Not pictured, however, is the naked cousin dance party in the fancy shower.

Don't let them fool you. This was the quietest they were all weekend long. 

Rylee loves "Liam's" boat. She pretty much refused to get in the water in any other way at first.

Liam looks so cute in his Puddle Jumpers, but he prefers to wear them on land. The water is NOT his favorite.

There was lots of goofiness

 And crazy lake jumping

 "Whatchu talkin bout, Willis?'

 Snacks on the Pontoon (cue the theme music)

 

 Some of us were lulled to sleep on the Pontoon

 

 Boat Boys

Grandpa had lots of help navigating the waters of Lake Rhodiss

 

 Waterbugs

There was lots of fishing going on

 

  Aidan caught a few of these babies!

 Even the smallest fisherman got in on the action!

 Tubing was way too much fun (unless you capsized... then notsomuch)

 There was Smores at the fire pit

 Some of us enjoyed our Smores more than others

 The (traditional??) marching around the fire pit with sparklers parade

 Sillies

 Liam met a girl...

 When Masons Attack

Most importantly, there was A LOT of love.

Too much love???

 We saw some gorgeous sunsets

 Liam developed a drinking problem

 'Yaking

 Mommy's favorite part was that our brave girl by the end of the vacation had no fear and got in the water and swam all by herself. She didn't even want to get out when it was threatening to storm and she was turning into a prune on our last day. So proud!

Atta girl!

 

 Not sure what's occurring here though...

 Couch Picing it

I always wanted to put these pics side by side. On the left is Sean and Monica the morning after they got engaged in November of 2007. The BPH was just a wooded lot then. On the right, is us (and so much more than a wooded lot!!) now. My, what a difference 7 years makes! :-)

A Star Spangled Birthday

 Well, before the summer completely gets away from me, I guess I ought to catch up on all of our summer fun. Brendan and Aidan celebrated turning FIFTEEN and TWELVE (gasp!!) on the 4th of July this year. We had a small family party in their honor. Here are some highlights:

 Of course, there was red, white and blue food of all kinds.

Posing with their party planner

 

 There were cupcakes

 And cards to open

 And Smores

 And sitting on a porch swing operating as many electronics as humanly possible with Uncle Todd....

 And a small fireworks show

 And sparklers!

And definitely lots of oohs and ahhs.