The Ghosts of Halloween past

May your Tricks be few and
your Treats be many!
Happy Halloween everyone!

Kym and Adam/Family Reunion

We just got home last night from Rexburg. What a blast. Kym(fabulous niece) married Adam(totally cool new best friend)....and oooohhhh what a party! The air was crisp and fallish(wonderful), the food was plentiful and beautiful(delicious), the bride was dressed in simple white(breathtaking), and my family was reunited(blessing). take a look for yourself and see what I mean...
Megan wore her RED shoes...

all the cousins were having entirely too much fun!
and the day....well it was truly awesome- in the true sense of the word!

Claire and I made the cakes...check these out-

The grooms' cake was chocolate Diablo cake with dark chocolate
ganache, almond filling and molded chocolate leaves.
The wedding cake was orange almond cake with chocolate ganache
filling and buttercream frosting.
The leaves on the wedding cake I made out of melted sugar along with
the nest for the birds. I love how it turned out.
(thanks to Claire for all her hard work...or it would not
have "turned out")

The best part was catching up with my family. I love these people!!
I feel so blessed to be a part of their world.

I love you Kym.
...and Adam..."welcome to the family", good move.

boo...sorta

Last week, we decided to have a Halloween party. Well, it's like this...all of us are about as busy as we can get the next 2 weeks, and we didn't want to skip it. and besides that...Claire really wanted it to celebrate her birthday. so what the heck...we just did one early!
K...way fun! just take a look:

Kindle making the most delicious sweet potatoes with Gorgonzola and hazelnuts...unbelievable!

Kindle had her "scare" on
Sweet "E" boy was there...in super form!(along with Lois of course...)

Waldo showed up...

Dread pirate...kitchen witch?

We are dorks...

I'm keeping the wig.

Claire de "Loon"

I used to dream about colors when I was pregnant. I know it sounds crazy (when have I not sounded crazy...right?) but I really did. With Kindle it was peachy orange, Kit was an aqua color, and Claire, was....well....complicated. I dreamt of periwinkle. But wait, then I would dream of dark golden yellow. back and forth like my brain couldn't control the color knob. Then, there she was...with periwinkle eyes and dark golden hair. Sweet and quiet, but also firm and determined. My life was once again changed forever for the better.

After she was born, I went and got the piano music for Debussy's "Claire de Lune". I have always loved it...with it's sometimes sensitive feeling and then sweeping movement. It was not an easy arrangement. Difficult, delicate, powerful, beautiful, and complicated...just like Claire. I felt like if I could just keep practicing...I would figure this piece out...

This is Claire when she was about 5 years old (we were driving in the van)...
"Mom I can cry anytime I want to."
(me)"you can? ok do it..."
pause...pause...pause...loud sobbing noise from the back seat.."waaahhh!"

I'm telling you people...I had to turn around to make sure she was ok...she nailed it!
Claire smiling, "see."
Tell me...as a mother what do you do with this?

Claire and her dad have a system also...they tease and tease and tease till Claire gets so upset that she starts to cry....then I step in and say "Rob...do you have to do this?" (scolding) Claire will be behind my back laughing at Rob because she got him in trouble... game over.

I secretly like it this way. I have moments, occasionally, when I actually conquer the music.
Like this time:Me and Claire at a Halloween party...(lick finger-chalk 1 up for mom...)

But most of the time, I just have to sit back...and wonder at the mystery, and allure of this most fascinating creature.



Happy Birthday, sweetheart. You have brought magic into my simple minded world.