Tale of the 3 T's (and their parents)

TRACEN:

.... "Mom, if you see that daddy is playing chess tonight after I am in bed, you just come and let me know right away- OK?"

.... he has decided that chess on the computer is the ultimate best "cuz' I am so smart - huh mom." (Thanks Sammy for getting him started.)

TYLER:

Quote: ..... "I pledge alligience to the flag and to the republic for it stands,
one nation, under God, invisible, with liberty and...
HAVE A GREAT PARTY! (and no, there are no typos)


... he has also taken up cutting his own hair. (notice the "hole" on top")

TATE:


.... has decided he has a better place for grilled cheese sandwiches.

MOM:

.... has decided she prefers being a "true" burnette. She feels smarter already. :)



DAD:

.... is STILL confident that he has still "got it" after all these years.
.... and he does! (10 amazing ones )

****Notice how many days are left till "the parents" are off to tropical bliss?!!!!!****

The Parties of "SECRET LOVERS"!

Did I mention how much Dan and I LOVE Halloween? I did. Yes, I am sure of it, BUT I will say it again. HOORAY FOR HALLOWEEN!

So I recently read the little blurp my parents wrote in the "Waite Family Newsletter" and found that they seem to think the MAIN THING Dan and I are doing lately is PARTIES! They think we are just party party all the time. Well.... it seems they might be on to something there. This weekend was definately a party!

On Friday evening, I, Jenna Ravenclaw, had the opportunity to accompany my lover, Bodrian Knightstrider, to a MASQUERADE being held in a REAL castle somewhere in the land of Provo, Utah.

Apparently it is quite the process to achieve the "perfect look" when attending a BALL with your LOVER. First of all, one MUST find the perfect dress. So where does one go to find such a dress? But of course, one goes to SAVERS and finds this one of a kind for the mere price of $12. (How cool is that?) I was also lucky enough to have an amazing friend with one of her amazing talents being able to create amazing hair and make-up!

*Of course, she HAD to do a little photo shoot* (I am a bit sheepish posting pics of myself, BUT it really is all about the amazing hair!)

They are a bit blurry, but you get the idea...

This is how it began... scary-eh?


This is how it ended...

Thank you so much Annie!!!! You really made me look, what was the word you used-- Oh yes... "FANTASTICAL"!!!

The MASQUERADE was incredibly cool. It was a Murder Mystery dinner. There were 5 courses of very delicious food with great entertainment in between. The entertainment included belly dancers (actually, that really was NOT my favorite part- a bit awkward actually) and a couple of vocal performances. One of those being my very talented LOVER who sang an Italian Aria that (as was part of the murder mystery plot) was to "reveal" his secret love for me (Jenna Ravenclaw-remember). He really did an incredible job. I fell in love all over again. :)

Unfortunately, we had to leave (had to pick up Tate) before the ending to this murder mystery was revealed. But I do believe that vampires were the ones hosting this dinner and that, had we not left, we would have been their feast!

*More GREAT pics*
Jenna Ravenclaw and her lover Bodrian Knightstrider...

Jenna and some of the other fair maidens... Oh and a monk.

Our masks were incredible! Mine was all black feathers and Dan's (I mean Bodrian's) was bone.
Even though I am not a " REAL LARPER" , I really had a wonderful time. (put aside the massive headache I got from waiting too long to eat-thank you drugs) I mean how often do we get to leave reality and dress up to go to a MASQUERADE DINNER with our LOVERS?! Thank you Kris and Kwint Kemp. It really was a BRILLIANT evening!

***Also a HUGE THANK YOU goes to Bruce and Christy for taking our boys for the night.***


Then Saturday evening, Dan and I, as a magical witch and wizard, hosted our yearly Halloween party! Such fun!

***THE WITCH and THE WIZARD!*** (what a versatile dress)

****OUR COSTUME CONTEST WINNERS BY POPULAR VOTE WERE:***
Sweeney Todd and his lover... (Leah and Joel Cooke)
*Sweeney Todd won:I -JUST-SOILED-MYSELF AWARD (scariest)
*His lover won: I THINK I'M A DIVA AWARD (best use of make-up)

Mr. and Mrs. Claus...(Kris and Barbi Kemp)
*They won: I'M WITH HIM/HER AWARD (best couple)

Little Red Riding Hood and Grandma (aka The Wolf)... Trent and Kelli Packer
*Grandma (the wolf)won: TRUE GEEK AWARD (most original)
*Little Red & Grandma won: ROFL AWARD (funniest)

Hercules & Venus... Burke and Heidi Hatch
*Hercules won: THE U CAN'T-TOUCH-THIS AWARD (best all round)

????Themselves????.... Mark and Debbie Noorda
*???Themselves??? won: I'M JUST HERE FOR THE FOOD AWARD (least effort)

Our other contestants were:

The Jedi's... Kwint and Gina Kemp


Fred and Wilma Flintstone... Bruce and Christy Jacobs


German Boy and Cat Woman... Megan and Corey


Bumble Bee Barbie and Ariel Barbie... Annie and Amy


The Hillbillies... Brian and Brittany Stratford


Mr. and Mrs. Dracula... Tyler and Melanie Wangsgard


Dan and I and the boys had a great time setting up the decor which included scary sounds and messages flashing across the TV screen and a smoke machine and strobelight!
We played plenty o silly games and had some VERY tasty food. We had homemade chili and homemade chicken noodle soup or yummy cheesy broccoli soup to go in breadbowls. We also had salad and a very creative and tasty Frankenstein cheeseball with crackers and veggies made by Christy. As well as more delicious sweets than we could possibly scarf down.




**Thanks so much to everyone who came and made this party so much FUN! We are happy to have so many silly friends to join us in our silly parties. Those of you who "bailed out" (you know who you are)... WATCH OUT! We know where you live!
We might have to make this an every other year party and somehow we have to figure out how to magically make our "hosting space" a bit bigger so more people can come.

***Also, another HUGE THANK YOU goes to my parents for taking on ALL the grandkids (6 under the age of 5yrs) and for letting our boys have a sleepover! They seem to have had just as much fun as we did. THANK YOU! THANK YOU!***

*So now back to reality. The boys all have yucky coughs and look exhausted. Time to put aside Jenna Ravenclaw and her lover Bodrian and come back to being mom. No more parties for us. Well, that is until we leave for Cancun in just over a week! Wha Hoooooooooooooooo!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Happy Christmas????

Did anyone else wake up to similar scenes and wonder why there were still pumpkins on the porch instead of Christmas trees in the window?

Our poor little trees... Don't worry, we saved them.
We guessed we got around 6 inches by 12noon today.


We made this lovely creation....




....so that no one would be confused as to what holiday it REALLY is!

***If you are still confused, read about the fun Halloween party we had for the boys! Too FUN!

Its a HALLOWEEN party!

I will start off by saying that HALLOWEEN is Dan and I's favorite holiday! First of all, HALLOWEEN comes during the all time, very greatest time of year, FALL!!!!! The weather is perfect, the colors are my favorite colors, I get to wear my very favorite outfit- comfy jeans, a hoodie, and flip flops, and to me it signifies the beginning of lots of family gatherings, awesome food and cozy nights by the fire. Not that we don't LOVE Christmas and Thanksgiving and Easter, and Valentines Day, (actually Valentines Day really isn't a favorite- too cutsy and superficial, I think) and Grandparents Day, and St. Patrick's Day (this one comes in 2nd place for favorites). It is just that for us, HALLOWEEN is just so much fun! It is not because we support the "true meaning" of HALLOWEEN, in fact it is probably because we avoid that part and it is just a silly, not much to think about, just for fun holiday. Also, we absolutely LOVE dressing up! So of course, because of our love of the holiday, we have passed that love onto our boys. They have been counting down the days to HALLOWEEN since August! So when Tracen said,

"Hey mom when do we get to have a big HALLOWEEN party?!"

I thought to myself, "Hmmm, how often do little kids get to go to a HALLOWEEN party? Hundreds of Birthday parties, yes, but a HALLOWEEN party? So, I immediately sent out invitations to 25 kids to come to what I thought could be the BEST HALLOWEEN party ever! The next day I quickly ran to the mailbox to take back those invitations after realizing I must have been CRAZY to have ever thought of the idea.

But, thankfully, I was too late.

On Friday afternoon, 22 kids showed up in full costumes and excitment in their faces. We played a little "pumpkin, pumpkin, GHOST!" (aka duck, duck, goose), did a little craft of making "spooky masks" with paper plates, glitter, stickers, feathers, and googly eyes, played pin the nose on the jack-o-lantern, guessed the # of eyeballs in the jar, and then had a treasure hunt that lead to the GREAT treasure of a BAT PINATA! It was a bit crazy with so many kids, BUT I hope it ended up fun for everyone. I know my boys are currently planning next years party. However, I think this little event will have to be an every other year party or so. Thanks so much to all of the moms who helped out, I could never have survived so many were it not for you. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

Here a few pictures of the event. Unfortunately, I didn't get many that really captured it all, but you'll get the idea. Any of you moms that took some pics, I would love it if you could send them my way. Thanks!

Poor Kid...

So maybe some of you think it would be just wonderful if your baby(ies) had hair. Well I used to think I was "LUCKY" that my boys have all been born with quite a bit of hair. Well, take a look at what happens when you "try" to give your 1 year old "just a little trim". You'd think I would be better at this since he is my 3rd boy and this is Tate's 4th haircut/trim but... NOPE.

I say again... Poor Kid!
In my defense, Tate moved just as a made the first cut. This is why his bangs HAD to be cut so dang short. Now my cute baby with all the "great hair" looks like what's his name that Jim Carey played in the movie Dumb and Dumber. So much for the 1 year old pictures I had scheduled. And... Lucky You to all those whose babies don't need haircuts until they are 3!!!
*Please look below for pictures of my baby BEFORE the terrible accident!

GO FIGURE!

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