Our Halloween Costume Party

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Saturday night we had our 2nd Halloween Costume Party! I have so much fun figuring out a costume for Halloween. Unfortunately, part of my first costume idea did not arrive on time. I was really bumming but on the positive side at least I won't have to figure out my costume for next year! So my second idea was to go as the iPod ad. Scot wanted to do something scary this year. So, he was all dressed in black and had a full skeleton mask on. He was able to get a good scare out of some of our guest as they arrived. THANK YOU to all our friends and family that attended our party this year!!! YOU are what make the party fun and worth having! I know finding sitters and figuring out costumes can be difficult, so I really appreciate you all!! I hope you all enjoyed the night away from the kiddos and had a good time.

Robb and Krista
Gary and Donna


Jeff and NikkiChris and SarahMat and Karen
Luke and Sarah


Lee and Cadence Clark and RozeGina, Beth, Me, and Karen.......can you find me???? Jon

Carving Pumpkins

Tonight we carved pumpkins for our Halloween party. Thankfully Sarah and Chris were able to find some nice size pumpkins on their road trip yesterday. I have a feeling this may be the last time they do that because they ended up getting roped into helping us also carve the pumpkins.Alysha was so excited to help and got right in there to pull out the "guts"! She did not want to quit. Skylar was okay just watching.

Our 1st De Vree Halloween Party

Tonight we had our first Halloween Party with the De Vree family. It was a GREAT night. It was so much fun to have all the cousins with each other to celebrate Halloween. Having a Halloween party gives us the opportunity to see everyone in their costume.
Skylar is a piggy this year.Alysha is an elephant. My nephew, Eli is a refrigerator. He was very proud of his food inside the fridge. Gwen, my niece, is a ladybug. After we ate dinner, Eli and Alysha craved their pumpkins. Gwen had fun watching and Skylar wanted nothing to do with it. I could not believe how much Alysha loved digging out the guts of the pumpkin. With the help of Uncle Chris Alysha was able to crave a very cute kitten on her pumpkin.

Lunch with the Girls

Every year my Grandma takes us all out for lunch. It has been a great tradition. It gives us all the chance to catch up with one another and take a few hours to relax.

This year we enjoyed a wonderful lunch at Rush Creek Bistro in Jenison. It was nice to try something new. THANK YOU Grandma for lunch!

Below in the back row from left to right is: Amber, Me, Sarah, Ashley, Denielle
Front row from let to right is: Aunt Linda, Grandma, my Mom, Aunt Dawn My Grandma and I
Aunt Linda, Aunt Dawn, Grandma and my Mom
My cousins My immediate family: Me, my Mom, Amber, and Sarah Ashley and Aunt Dawn Aunt Linda, Denielle, and Grandma
P.S. Grandma - I love the purse! Thanks for trading!!!

Artprize 2011

What a BEAUTIFUL fall day! The girls and I took full advantage of this day by heading down town Grand Rapids to check out Artprize with my sister and my mom. We had a great time! The girls did amazing. We arrived down town around 10:00 and walked around for a couple of hours before the girls had enough. We were able to check out a lot of Artprize in that time frame. It is amazing to me how many exhibits there are. I know we missed a lot of it, but what we were able to see was amazing. There is a lot of talented and creative people out there.

Sarah is standing next to, "I Pledge Allegiance" by Rip Maclay from Milwaukee, WI.

"I Pledge Allegiance" was conceived as a way to honor important heroes, memories and events in our nation's history. The following pictures are of "Dumpster Diving". Who would have thought you could make an interesting and creative pieces out of junk? What a fun idea to do at a wedding for something different.








The following picture is of "Thousand Suns" by Libby Hodge of Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Americans use 2,500,000 plastic bottles every hour, according to the Clean Air Council for the U.S., and nearly 8 out of 10 bottles end up in landfills.
The following pictures are of "Grizzlies on the Ford" by Llew (Doc) Tilma from Wayland, MI. "Grizzlies on the Ford" is a collage of Grizzlies fishing to resemble a viewing station in Alaska. This is one of the top ten art exhibits this year.


The following pictures are of "Under Construction" which consists of two live men, Robert Shangle & Jasper Shangle. "Under Construction" - LiveStatue is building on the future: Presenting a scene that is common in West Michigan; things are constantly changing, rebuilding, improving. I can not believe how long these two men can stand still for. It doesn't even look like they blink. This is also one of the top ten exhibits. The following pictures are of "Mantis Dreaming"by Bill Secunda from Butler, PA. “Mantis Dreaming” is a sculpture of a preying mantis with a butterfly on his claw. This is another exhibit in the top ten.



The following two pictures are of "Metal Monkey Mania" by Dale Rogers from Haverhill, MA.