Halloween Party

Last night we hosted our 2nd annual Halloween party, and it was a great success! The invitation: (the spider is peeking through a hole in the top of the invitation, open it up, and the spider is attached to the inside where all the party details are written!)The menu: Gravedigger's Delight (Oreo mud pie with Milano cookie tombstones), Yummy Mummy Cheese Log, Pumpkin Squirrel Cheesecake (squirrel replaced swirl), Veggies and Dip-theria in hollowed out gourds, Werewolf fingers (chocolate-dipped pretzels), and Arti-don't-choke dip. Mmm....Mr. B dressed up as Nacho Libre and I was a pirate.

Everyone wore fabulous costumes, and we awarded prizes.Our guests:
"Berkeley" (she came as her husband, who was out of town)

Featuring Jo as herself:)

Mickey and Minnie Mouse (Coolest)

Renaissance woman and Convict (sorry it's blurry!)

MTC Crossing Guard (most original) and Vampire victim

Boy scout and Girl scout (both won most humorous)

A fire bird and her captor

Indiana Jones and a witch (scariest)

King and Queen (both won Best)

Alice in Wonderland and cowboy

Witch and not a witch (quote from Princess Bride)

Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf (creepiest)

So there you have it! I didn't get any pictures of the decorations, so you'll just have to trust me that the place looked fabulous. I was very pleased. Mr. B and I had a great time at the party, and our guests seemed to as well. Baby B slept through the whole thing! Here's a pre-party picture of our cutie (trying to run away from the photo shoot). Look for Halloween pictures of Baby B coming next week!

M&Ms

My M&Ms arrived today, in time for Halloween! And the packages are not the small ones, they're the regular vending machine sized packages. So I have twice as much as I thought I would. The delivery man commented on how heavy the box was, so I told him what was inside and offered to share, which he very graciously accepted. So maybe I made his day, at least his kids'. I'm already feeling gluttonous about my winnings; I imagined I could eat one package every day and still have a few left next Halloween. Of course, I'd also be able to be a sumo wrestler for Halloween if I ate these all. I will definitely have to limit my intake and share the wealth! Any creative ideas?

Aunt Laura

We had a fabulous time with Aunt Laura visiting. We didn't want her to leave! Today I felt a little blue but am comforted that we will see each other in two months for Christmas. Some photos from her visit:

Just finished giving baby B a bath

Mommy and baby

Enjoying the Atlanta sunshine

At Phipps Plaza Nordstrom--new friends! This is a very upscale mall, so it was fun to look at the fancy shops. We even saw three women with "accessory" dogs, two of the dogs were in purses!

Walking around in the new outfit from Aunt Laura. She also brought the cutest Halloween outfit for baby B; I'll post a photo soon.

Mr. & Mrs. B--We went to Everybody's Pizza for dinner one night. Mmm!

Botanical Gardens

Laura and I had fun triggering Venus fly traps to close. I think we closed most every one!

Storytime with a frog. Does anyone know what story these frog characters are from? We can't recall.

Mommy and baby at gardens. Baby B was a perfect angel for Laura. We want her to come back! And all our friends and family are always welcome!

Developments

Baby B is walking very well now, all over the house. She is very pleased with herself. And yesterday she learned how to shake her head no. She thinks it's hilarious, and has no idea that I'm implying NO when I shake my head. So now we shake our heads together just to be silly. She dances all the time, to Frankenstein, music from the CD player or TV, and the rhythm of the washing machine. Whenever she dances, she reminds me of Aunt Kelley. Baby B still does downward dog, and now she walks in a circle around her head (head on the floor, feet moving around it). And she still loves to pull diapers out of the diaper basket, one by one. Today I started stacking the tossed diapers in a neat pile, and when she noticed, she gave me an exasperated look and started taking each diaper off of my stack and tossing them haphazardly, as she does with the diapers in the basket. As if to say, Mom, I like them scattered, quit messing it up! No picture today, I haven't been as snap happy as usual, but Aunt Laura is coming tomorrow so we will definitely record those moments!
By the way, our bed is a sleep number bed, which has an air chamber and pump, and a part is broken, on its way to us, that's what I meant about bed broken. I would not recommend purchasing this bed. It's really comfy, but it has too many problems.

10 months old

Baby B says "Ow!" She doesn't attach any meaning to it; she's just exploring new sounds. She is getting bigger of course, and she's also getting a bit of an attitude. Oh well. At least she's independent! She does a lot better at the gym daycare now, and she's replaced one nursing with one meal, usually a container of yogurt and some cheerios or graham crackers or sun chips or something similar. She LOVES yogurt, any flavor. She is also walking more, but she prefers to run, so she makes it a few steps and then falls, usually catching herself. We've been taking a Parent and Tot swim class, which we both enjoy. Baby B has even gone under water! I am still completely in love with stay-at-home mom life, even when she drives me crazy with her resistance to napping. She is so sweet and cute and does the funniest things. For instance, the last few nights Mr. B and I have been sleeping on an air mattress in the living room because our bed is broken, and this morning she was bouncing on it, giggling. Then (sitting up) she looked at us and fell backwards, falling into the cushiness of the mattress, giggling. What a funny girl! Here's a happy baby in the swing
Here's a sad baby whose mommy won't let her have the camera--thought you all should see her other side:)

And here's a video of baby B playing with Frankenstein.

Beth tagged me

So here are my responses:
1. What was I doing ten years ago?
I was a junior in high school, loving life because I was in Jazz Choir, went to DC on choir tour, had awesome friends (especially Beth, Mark, and Char), and was in Guys and Dolls as Agatha, a mission doll. I really loved high school, which is unusual I know.

2. What was I doing five years ago?
Fall of 2002, I started my senior year of college, had a very busy semester with a full load of courses. I got engaged on September 21st of that year, and married that December, after which I started student teaching at Hillcrest High School, where I learned that I love teaching.

3. What was I doing one year ago?
I had just moved here to Atlanta and was about 7 months pregnant in October. I was cleaning house and giving companionship to an elderly woman at my church, tutoring a sixth grader, planning a Halloween party, and hanging out with Tracy a ton.

4. What was I doing yesterday?
I was listening to General Conference on the internet, a series of talks by the leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: http://www.lds.org/conference/oct2007/archive/0,21150,7842-1,00.html

5. Five ways I would spend $100 million:
Besides responsible stuff, I would mainly travel and be super luxurious about it. I would buy a new wardrobe, I would buy plane tickets for my family members to come visit (after buying a super nice house with a guest wing of course), I would throw parties every month and I'd hire a personal trainer/nutritionist.

6. Five places I'd run off to:
Bahamas, Colonial Williamsburg, NYC and see every show that is running, Puyallup, London.

7. Five bad habits I have:
Cracking my knuckles, overeating yummy food, being stressed out over nothing, overanalyzing, and laziness (sometimes).

8. Five favorite TV shows:
The Office, House, Lost, American Idol/So you think you can dance, Without a Trace

9. Five greatest joys of the moment:
Pretty much everything about my daughter.

Now I am tagging: Tracy, Megan, Claudia, Elisa and L'Anita, so if you want, answer the same questions on your blog!

Book-o-lanterns

As many of you know, I really enjoy the holidays, and it all starts with Halloween. I found the idea for the following craft in a magazine. It was super easy and basically free. I got the books for free, and it took one sheet of black cardstock to make the faces and stalks. I did buy the little black pails (for stands) for $1 each at Target, but you don't have to have them. Here's how to make them, if you're interested: Make paper pumpkins from old paperback books (the more pages, the better). Fold each page in half ,towards the binding (for the coneheads, also fold down the top corner). Glue/paper clip the front and back covers together and the book will stand on its own. Embellish with faces, stems, and strips of paper curled around a pencil. The coneheads stand on their own without glue.