Happy Halloween 2009

As usual we headed up to my parents for Halloween. It's tradition that we go up there and have dinner, take the kids trick or treating in her neighborhood (this is the neighborhood that Baylee grew up trick or treating in). For dinner this year we had some delicious Butternut Squash soup made from squash out of my mum's garden, Chicken Tortilla soup, mac and cheese for the kids, and a peperoni pizza that I managed to overcook. So here are some of the highlights from our Halloween this year.

Jackson's pumpkin that he decorated.

Baylee's pumpkin that she decorated.
Woody and Buzz Lightyear

I really wanted to find some sort of "matching"

costumes for the boys. It may be the only year

that they let me do it!

All the kiddies.
It has always been Baylee's favorite thing to do

on Halloween, hand out the candy. Here she is

sat in the doorway on a chair, waiting for the

kids to arrive.

Baylee didn't want to come out trick or treating with us.

She wanted to wait for Mike and his kids to arrive. Fortunately

Uncle Evan, dressed up as Alfalfa talked her into going with him.

Here are the boys trick or treating together. Wyland actually

kind of "got it". He said Thank You and walked up holding his

pumpkin with Jackson. Not bad for a 16 month old.

Is that the Grinch? Oh wait, wrong holiday.

Does this make him a Metro-Sexual?

So Friday night after the Harmon Halloween my mum was kind enought to take the kids home with her. Jeramie and I don't get much time for "date" nights. We really wanted to go see the movie Paranormal Activity. So we had about an hour and a half to kill before we needed to head to dinner so we went to the mall. We didn't really have much direction. Just going to check things out and enjoy window shopping without the normal screaming and whining children that usually accompany us. So as we were heading in I said to Jeramie, "Let's get our eyebrows waxed while we're here and have the time." He was all for it. See, Jeramie requested to have his eyebrows done before our wedding and found that he really liked having them professionally done. I don't know a single other man that enjoys this being done. However no complaints from me!! So in we went. When the lady finished with mine she started heading over to the register for me to pay and I reminded her that HE wanted his done too. There were three other women in there having their nails done .. ALL of them laughed. One of the ladies even said she would KILL to have her husband be willing to do that. Hilarious.

After the lady finished she said, "There, now we can

SEE your eyes!!"

We had yummy dinner at Texas Roadhouse.

This is one of our favorite places to eat.
The movie .. was GREAT!!

Harmon Halloween

Every year for Halloween my Mum's work does a big Halloween Haunted House kind of thing. Different departments dress up and decorate their areas. It's the coolest thing I have ever seen any place of employment do. This year included a little boy who left his head on a table and was walking around without one. It included a corn maze (indoors). It also included some wood plank thing you walked on that then vibrated underneath you! Not to mention people reaching out from inside the walls. Then they end it with a little party in the cafeteria with drinks and treats. Plus they have a DJ playing kids music. My mum's whole department dressed up as characters from the Flintstones, Mum was Wilma. We all came and then Mike and his family came as well. It was great as always. A really nice kick off to the Halloween holiday.

Myself and Woody (aka Wyland)
Wyland checking out the fake spiderwebs.
Baylee and Grandma .. or should I say ..
Pillsbury dough boy and Wilma

I think this is a really cute picture.
Xavier who we frequently refer to was X Man
was Wolverine.

Wyland thinking, "Why are we sat here in the dark?
It's light outside!"

Mike's family did a superheroes theme.

Mike was Clark Kent, Zarley was Wonder Woman

Owen was the Hulk, Xavier was Wolverine, and Amber

was Lois Lane.

By the end Wyland was pooped!

Flashback Friday

Me and my mum. This was our very first cruise for all of us. It was my parents, myself and Baylee, and Evan. It was SO much fun. Oh and it was when I was skinny! lol. Those were the days.

Baylee's Last School Halloween Parade

Since Baylee is in the 6th Grade this year I'm guessing this will probably be her last school Halloween Parade. This year for Halloween Baylee was the Pillsbury Dough boy. It turned out pretty good and she got lots of encouraging comments at school. Not to mention it was nice and comfy, plus she could wear warm clothes underneath. Fortunately while the parade as school began I went looking for Baylee. I had realized that unlike previous schools this school did theirs different and so it was looking like I wasn't going to get a good view of Baylee and her class. So I left my seat and went looking for her. It's a good thing that I did because she didn't have her bakers hat on so nobody would have even been able to tell what she was. I quickly got her situated and ended up quite happy that I had moved my seat. The 6th graders performed the Michael Jackson Thriller Dance. It was really cute! Baylee loves anything associated with music as well as dancing. Such a fun little show to watch.

Waiting in line to enter the gym at school.
This was actually at the end of the dance.

They were all supposed to be dead on the ground.

Ghosts of Halloween Past

2008

Jackson was a monkey.

Baylee was Hannah Montana

Wyland was a lion.2007
Jackson was a turtle.
2006
Jackson was a lion.

Baylee was a clown.
2005

Baylee was Annie.
2004

Baylee was snow white.

Wordless Wednesday

Happy 13th Birthday Jonathan!

This coming Sunday is Jonathan's 13th birthday. So tonight we hosted a little get together to celebrate. My parents, Geleasia and Daniel, Robie, Matius (sp?), Emmit, and Issac all came over to celebrate with us. We had cake and ice cream as well as a few presents. Matius and Emmit stayed for a sleep over as well. We don't often have Jeramie's kids on their birthday's so this was a treat. The very next day he will be shipped back off to his mom's for more birthday celebrations. Definitely a benefit to having two separate families, you always get two of these kinds of events.

Robie and Wyland

Wyland really enjoying his cake!

HAHA! So cute.

Family Pictures 2009

So my mum decided that she wanted to do family pictures in baseball jerseys. She has exactly 9 grandchildren right now which is exactly the amount to field a baseball team. So she had jerseys made for everybody and we were numbered in the order of arrival. Also categorized by color. She and my dad were Team Dad and Team Mum in blue sleeves. Their children and spouses were in red sleeves numbered in order of arrival. Beginning with me as number 1, ending with Rachel (Evan's soon to be wife) as number 6. Then all the grandchildren have green sleeves. Again they are numbered in the order they became a member of our family. So you'll notice that while Jonathan (Jeramie's oldest) is actually the oldest between them all, it was Baylee who was the first grandchild to my parents. So my mum bought the shirts last year and for one reason or another we were never able to get everybody organized so fortunately nobody had grown out of them by this year. In all actuality Wyland and Xavier had grown into theirs! Not to mention if we'd taken them last year they wouldn't have included Rachel. So as with most things the delay worked out for the best. So we scheduled the pictures again this time a couple months in advance. Needless to say as was part of the problem last year we almost had drama the day before again this year. Jeramie's ex likes to pull fast ones on us at the last minute. It was just yesterday that she told Jeramie she wasn't going to let him have the kids today since it was Jonathan's birthday weekend. Long story short we received a repreive and were allowed to have them for Friday night. So the occassion was saved.

We were all there with bells on tonight. For the most part all of the children were pretty good. Of course it was Jackson that was the naughtiest of all. It's always HIM! Keep in mind these are basically self portraits. That means camera on a tripod with nobody actually hitting the button. For the most part I don't think you would ever know, they turn out pretty good every single year. But to get 17 people all looking in the same direction for a picture that doesn't have someone drawing their attention in is an accomplishment!!

Grandparents and 9 Grandchildren

9 Grandchildren
Mine and Mike's Family (partners in crime)
Are we bored yet?
Mike, Amber, Winter, Zarley, Owen and Xavier
This isn't the best picture of us, but

look at Wyland's tongue. So cute!

Howard-Kramer Clan
Me and my bros.
Original Howard's
Without these two, none of this would be possible!
Siblings and Spouses in order of appearance.
Grandchildren in order of appearance.
Jackson and Owen goofing around.
Our whole family.