Halloween 2021

Claire and her friend Averi wanted to be sumo wrestlers for Halloween. Their costumes were hilarious and were the talk of the neighborhood! 

The best part was watching them try to walk!

When the night was done, Claire came home with a bucket full of candy!

 

Baking again!

Back to baking again! Claire had to try out the new rolling pin she got from MamaLu and PapaDo, which they brought back from Michigan just for her! She decided to try out the sugar cookie recipe that was attached.

She had to do a few attempts before figuring out exactly how much to push down with the decorative rolling pin!

Then she attempted to do some Halloween cookie cut outs...

but when she began having too much trouble getting them to look like the cut out by the time they made it to the pan, she decided to just do circles instead!

The cookies were rather blah tasting and we both decided next time we will use Grandpa Larry's recipe and add the much needed mint extract! Super fun to have some design on the cookies though and I think with more practice, this rolling pin will be lots of fun! The baker just needs to perfect her skills!

 

Honoring Snuggle Bunny for "Dia De Los Muertos" in Spanish class

Claire worked super hard to come up with the best way to honor her Snuggle Bunny for Dia De Los Muertos. In her Spanish class, she had to come up with memory box to honor a lost loved one and it needed to contain items that the person loved and pictures to show who the person was. We did lots and lots of store hopping to find the perfect items for her box.

First we glued on the background....

 next, she arranged all of the items to be sure she knew how she wanted them displayed...

  then the gluing began!!!!

She was very particular about the items she had to have in the box and where she needed them placed!

I am super proud of the effort and care Claire took into making this a special representation of what she knows and remember about her super special Snuggle Bunny. The two of them had such a bond and I know Dad would be so proud of her right now!

The finished project, complete with a cross and purple cancer ribbon, a hammer and screwdriver because Grandpa was always building things; a tractor, some pigs, and a rooster because Grandpa loved farming and loved his animals; the camo background to honor him fighting for our freedoms in Vietnam. On one side of the box is the patch from the Charlie Company which he belonged to in Vietnam and on the other side is a picture of Grandpa from Vietnam. The best picture though is the one you can see, the one of Claire and her Snuggle bunny, snuggled up together and happy as can be. We sure do wish he was still here with us, but we are so thankful that Claire got to spend so much time with him and that she remembers so much about him still!

She wanted to outline it in lights. It looked really nice but the picture didn't turn out so well.

In honor of you Snuggle Bunny, aka Dad and Grandpa Larry...we love you and miss you every single day. As Claire said in her description below the box, you are always alive in our heart!

 

Amazing swim meet in the books!

Claire had a great swim meet this weekend! She ended up dropping at least 10 seconds in every event she swam! Clearly her work at practice has paid off some! Now we just have to keep that fire under her for the entire season!!!

 

Jellystone Park - Waller, TX- 4th annual camping weekend

We finally got to head to Jellystone for our 4th annual camping weekend with the Townsend family and the Moore family. We had to miss last year due to Covid and we all were very excited to have this weekend back! Claire brought her good friend Abby with and the two girls had a blast! We put them to work setting up their own tent and with minimal help, they got it done.

With a burn ban in effect, we were only able to have a small fire using charcoal. It lasted long enough to roast hot dogs thankfully!

The girls spent some time playing outdoor games,

jumping on the big pillow,

and tossing the nerf football.

Jeff and I spent most of our time in the lazy river with the other adults!

Had to get one group photo by Yogi!

Had to fulfill the tradition of the "magic pumpkin seed". You buy a magic pumpkin seed, go plant it and sprinkle the glitter over it and return in 2 hours to a full-grown pumpkin! Then you go to the rec center and paint your pumpkin. These two names theirs Fred and George!

We got in a little time at the mini golf course. The girls lost multiple balls into the water!

This was the first weekend the campground does Halloween events. The kids all went trick-or-treating around the campsites and came back with lots of candy!

Everyone had so much fun and the weather was absolutely amazing! Couldn't have asked for a better weekend blessed with wonderful friends! Until next year...