Heading into a VERY full weekend...

 Today, I am off to help at Eden's class party, which we haven't done in almost 2 years.  Tomorrow we have back to back soccer games and I was signed up for snacks for Eden's team and so we are getting those goodie bags ready. 

 

The only healthy snack will be these little cuties:

At some point between Friday and Saturday, we will be carving pumpkins.  So the supplies are all ready for that.

Then on Sunday, Kit will be teaching, and we are having an outdoor get-together with our school and baseball friends and family.  So even though the whole thing is that we are meeting here to eat and then go, I still feel like I wanted to make things go smoothly and look nice, especially since Kit is not with me.

I made arrangements for the pizza table with things from my craft bin:

I love that there are traditions that we get to do each year and I love that the kids are still into all of it!

Ryder also won most creative at church for his costume on Wednesday night.  Kit got the lights all set, it's hard to see... but it will be so fun on a dark evening...

It is making him EVEN MORE excited to go trick or treating this weekend!

The sweet thing is that I get to do this weekend with my family and that is the best part of it all!

It will always make us think of him...

 In our garden, we have the birdhouse that our Grandpa Pierce built for us.  He had given it to us when we moved into our Fullerton house on 2004.  When we moved to Tustin, it was the first thing that we moved...

Don Ray Pierce

Dahlias were a favorite of his...

And we think of him each time they bloom...

Hermione

 After reading book 5 of Harry Potter together, Eden really wanted to be Hermione Granger. 

So we dusted off that college gown from 2003:

And some safety pins for some classy tailoring: 

I found a scarf on amazon, a red tie in Kit's closet, and one of her collared uniform shirts.  And I give you little miss Granger:

We have fun plans that involve her hair and a large wave maker... 

She can't wait.  We had big dreams of making cat ears for one of the bunnies so that one could be Crookshanks, but the bunnies were not having it, so we are letting that go... So sad...

the sweetest vending machine there ever was

 We can't believe that Halloween will be happening this coming weekend!  So it was time to get going on costumes.  Ryder LOVES homemade costumes, that are out of the box and not like anyone else.  So this year, he decided to be a vending machine.

Here is the box that we got from Costco and where it all started, so technically, we can say that we got our costume from Costco...

Then we just took it from there...

I used wood discs spray painted white and put letters on them for the buttons:

We got the coolest roll of acrylic for the glass front.  We thought that we would use plexiglass, but this was so much easier and you can cut it to size and it was the same prize as a sheet of plexiglass.

If we have another project like this, I will use it again...

Then we glued bags of chips to a foam board from the 99 cent store.

Here is the {almost} finished product:

(We just need to get the suspenders on so that she can wear it and then Kit will be installing a special surprise that hasn't come yet, inside for when it gets dark...)

The project was so fun for us to do together and he is ready for Halloween with his friends!

Now we are off to Hogwarts to get Eden ready...

A little evening together

 This last Friday night, Ryder went to cheer on our friend Zach at Newport Harbor as they played Corona Del Mar for "Battle of the Bay."

We love our Zamoras!

Zach is a senior and this is his last home game... Man, time goes so fast!!!

We love you Zach and Ethan!

He had the BEST time and can not wait to get to go to more games in the future!

a-MAZE-ing pumpkin patch time

 On Sunday, our family went to a local pumpkin patch to go through a one acre corn maze.

The scary monsters that let you know you were at a dead end...

It was a great day to just relax and be together.

Full disclosure:

After the corn maze, Ryder broke into a full rash with swollen eyes and  itchy welts.  We got him Benadryl and a shower and he was fine.

Poor guy... It was like a moment from the movie "Hitch"...

Celebrating our Grandpa Pierce

 Being with family over this last weekend to celebrate the life of our Grandpa Pierce was such a gift...

Special momentos from his life...

Kit shared and did an AMAZING job:

It has been a long time since we have had ALL of our family together.

What a gift it was to be loved by this man and what a gift it was to celebrate his life together! 

Celebration of a life well lived...

 Today we are heading up to be with family and to celebrate our Grandpa Pierce's life.

I still can't believe he is no longer with us, but I am so thankful that he is with our Jesus.

Thursdays

If it's Thursday, this where you will find me.  At work, we are still caring for Covid patients.  

I am weary but I am grateful to have a job as a nurse that allows me to love and care for people in this way.