Happy Halloween!

 Of course, Gabe was Batman.  What else would he have been? :)

 And then there's our little chicken...

 Cecily was really into it.  She loved running around like crazy.  In fact, she was sort of like a chicken with her head cut off. hee hee hee (I know, I'm so funny right?).  We finally had to just keep her in her chicken coop (aka stroller) because we couldn't keep up with her.

 Eva made up her own costume.  She wouldn't be anything I suggested.  They weren't girlie enough suggestions apparently.  So, she was a "ballerina butterfly".  You can't see her full costume because of the coat, but it turned out pretty cute.

What really made the night was the incredible moon!  It was a full moon that started out burnt orange/yellow.  It was absolutely incredible.  It was awesome since it was on Halloween.  I wish I could have gotten a better picture of it, but this will have to do.

I hope you all had a great and safe Halloween.  Ours was really nice and relaxing this year.

Murder Mystery

 My friend Christy and I decided to throw a murder mystery night.  We held it at my home.  There were enough couples to have three different games going on at once.  It was so much fun!  Christy decorated my place.  She's got such a great eye for things.  One of the games was a western theme so we decided to go with that for the party decor.

 I loved her idea of using mason jars to drink the lemonade out of.

 The first group, The Johnsons, Kruegers, Gentrys and the Holdaways (who had to leave as soon as the game was over because of the babysitter so we didn't get them in the picture).

 The second group was the Hancocks, Parkers, Jones, and Boyers.

 Our group was the Pethels, Bouknights, Foulks, and us of course.

 All the ladies (except Courtney Holdaway)

All the men

This will be my last big party at my house before we have to move.  I have lots of mixed emotions about moving, and after such a fun night, it's really going to be hard to leave.  We have such amazing friends here.  We have truly been blessed to know some incredible people.  There are many others whom I love and adore that I would have loved to have come to the party.  These are just a handful of some of the most amazing people in this Wiesbaden community.

Thank you to all the couples that could make it.  We hope you had a wonderful time.  You all did such an amazing job on your costumes too. :)

Happy 1st Birthday Cecily

 So, we didn't really do anything major for Cecily's birthday.  We only do big birthday parties every 4 years for the kids.  So, this was simple.  Eva had dance class last night so I wasn't going to really have time to make a nice dinner for Ceci's birthday.  So, we decided to have dinner at the bowling alley.  I did find time to make a cake and I brought that with us.

 We had the Bouknight family meet us there since they had dance late too and it was also Michael's birthday.  Here are the two birthday kids. :)

 As we were headed up to the bowling alley, we ran into our friends the Haurands, so we told them to come eat up at the bowling alley with us.  They are about ready to have their third baby.  In fact, Emily (the mom) is due on Eva's birthday, which is this Saturday.

 Cecily was a little stinker pretty much the entire night.  She really took advantage of the fact that it was her birthday and she could "cry if she wanted to".  She is getting her eighth tooth right now, so she's pretty miserable.  At least I'm going to blame it on her tooth coming in.  It makes me have something to blame her crying on. :)

 One thing she did like was the cake.

Cecily came into this world a very large girl.  Starting at 10 pounds 5 oz and almost 23 inches long, she just continues to grow.  She's 24 pounds now and I'm not sure how tall she is.  She just keeps growing out of all her clothes really fast.  She cries a lot and is very, very busy.  However, she is very funny too.  She likes to make people laugh.  She gets really goofy at night.  She does everything quickly.  She started walking at 9 months and hasn't stopped moving since.  She's curious.  She has to carry something in both of her hands while she walks.  She LOVES being outside and is really good about being lugged around everywhere we go.  She's a very social baby.  She loves the Krueger family!  Every single one of them, including the pets.  She has eight teeth now.  She will eat just about anything.  She's got a little too much attitude already.  She hates being told "no".  She loves going swimming.  She's really good about falling asleep on the go and being transfered into her bed when we get home.  I love that about her!  Her best buddy is Hailey Bouknight.  She gets really excited when she sees her.  We are very lucky to have this sassy little girl in our family.  I think she'll fit right in with Eva as she gets older.  I'm grateful to have the chance to raise her in this life and the life after.  I feel blessed to be her mother as well as Eva and Gabe's.  I sure love my kids.