About Laurie · Party Planner

Not Too Old To Dress Up

For Talk To Me Tuesday over on Tip Junkie we’re doing a show and tell. So here are a couple of the Halloween parties I attended this month.

I love the energy of Halloween and all the possibilities of what you can be for a day. This year we were invited to 4 Halloween parties! {{squeal in delight}} It made the entire month so much fun and filled with new friends and unforgettable moments.

Our neighbors threw a couples only party at our club house. Jason and I felt honored to be invited and it was so nice to actually talk to people without having to keep track of my toddler and keep him out of the street. I was able to conjure up a couple more play dates so it was most definitely a success!

The invitation read:

“Dare to Join Us?
Ghosts and witches are creatures of fright,
Don’t miss the call of Halloween night.
Come one, come all in the threads of the season;
If you miss this bash, ’tis an act of treason.
Be here by 6:30 and meet your fate;
Wear your wildest costume
And bring your tastiest date!”

You know I LOVE a great poem so I had to share it with you.

“The Dog and his wife” won best costume. {{of course, who can compete with inflatable knockers?}} There was also “Sick and Tired” which really cracked me up! They wore matching white bath robes and Sick had some green something dribbled over her shoulder. They have a two year old as well, so it was probably more true than we know. {{wink}}

We also met a couple who dressed up as jail birds. Come to find out they go to our Ward (church). Imagine my surprise as I was taking my class (the 3 year olds) to the bathroom and she walks in. {{surprise}}

Jason’s good friend and co-worker throws an insane Halloween party every year, which every year falls on the same day as our couples-only Halloween party. Every Year! This year I thought for sure it would be different but no such luck. So we decided to get the kiddos a babysitter and go enjoy their party without chasing kids around.

I really enjoy reconnecting with all of the people from work. Their wives are truly lovely and it’s an evening to catch up, eat amazing food, and swap parenting stories.

You wouldn’t believe the transformation they made! Holy cow, it made me want to go goth next year. I didn’t have rebellious teenage years – I don’t think it’s too late. Do you?

We were having so much fun at Phil’s party, we were a little late to the annual couples-only skit mandatory Halloween event. The party was in full swing as we arrived.

Leave it to Janae to get the party started right!

I was a little star struck when I met Sarah Palin. Man she’s tall!

I’m glad to see that some traditions never die, like the fat suit. Julie does such a funny “Asian American Cafe” impression, it was fun to see it in costume. Bravo.

Here’s a Jessica Simpson sandwich!

You can never have too much “Peace & Quiet”.

Drake would have loved the party, as Dora and Diego showed up.

Here’s the Wii fit skit.

Disco won the night as best costume.

This is the only picture of Angelina & Brad Pitt I have who won best skit. They came late and left early. Man, those kids they are so demanding. {{wink}}

Larry King and Sarah Palin’s interview was runner up. They nailed it!!

After the skits were over and our tummies were full, we let loose and danced the night away. It was such a fun night and my favorite year to date.

Mother of Boys · Party Planner

Trick-or-Treat

The boys had a fun Halloween. Davis went as a clone trooper from the new movie/cartoon which is all the rage now in 4th grade. Dylan dressed up as Indiana Jones Mutt and Drake as Diego.

It only took a couple houses for Drake to figure out how to Trick-or-Treat. Here’s his first house.

Soon he was a pro and off on his own. After a couple houses, there was no convincing him that he should go back home with Daddy to help pass out candy. No way hosay!

So I took the 3 boys with our neighbors to scope out the neighborhood and rid it of all it’s chocolate. Drake got so excited he fell several times, but nothing dampened his newly found candy grabbing obsession.

It was so much fun to see the boys run into friends from school and make more connections. I was glad we made the decision to skip the trunk-or-treat at the church and go door to door with our neighbors. Play dates here we come! {{snicker}}

Davis especially loved his costume and felt so grown up in it. This year we had to have the talk about how what we wear makes a statement about ourselves. I also had to give him a couple fashion pointers. Since he’s so skinny, most of the costumes he wanted to wear just weren’t going to look good on him. This one however, hides that fact and makes him look bulkier and more grown up. I never would have thought I would have that conversation with a 10 year old boy during Halloween. Luckily, he got it and he’s been dressing better in real life as well. Thanks clone trooper!

He has agreed to let Dylan wear it next year as long as the collectively take good care of it. It was too funny listening to their conversation.

Happy Halloween everyone and I hope you enjoyed those special moments with your family.

Mother of Boys · Party Planner

Pumpkin Carving

October was jammed-packed with family bonding moments. I think that’s another reason it’s my favorite month of the year.

I found some insanely huge pumpkins this year and the boys were over-the-top excited to pick out their favorite face and start carving. The boys always choose a face to carve out.

This year Dylan has decided that he can do it all himself. {{sigh}} It’s just another sign the boys are growing up. There have been many recently.

This month Davis learned knife safety at Scouts and couldn’t wait to use his pocket knife again to construct his scary pumpkin.

I think they turned out amazing. Great job boys!

I’ll be honest and admit I’m not a fan of carving pumpkins. Nope, too messy and the stress of children with knives is too much. Thank goodness for fabulous plastic pieces. Grandma hooked us up with even more this year – so the creepy face possibilities were endless.

Drake stopped wanting to use a knife on the bigger pumpkins and came over to “potato head” the little ones. I’ll have to be sure to buy more smaller ones for him next year.

We creeped out the small pumpkins we got at the pumpkin patch and it was a good time had by all.

Family Cruise Director · Party Planner

Nightmare Before Christmas Party

This week for Talk To Me Tuesday Tip Junkie is having a Halloween Show & Tell. I thought that this party was such a fun idea and new tradition I might start in my own family.

We were invited to The Nightmare Before Christmas Halloween party and had such an amazing time. The invitation was so fabulous!

“The stockings were hung by the chimney with dread,
while visions of pumpkins danced in their heads.

You are hereby summoned to a ghastly gathering at the final resting place of the ________.
6pm until the Witching hour of 8pm. Entrance granted to those in Halloween attire.”

Our hosts went all out for the party! Almost every room in their house was decorated, they had Halloween fabric and spooky things covering her artwork, black lights, spider webs, keep out tape on the kids bedroom doors, etc. I was impressed.

I made these cupcakes inspired by this post.

We had a good time and it was great to see some of our friends dress up!





They had the movie playing in the living room, crafts upstairs, and some cool creepy experiments in the back yard. We all had a blast and really enjoyed the evening. Thanks guys for the invite!!

Party Planner

Ghosts of Halloween Past

Halloween is my favorite holiday! I love it. I used to put a lot of thought an effort into costumes and would have them all sewn by August. It was an obsession of mine that has been cured by the 3rd son. {{sigh}}

I’ve been doing a lot of searching for Tip Junkie as well as trying to decide what I want the boys to be this year. I still haven’t figured it all out. In the meantime, here are pictures of what we’ve been in years past.


1999 – Davis is a year old and I made him this lion costume.


Jason and I took the easy way out and went as pirates.


2000 – Blue Clues

Jason went as Steve, I’m Magenta, Davis is Blue, and Dylan is Green. Dylan is 3 months old and my mom converted a ‘3 pees in a pod’ costume into the green puppy.


2001 – Race Car Drivers

Jason and I were the pit crew. We had “Turk Garage” ironed on the back of our jumpsuits.

2002 – Davis insisted on being a Fire Fighter. So Dylan was a Dalmatian dog, I was fire, and Jason was a fire hydrant. To this day, I don’t know how I convinced him to be a hydrant. He took one for the team, for sure!


2003 – Astronauts


2004 – Super Hero’s

This was the year when the boys decided that what ever birthday theme they had, that was going to be their costume for Halloween.

2005 – Davis went as a Bionicle and Dylan as a power ranger. I was pregnant with Drake, so Jason went as a Samurai and I went as his wife. 😉 Unique I know. {{sarcastic}}


2006 – Star Wars

Davis went as Darth Vader, Dylan went as a Clone Tooper, and Drake went as Yoda.


Jason went as Neo and I went as Trinity. Huge thanks to Chanda for e-mailing this picture to me. {{giddy}}

2007 – Since Davis knows he’s growing up, he decided to be a skeleton. Dylan went as Optimus Prime, and Drake went appropriately as a little devil. {{giggle}}

Jason went as Earl and I went as Joy in “My Name is Earl” to our couples only Halloween Party.

Ahh the memories. Jason and I have figured out what we’re going to be and are currently planning the skit we have to perform at the couple’s Halloween party. It should be good. Not Neo & Trinity good, but funny good. We’ll see if we can pull it off.

What are you going to be this year?

Mother of Boys · Party Planner

Eggciting!!

Egg a house this Easter season, your friends will love it! Click here to print out your sign.

It’s a little later than usual, but we finally “Egged” some friends houses. The boys love it and it’s been such a fun tradition in our family.

However, every year we get caught by the Eakins! Several of their kids were outside on the side yard but we were super sneaky and got all the eggs hidden. Dylan got caught trying to get back to the car. Drat! We almost made it. {{giggle}}

Here’s Davis at our last house. Great job, boys!

Today we had the annual friend Easter Egg Hunt at the park. I’m so grateful for the invite because it’s such a fun time not only for the kids but for me as well. Once a year I get to reunite with friends that I haven’t seen since last year at the hunt.

Today, I made sure that I took a moment to really take in the experience. I was amazed at how much my friends’ kids have grown and how how much they look like their siblings. I think this was the first year Davis has been able to come since it’s Spring Break- he’s usually at school.

(btw: I’ve completely given up on trying to get all 3 kids to look at the camera at the same time. Can you tell? ha ha)

My mom drove down Wednesday to spend part of her Spring Break with us. She was able to help Drake and the boys search for eggs. She got Drake the shirt that says, “It’s my brother’s fault!” Too funny.


As I was getting ready to leave the park, I was trying to be funny and made a comment to 2 of my friends husbands. I said, “Was it as good for you as it was for me?” I noticed one of their faces get weird and then I realized what I might have implied. {open mouth, insert foot} Just to set the record straight, I wasn’t hitting on any one’s husbands and I didn’t mean it that way. Oops!

That’s what I get for trying to be funny.

What fun Easter traditions do you do with your family?

Party Planner

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!! This happens to be one of my favorite holidays. I usually host a huge bash for friends to help celebrate the green day but this year I had way too much going on. {{bummer}}

To celebrate, we played a couple games, St. Patrick’s Day memory and bingo. (of course)

Then we were off to meet up with friends at the movies.

While I was Easter Dress shopping, I found these amazing green wedges. I originally thought I could wear them with my Easter outfit, but I think only Sarah Jessica could pull that off. (They don’t exactly match.) Instead, I decided to let them make their debut on the fabulous day we wear green.

Did you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?

Mother of Boys · Party Planner

Valentine’s Day Celebrations

My man doesn’t get enough love on my blog, poor guy! He planned a double date for us with some friends for Valentine’s Day. Jason arranged for us to eat at Del Frisco’s steak house. Yummy!! I always feel so grown up when I eat at a swanky restaurant.

Oh well, I guess not grown up enough! he he We had the best time: great conversation, great food, and great company. Thanks honey!

Valentine morning I made the boys pancakes (even though I was so tired!!) and gave them their sweet treats. They got watches. Davis was so busy programming his, he wouldn’t look up for a picture. Needless to say they loved it!

I found these awesome Ring Pop Valentines and they were a hit. Here’s Dylan’s class posing for a picture.


Dylan’s Valentine

I don’t know about your boys, but mine won’t tell me a thing about their love life. So every year, I buy 2 extra sets of chocolates and let the boys know that they’re welcome to give it to their “Valentine” if they’d like to.


Dylan’s Valentine

Every year they take me up on it. This is how I find out who they’re crushing on. (sneeky I know) It’s nice to know that my boys have such great taste in girls. I met both their Moms at the party and I approve. 😉

Davis got a little crazy with the camera at his party. He took this picture of me and Drake.

I finally found out what happened to Dylan’s 100 day project. He told me that his teacher let all the other kids take theirs home but he didn’t get to.

I was a little worried with all the problems we’ve been having. However, I was delighted to find out that our 100 eyeballs are now on display. This was such a wonderful thing for him!

I hope you all had a great Valentine’s Day with your loved ones.