Last Minute Party

When I say last minute, I mean we planned and put this party together in under 2 hours.

Over our Thanksgiving week our family was sick. And when I say our family, I mean 21 out of 26 people were in bed for days. It was hit or miss if we'd see family at planned events but it was highly contagious and it hit hard. We decided this was not an illness for wimps. It. Was. Rough.

Anyway...

We had planned a little birthday party for the cousins and had to cancel. So we decided we'd have a "come-if-you've-had-it-or-are-feeling-well-enough-to attend" party. We wanted to celebrate Addy (who was in town from San Diego), Max, Jordan, Andrew and Clay. And we pulled it off. It was pretty calm (calm for a Mills family party) and we missed the family that couldn't make it, but are sending get well wishes to them.

After everyone left Max said "This is the best birthday ever!" (His real bday is next week). He opened his first Hot Wheels toy here (first hot wheels thing other than the actual cars) and yelled "HOT WHEELS!" is the deepest, manly voice.

He also got a Monster Truck game for the Wii. He LOVES Monster Trucks and is learning the game. I've heard quite a few times "Daaaaad, when is it my turn?"

Side note: See Alex looking at a Cars book...we are having quite the lesson in sharing...it's a hard lesson to learn.

The ultimate gift. My parents gave his an ambulance. This is the ambulance he dances in front of when he sees it at Costco. I finally talked him out of sleeping with it in his bed, and convinced his next to his bed is better. The lights on the rig acted as his night light, and he kissed it good night and everything.  He sure loves his new "alabance" and taking patients to the "hoxtibal".

I absolutely love this picture of Addy. Addy's parents stayed at my parents house since they were ill so Addy got to come up without them. She had so much fun playing with her cousins and opening presents. And wearing our Pirate hat. She recently took a trip to Disneyland and she told me all about it. She is so sweet. We all wish they lived closer.

We celebrated Clay, who was counting up the dollars in his head as we went along...

..And Andrew. Who smiled a lot. And was very happy...

 ...and we celebrated Jordan too. The teenager. Who was happy with his gifts, despite his teenage expression.

Thanks to my family for making the last-minute trip to Vacaville to celebrate the kids! We had a great time!

October in Pictures

I thought I'd just upload the October pictures from the camera. They are pretty self explanatory. We had a great month.  A bit warmer than I'd like. It was over 90 degrees when we visited the Pumpkin Patch. That makes it really hard to get into the fall feeling. But, the kids still had fun.

 

Watch Out...cutest picture ever!

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Our Fireman and Pirate. Um...this is Max's tough pose. And Alex wanted to lose his nose with his super sharp hook. Funny boys. They were very proud of their costumes.

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Getting ready to carve.

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We were able to go to the Kapele's costume parade at their school on Halloween morning. My Mom brought Riley up...I mean...Snow White. They got to tag along for part of the parade and they thought it was the best thing ever!

After that, Grandma took us out for donuts and chocolate milk. Yum!

They had a great time trick-or-treating with friends too. Alex caught on quickly and was running the best he could from house to house with the bigger kids. They crashed quickly that night. It was a fun month!

We're all looking forward to a cooler time of year!