Birthday Cakes

We did lots of celebrating the week of Gunnar's birthday!

 When Cita and Nana came on the Wednesday before his party, he got to have his traditional Nana's chocolate cake that night.

 This was the first year he really was into his cake. He knows how yummy it is. I heart this photo.

 Oh and the fire, well he REALLY likes the candle.

 He wants to blow it out numerous times. He had to re-light about four times.

 Having Brandi's birthday on the 25th, three cakes for Gunnar, and Kyle's birthday on Halloween, you can imagine all the candles he has got to blow out!

 Gunnar and his Mickey Mouse cake. We were all Mickey this year!

 Gunnar and Cita

 Can you tell somebody dug into the cake with their finger before I could get a pic.

 Daddy lit his two candles.

 Blowing out his candles!

 And Re-lighting the candles, again.

 He really digs candles.

 Campbell made red velvet cupcakes for Brandi's birthday.

 We let him open his gifts from all of us on Friday night so he wouldn't have tons at his party to open.

Pretty good bday so far! 

Pumpkin Patch 2012

Pumpkin Picture Overload

 We had fun at the pumpkin patch this year. I was able to get lots of great pics-as you can see!

 This was G's first year to enjoy the patch!

 Slade-9, Gunnar-1(at the time), Finley-6

 My boy looks so old.....

 Slade wanted a pic with Gunnar but he kept running off.

 I wasn't really planning on being in the pics.

 Kyle and Fin

 Fin searched the whole yard for her perfect pumpkin!

 I love this picture

 Careful not to step on the baby pumpkins!

 We ended up with 3 large ones, and lots of white and orange baby pumpkins. We left the pumpkin patch and ate dinner at Buns Over Texas. Then we headed to to the Garden & Arts Center.

 They had a Pumpkin Trail. You could walk through the garden and there were hundreds of lit pumpkins. It was pretty neat but it was super crowded.

 Pumpkins galore!

Pumpkins were carved in just about every was you can imagine. They were great!

A Few Years of Costumes.....

Just because I'm distraught with the fact that my kids are growing up, here are a few years of costumes..

 2008-Finley, a skunk
I repeat, this is Finley.
 (Doesn't Gunnar look like his sister! The whole time I was typing this, Gunnar was pointing to the photo, insisting it was him. He kept looking at me like I was crazy when I kept telling him, "no, it's Finley when she was little" I finally just agreed and said, sure, it's you, Gunnar!!!

 2008-Slade, Dracula

 2009-Finley, ladybug

 2009-Slade, pirate & ladybug

 2010-Slade is Mario, Finley is Minnie Mouse, and Gunnar the 4-day old pumpkin

 2011-Slade is a Ghostbuster, Finley a witch, Gunnar Superman

2012-Slade is just creepy, Finley a candy corn witch, Gunnar a pirate

Halloween 2012

The Smart Family had a fun time celebrating Halloween this year!

 I would like to imagine that this was the first photo I took and everyone was semi-smiling......

 But in reality, this was more what it looked like. Nobody was wanting to cooperate.

 Gunnar was running off in different directions, Slade was sticking his axe in his siblings faces. Finley's eyes were shut and she didn't want to stand by the boys.

 Oh, and G thought it would be funny to stick his candy bucket on his head. Yes, that is how the Smart's roll.

 We seem to be better at individuals. Nobody has to share the limelight.

 The bucket head was really popular.

 The funny thing about Halloween night is that it started off rough (usually does). We had to rush through Kyle's bday gifts so the kids could get dressed in their costumes. I got everyone ready and we planned to go to two church's Trunk-or-Treats. When we got in the car, Gunnar was crying and everyone was mad for some reason or another. We pull up to the first church and we obviously got that information wrong because there was nobody in the parking lot. So we head on to the next church. Gunnar is still whining, mind you. When we pull up to that church, I think everyone in Lubbock had found out about this Trunk-or-Treat. There was an ENORMOUS line out into the parking lot of people just trying to get into the place. We were not doing this. We went to my sister's neighborhood just to walk around and trick-or-treat there and there were barely any lights on, nor were there people out and about. So we just decided right then and there to head home and "Old School" trick-or-treat in our own neighborhood. We walked up and down about five streets.

And to our surprise and amazement, we all LOVED it!!! We had the best time and the kids loved it! There weren't 500 people around us, it was quiet, calm, and quite lovely!!! Gunnar was very much into running up say "tick teat"! They kids acted great and we will be doing this for now on!!! We've been aiming way too high for Halloween fun for years. All this time, the most fun was in our own little neighborhood! We went knocking on doors till Gunnar wouldn't walk anymore and wanted to sit on the sidewalk and eat candy out of his basket. When we got home, Finley handed out candy at our door and Slade hid in the bushes and scared people!

 I'm not sure if the axe or the glowing eyes were the best.

 G is not fond of costumes. We had to get him something that didn't have to go on his head. He's not down with anything going on his head.

 Scary Darkish Man, Little Pirate, and Candy Corn Witch

Slade and Finley picked out their own. I've given up having any control in choosing what they wear. I give them a price limit, can't be disgusting, and must cover vital body parts. It was so much more fun when they didn't have an opinion. 

 This is a photo of the kids, Slade's friend, Peyton, and Campbell. They went with us to a friend's party a few weeks before Halloween. We got to wear our costumes a couple of times.

Happy Halloween!