Haunted House

Caci and Jace came over today and we made haunted houses and roasted our pumpkin seeds. We had so much fun! The idea was we could do this with the kids, but by the end Caci and I were at the table surrounded by candy and frosting and the kids were blissfully playing outside. Thanks so much for the fun idea Caci!!

Here is Piper's candy land. Sweet and sparkly just like her...



I was going for a spooky version of Hansel and Gretel. How did I do? Do you like my guard snakes at the ready? And my graveyard....spooky!!




Caci was the clear winner in this contest though. Look at her super scary haunted mansion, complete with spooky tree!!



Caci has inspired me to create houses for each holiday. Maybe we should make a ship for Thanksgiving, a la Mayflower.


Look how cute this Mother/Son duo are...


I am fond of this one too...


Dax has asked all night if he can eat his house now. Seeing as how his contribution today was dipping graham crackers into icing and then eating it, I think he is good for now.

Pumpkin Carving

We had the best FHE last night!! We headed over to the Chapman's for pumpkin shaped pizza's and a pumpkin carving contest, it gets better though because the Thayn's came too! We came prepared with two of the best looking pumpkins the patch had to offer.

We were ready for a great evening with our friends and eating some good food too. We were only there for about maybe 5 minutes when the jerky people above Trevor and Caci started pounding on their floor to tell us we were being too loud. You have go to be freaking kidding me! We were not being loud AT ALL and it was only 7:00 at night, not 2 am. Anyway, Matt took the kids out on the balcony and next thing you know water is pouring down on Matt and the kids. WHAT THE WHAT?! These jerks were "watering their plants"...sure.

Trevor and Caci mentioned that these people had been giving them problems for the last few weeks, but whenever they went to talk to them they refused to answer their door and they had no idea what they looked like. So Matt was hanging out on the balcony and the jerks above were outside too. Matt leaned over and pointed his camera upward and snapped a picture, at which point the woman proceeded to dump a bucket of water all over my husband and his $1300 camera. You know the one we are using as we are trying to grow our photography business.

I was HOT! I went outside to where Trevor was talking to them on the lawn and asked if they would like to pay with check or a credit card for the camera they just ruined. The "woman", and I use that term generously because she was anything but, proceeds to tell me that she did nothing wrong and she told him not to take her picture. AFTER HE TOOK IT!!! And besides that there is nothing illegal about what Matt did but purposely trying to destroy someone's personal property is, I think. There was some more back and forth and then I told them that they were white trash. This got their hackles up. They told me that was offensive and I responded that they were offensive people. I mean really....pouring water onto a balcony where you know little children are playing? Dumping a bucket of water on a grown man and his obviously expensive camera? complaining about the fact that a two year old baby likes to throw his balls off the balcony during the day (Mommy picks them up!)?? They are total white trash and I stand by that.

Luckily for them the Nikon is fine and took many wonderful and beautiful pictures through the rest of the night. Matt felt really bad for causing problems for Trevor and Caci and went upstairs to apologize after all the hoopla. The "woman" answered the door, but wouldn't accept Matt's apology. Instead she kept saying that his "girlfriend or wife or whatever she is needs to apologize for calling us white trash." Matt told her doesn't speak on my behalf. Good thing because I would have been ticked if he had apologized for that...I totally meant it...petty as it may be.

Anyway- the night went on and it was fabulous. I think pictures always tell a better story so here we go...

The first picture after the Nikon "bath". Aren't these the cutest pumpkin pizzas you have ever seen?!


Everyone chowed down on Caci's homemade pizza's and then we got down to business. This was serious stuff and the competition was fierce...

Dax and Trevor gutting a pumpkin



Inside view of one of the pumpkins


While everyone was carving pumpkins Jace and I were playing. He was so cute and kept running up behind me and tapping me with the drumstick to his new bath drum. Isn't he adorable?!

I'm going to get Miss Sarah


Got her!


She got me!!


Meanwhile Jarin was inside working on his pumpkin....with power tools. That's right, I said power tools!


Elle and Hannah worked really hard on their masterpieces. They did such an awesome job!!



Meanwhile Caci and Trevor were inside cheating! They totally found their design online....CHEATERS!! Matt caught them in the act.



Busted!


While everyone was up to their elbows in pumpkin gunk, Nate decided to get on Caci's MacAir. Matt realizes he probably should have put the camera down, but these were just too good not to take. Sorry Case!

I'm just going to check my email while no one is watching.


Thunk...


OK everything is fine!


We thought we heard a knock at the door so we sent Jarin to check. After all he is like 7 feet tall!


Sarah and I decided we both needed this picture


Trevor and Jarin were hard at work on their masterpieces in the kitchen.


And Matt was hard at work on the deck.


Trevor and Jace played a game of catch. How cute!!


By the end of the night we had some pretty awesome pumpkins!! Matt lined them all up on the counter. I must say that I think the Thayn's took us all out with their Mummy and Bat pumpkins. Good job guys!! And even though they cheated, I am pretty impressed with the skeleton that Trevor and Caci made. I love the multi-faced pumpkins that Elle and Piper created and the awesome traditional Jack-o-Lantern that Hannah made. But the softy in me thinks the pumpkin that has my baby's names craved into it is the best one there.






What a great night, even with all the trouble at the beginning. We are so lucky to have so many wonderful people in our lives!

Off to see the Mouse

We are heading to Disney World this weekend with I, A and F! We are super excited and look forward to seeing Captain Jack and going on our favorite ride, BUZZ LIGHT YEAR!

A huge thank you to Auntie Carole who gifted us her timeshare in Orlando for tonight and tomorrow. Going to Disney is so much more fun if you get to stay in Orlando. We are going here. We went several years ago when it first opened and had a great time, so we look forward to our return visit. Did I say how much I love my Auntie Carole? She is my most favorite person in the whole world. She has always been there for me, loved me, cheered for me and stood by me. Everyone should have an Auntie Carole in their lives. When I was a little girl I always looked forward to growing up and being an Aunt. I hope that my nieces and nephews and I will have close relationships too.

Speaking of Aunts...Piper is heading to Naples with Grandma and Grandad to see her Titi (Aunt) Sette and Uncle Jay. Our sweet niece Taliah turned 2 years old this week and they are celebrating this weekend. We are sad we are missing the family time, but we are sending Piper to represent chez Mitchell. This time we will make sure Piper comes home with pictures from her fun weekend. She is a lucky girl to get special time with Grandma and Grandad and her family down in Naples. We know she will have a wonderful time. Dax is a little sad that his sister is not going to be with us, but he is pretty excited to pick out a special present for her. What a sweet boy he is!

We hope you all have a wonderful weekend!! Be sure to check back into Chez Mitchell on Monday to see photos of our weekend!!

Bloggers we have a painting

Matt finished the painting yesterday. It is beautiful. Truly the pictures do not do it justice. I am pretty impressed that in less than a week he was able to complete a painting, especially with everything we had going on. Here it is...

Weekend Update part 3: Saturday Night

After the house was cleared of party guest we put our kiddos to bed and headed out to see the boys perform in St. Pete. Don't worry my Mom stayed here and watched the kids. We are all about seeing a great show, but we are still responsible parents...if my mom had not been able to stay here we would have just taken the kids with us. See, I told you we were responsible parents!

The show was great, wish more people would have come out, but nonetheless it was a good time to go out and dance to some good tunes played by some good friends.




We told the boys how much we loved the show, took a few pictures for the blog and headed back to chez Mitchell. We got home around 2:30 and crashed. Today we have hung out outside enjoying the beautiful weather. Matt finished the painting (blog coming soon) and I did this all day. Thanks again to everyone for making this such a fantastic weekend!!

Brian and Jayson

Rob

Brian, Matt and Jay

Brian, me and Jay

Weekend Update Part 2:Saturday day/evening

We eventually woke up on Saturday,we had a late night of painting and scrabble the night before. After walking Roxy, feeding the kids and starting my home made marinara sauce ( just call me Martha), I got really ambitious and decided to hit the Y for a quick workout (I am going to look fantastic soon, just in time to get pregnant all over again.) When I cam home everyone was awake and there was a fresh pot of coffee brewing in the kitchen. I love the smell of coffee, but only have it in the house when my Mom or the boys are here. Matt was working out in the yard and getting ready for the party that evening. The day was laid back and relaxed and the smell of my sauce filled the house. Sadly the boys had to leave before the party started since they had a show in St. Pete that night. We bid farewell, but not before we got some awesome pictures in the backyard.




Shortly after the boys left our party guests began arriving. We are so happy that everyone (except for Trevor, Caci and Jace...happy birthday Trevor!) was able to make it for the party. The weather was perfect and we were able to eat outside. And eat we did! We had pasta with my marinara sauce and Matt's famous alfredo sauce. Hence the need for the workout earlier in the day! We ate pasta, salad and bread to our hearts content and just as were finishing up a slight sprinkle began to fall.





We were pretty excited that Brian was able to enjoy some of Matt's alfredo sauce since he has recently discovered he can't have anything with gluten and a bunch of other stuff. It limits a lot of what he can eat and eating is a big deal when you are a Mitchell.


We headed inside and sang happy birthday and had cake, cupcakes (thanks Sarah) and brownies. I decided to make Dax a skateboard cake this year and think it came out pretty dang cute. Matt did the design, we were going for the DC symbol but with Dax's initials instead.




Happy Birthday Dax!!!


The "wheels" were a big hit! I am glad that I noticed Matt was eating them before we were without wheels for the cake!


I am Barrett's favorite Aunt because I gave him a chocolate donut/wheel. How cute is he?!



Anna Mae looked every bit a princess in her crown


Dax was so happy he decided to get on top of the chairs and dance a little.



Present time. Dax got so many great gifts this year. We are having so much fun playing with all the new skateboard toys, RC dinosaur, hot wheels, lincoln logs, puzzles and more! You guys rock!




I would have to say the big it of the night was the Tony Hawk helmet. Thanks Auntie Amanda, Uncle Ian and Finn! Dax told us it was just what he wished for.



Finn picked out a Transformer card for Dax. Dax loved it!!


A good time was had by all. Good food, great friends, awesome family and presents make for an amazing birthday. Here's to our boy, Maddax Lee! We love you so much!!