flower gleam and glow, let your power shine

Pixie, kobold, elf, and sprite,
All are on their rounds tonight;
In the wan moon's silver ray,
Thrives their helter-skelter play.
~Joel Benton

The witching hour was close at hand, but not too close to enjoy a Bonfire Party at the Knickmeyers.  I was a ballerina (because I had a bag full of unused leotards and tights) and Aaron wore his Cardinals shirt in celebration of the win.  We had a wonderful time and the weather was chilly enough not to freeze us, but to make the warmth of the fire delightful.

Then it was pumpkin carving time:)  The hubby helped, thank goodness for the manpower.

Not the best picture of me, but my Mister certainly looks handsome.

Pumpkin carving and Hocus Pocus are a perfect pair.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds, a Weir Family tradition...and very yummy I might add.

I passed out the candy and supplied the spooky sound effects.  It was a wonderful night and I enjoyed having so many little ghouls and goblins to give candy to.

I must admit, after the Halloween festivities were over I was in for a shocker.  The end of the semester is looming and so are the projects, papers, and tests.  I have been doing homework nonstop and the past few weeks have been busy.  My poor husband went to bed hours before I did two nights last week and I was officially exhausted once the weekend hit.  Thankfully, many of my big assignments are finished and Thanksgiving offers a much needed week of rest.

Family time was the name of the game last Saturday evening when our niece came over for a sleepover.  She and Brutus were little buddies on Sunday morning.  Jordan was anxiously awaiting blueberry muffins and Brutus was joining in.

Aren't they adorable?  This picture has got to be one of the cutest of the Jordan-Brutus set.

Now I get to really feel old.  My little sister recently attended her first homecoming dance of high school.  I offered my services as a big sis and went to help her get ready.  She let me do her hair, makeup, and even choose her jewelry.  Personally, she didn't need much to be gorgeous.  She's a natural.

She looked incredible.  Even Marley wanted a picture with her.

We took lots of pictures waiting for her date.  She claimed not to be nervous, but I remember those days, even if they were a long, long, long time ago.

Will, a former classmate from A.S.H., was the perfect gentlemen.  I had to force the two to stand closer than two feet apart for the pictures.

I'll admit, I cried a few tears.  I cannot believe my little sister is so grown up, gorgeous, and ready for a homecoming dance.  She isn't the little girl with the blonde bob who used to climb in bed with me every weekend morning. She isn't the little girl who I told stories to, or comforted when she had nightmares, or played polly pockets with.  She's a young lady and I am one proud big sister.

Someone else is growing up in the family...Brutus!  He is now 8 months old and a big 52 pound boy.

He is the light of my life.  Truly the most wonderful pup in the world. 

Even when he is covered in mud on the way home from the dog park, I would kiss him and cuddle him just the same.

That glowing ball is one of the new toys he got for his special day and he LOVES it.  It is pretty hilarious when the vibration shakes his entire head when he picks it up.  I think he is trying to turn it off.  It makes an annoying noise that even he doesn't like.

Brutus Norman turning 8 months old is hard to believe.  When he was 8 weeks old he rode home in a laundry basket and now he sits in the front seat.

His little body used to barely fill that bed and now he has nearly outgrown it.

Brutus is our baby.  We are so lucky to have a happy-go-lucky pup in our lives.

Even when we go on a car ride he is photogenic.  I mean, look at that little nose.

Happy 8 months little boy.  Mommy and Daddy love you very much.  We can't wait to see what you do next.

autumn leaves...

No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace

As I have seen in one autumnal face.
~John Donne

I decided to post a few of the professional photos from the wedding that Chantal emailed to me.  They are all amazing, and the memories are even more wonderful.  The photographer took so many pictures Aaron and I got some beautiful pictures of us as a couple too.  The best ones are of our niece Jordan.  Here she is smiling with her Uncle Aaron.

So cute!  One cute little girl, and one handsome husband.

Yeah, even down the aisle with the bridesmaid he was looking at me.  He's quite the catch;)

My husband's family.  Spending so much time with them was so much fun.  I am so glad I avoided the stereotype with my in-laws and really defied it with these wonderful people.  I love them all!

The Weirs (including the wives!).

My hubby's brothers...laughing...pretty typical.

Dancing with my husband at the reception.  It brought back some wonderful memories of our special day.  Not to mention my husband is a pretty great dancer.

Sweet Jordan:)

Aaron and I had a wonderful time playing "parents" with Jordan during the reception.  She loved the dancing, especially with her very silly uncles.

I love this picture of the two of us.  Definitely framable.

We had to sneak a kiss.

And we spent a little time being silly.  

Jordan wanted some time with Uncle Kevin.

Yep, he wanted to make her laugh with his silly jokes:)

When my amazing husband had the DJ play our first dance song he stepped it up a notch when he also sang to me, just like he did last June.

Dancing fiends!

I love this picture of Jordan's smile.  She was so happy.

So after reminiscing about the wedding, it was back to reality.  School, work, Brutus, and our full schedule have really been tiring us both out.  Thankfully we have had some relaxing weekend days.  I had a wonderful lunch with my Daddy at the Diner Friday, which is becoming a weekly thing with us.  We both get breakfast and it is fun to catch up with him every Friday.  

I had a chance to put my new teaching techniques into practice when I babysat the Kulma kids (who happen to live across the street from my parents).  They loved the games I had planned. I even got to watch a movie with them!

Although I have not watched her play yet, Cassie has been doing a fantastic job on the Junior Varsity Volleyball team at Villa.  BUT I get to go to her game Tuesday night and I am so excited to see her play at my alma mater.  It's a rivalry game too.  GO VILLA!

Saturday, which happened to be the day I was singing at a wedding, was an eventful day.  We, as I discovered when trying to get ready for the wedding, had NO hot water and there was a leak in the closet where the water heater is.  My wonderful, amazing husband took care of talking to the maitainence man and then oversaw the progress for four hours while they fixed the problem.  I had to drive, hair wet, soap on my face, to my parents and get ready there.  Thankfully, they live close.  Thanks Mom & Dad:)

Otherwise we are enjoying the beautiful fall weather.  The windows have been open, the halloween decorations are out, and I can now indulge in my favorite fall treat, candycorn:)

This Friday evening we are having one of Aaron's co-workers and one of his friends over for dinner.  I am making some new recipes and am excited, in true Grandmama fashion, to entertain.  Fingers crossed it all goes well.

Happy Fall!  This time of the year is the beginning of the holiday season and some yummy food:) Enjoy the weather and the last week of September.

it's just a bunch of hocus pocus

Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! In this town we call home everyone hail to the pumpkin song in this town, don't we love it now? Everybody's waiting for the next surprise!

-Danny Elfman

Halloween has always been a spooktacular holiday for me, but this year not only am I married, but I finally get to hand out candy to the neighborhood ghouls and goblins!  Although it will never come close to Christmas, I love any holiday that has great traditions and any possibility of "theming" anything out.

My handsome husband was the official "pumpkin carver" for our very first pumpkin as Mr & Mrs.  I couldn't help myself and had him carve a bow and eyelashes on our pumpkin (it's the one on the right).

I, personally, was very excited to help get all the pulp and seeds out of the pumpkin.  I have fond memories of helping my Dad when we were little kiddos and so Cassie and I dug right in (literally)!  We did have a helper...

Although no one was surprised when Penny loved snacking on our pumpkin pulp, she mostly looked cute and took a long nap.  I did learn something new from my information hungry hubby that I didn't know about pumpkin carving.  Apparently if you soak your pumpkin in a tub of water it hardens the pumpkin and keeps it from getting moldy.  

Looks lovely, but I will give Aaron credit because Cassie's devilish pumpkin (the scarier one in the first picture) was knocked over and gnawed on by our resident devil.

He may have been a bad little boy, but he is so stinkin' cute you just can't stay mad at him.  So the pumpkins were carved and perched on the front stoop and I was busy in the kitchen roasting the seeds.  After cleaning, buttering, and salting them into the oven they went.

I think it was the butter, but everyone enjoyed them, including my husband who was VERY skeptical as to how they would turn out.  Serves him right for doubting his wife's cooking skills...

Luckily, I had decorated the house early so we were officially ready for Halloween to begin...two days early.

In the meantime, I was a very proud sister at Cassie's volleyball game the next day as I watched her spike and serve her way to the top of the team.  

Halloween Eve was promptly celebrated by myself and my husband with dinner at Tomy Roma's (so yummy) and a scary movie.

It was a nice surprise to spend Halloween Eve with a relaxing diner-movie-date-night rather than at a party, guess that's what happens when you get married...you get boring.

After our date, we came home early (before 10pm, now that's boring) and watched a special on the history of Halloween.  Did you know that passing out candy started in the 1920s when housewives came up with the idea to keep neighborhood kids from vandalizing their homes?  Did you also know that the very first Halloween costumes were made solely out of paper?  Neither did I until I watched the special.

The scariest night of year was finally here and I got all dolled up in my very "spooky" light-up Halloween t-shirt and passed out candy to a sparse group of neighborhood kids.  Thank goodness my mom got fun-dip, candy I actually enjoy, so  I could snack on the extras.

Now to settle down with some buttery toasted pumpkin seeds and watch my all-time favorite Halloween movie, Hocus Pocus.

In the word of Winifred Sanderson, bye bayaiyai bye bye!  Happy Halloween!