Halloween was here

This is how we started the day.

It looks a little bizarre, I know.
I figured we'd be silly and make the milk for the cereal orange.
A couple drops of food coloring later and we were having some Halloween fun!
My kids loved it. I don't usually get creative and the above is really not very high on the creativity scale, but it was out of the ordinary and therefore enjoyable.

See? Don't they look enthused? (I swear one of these days they will ALL smile for the camera at the same time!!!)

Later that morning...

I found a chocolate chip muffin mix in my cupboard and we had leftover cream cheese frosting from Logan's cake, so why not have some little jack-o-lantern's come join the festivities, right?

For some reason, our school district decided to have a teacher in-service day on Halloween, so the kids had no school that day. We played at home and then that night got ready to go to a "Trunk-or-Treat" with other people from church.

Logan as Optimus Prime

Luke as Bumblebee

Samantha as a Tiger (Bengal Tiger, of course!)

Rebecca as Boo in her monster costume (Not sure why this is the only individual picture I took of Becky...)

His very firsy Halloween! Finally!

Timothy as Sulley (or as Aunt Wendy suggested: Cotton Candy);o)

We've had fun recycling these costumes over the years. We decided not to force Luke to be Mike Wazowski for trick-or-treating, but I did talk him into putting on the costume so we could get this picture. Isn't my Monsters, Inc. bunch adorable?
(Little known Wilkins family trivia: Ross and I saw Monsters, Inc. at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood when I was expecting Samantha!)

Ross and I put on costumes, too! Sort of. I grabbed his hockey jerseys out of his closet and we threw them on. You can't tell much in this picture, but I even blackened my eye with a little bit of make-up. You know what a fighter I am!

Last, but not least, our jack-o-lantern! I carved it all by myself this year! Go me! Samantha wanted something a little bit scarier, but I'm not a fan of the scary side of Halloween, so instead we agreed on Ernie from Sesame Street. But, with my amazing carving skills, you totally already knew that, right?

Happy Halloween!

Seven is Heaven

Do you want to know how excited Logan was on his birthday this year?

He came down to where I was that morning and this is what I heard:
"I can't believe I've waited all these days for my birthday and now it's here! I'm 7! I'm 7! I'm 7! I'm 7!" (This statement came complete with a dance where he shook his tiny little behind.)

On a beautiful day in October (beautiful because there was no school that day and Logan thought that was great), we awoke to a totally awesome 7 year old Logan! He insisted on the candle in his chocolate chip pancakes that morning. This boy had no intention of wasting any opportunities that he could be celebrating!

Tapping his toes all day, he kept asking me if it was time yet for his friend party. Finally 4:00 came and the Garfield Party began!

A slightly fuzzy, but cute picture of the birthday boy playing Wii with his buddy Liam.


Wii love this game.


Logan got an Angry Bird from his cousin Jake. The bird is now affectionately known as "Angry". (Well, what did you expect?)


Jack o'lantern birthday donut. Yum. I love those things so much!


The boys played "Stick the tail on Garfield"


Cute cousin Jake laughing at where he put Garfield's tail.

The party ended and was a great success. But.......

Have you ever had one of those days?

I don't recommend having one on your son's birthday. It complicates things.

My mom was in Utah again helping my aunt, so she couldn't do much from afar.
To my rescue she sent her best friend Marcia. Love that lady. Marcia dropped off the Donut Hole Birthday donut (chosen for the orange and black colors being as close as we could get to Garfield) and some pop and ice cream.

I also called my friend Tresa and she brought her daughter Zoey over to help me out until the party started. Both saved me that day and I hope Logan didn't realize his mommy was going a little nutso. I think he had a great time and I hid my crazies well. ;o)

Later that evening...


Logan's cousin Isaac and the rest of his family called and sang "Happy Birthday" to Logan. How genuine is that smile????


Time for the family presents. He got the book "How to Train Your Dragon". He's now on chapter 10. :o)

This was the highlight of the gifts. Obviously.



I'm loving the sneer on his face while he tries out the new skateboard!


The loot

Three days after Logan's birthday I finally assembled the two round cakes I had made. We had chocolate and cream cheese frosting, so I asked him how he wanted me to decorate it. It's a messy look, but here's what he came up with. Tasted good. ;o)

Logan is a ton of fun to have around. He's brimming with personality. He loves to begin his sentences with , "I bet you're wondering how I...." and then finish with some amazing thing that he's currently up to. Makes me laugh every time.

He is currently into writing stories. At school he's filling up his journal with a story called "The Time Heroes" about his and Samantha's travels through time. He informed me that the series will have 10 books, each with 19 chapters. No thinking small there!
He also spends a lot of time drawing comic books of his alter ego "Super Logan". The first issue introduced his flying and erasing powers and he fought a big monster attacking the city. Issue two was "The Invasion of the 6 Fingered Man!" He's now also come out with the villains Mr. and Mrs. Annoying as well as the Medium-sized Gigantic Spider and is continually adding his cousins, siblings, and friends to aid him in the fight against evil. For instance, his cousin Isaac's super power is to get really fat and use his big belly against the bad guys or to get really skinny to fit wherever he needs to. Love Logan's imagination. LOVE IT.

And for a trip down memory lane, here's my cutie one year old Logan Boy:

First Birthday


Sleeping at Aunt Wendy's wedding reception


Trying to fill Daddy's shoes ;o)


Experiencing the cold Montana snow


Experiencing the warm California beach (Cute little beach bum!)


His first black eye (and hopefully last!)

Love you, Logan!!!!!