S.W.A.P.

There are So Many Awesome Posts (S.W.A.P.) below.  Enjoy!

The Spookiest Halloween Party Ever!

Our friends had a Halloween Party last weekend.  It was pretty awesome.  They had amazing decorations, amazing costumes, and amazing food.  We had a good time, though I was really tired by the end because I was still on Kansas time.  So here are some pictures of the awesomeness. 

My mummy cupcakes. 

This is what happens when you add dry ice to hot apple cider. 

The hosts, Luna Lovegood and Harry Potter. 

Ghostbuster Dave and 70's chick.

And sorry for the lined pictures. Something happened to our camera between the time I left Kansas and the time we got home. Anyone know how to fix that?

Another Room

So here is a picture of the kitchen/dining area in our apartmnet.  My theme is green apples.  It's now completely finished but I'm stilling thinking and looking for more ideas.  I can't believe I can't find green apple dish towels.  Really?  Anyway, here you go.

Where the heck is Derby, Kansas?

My sister lives in Derby just outside Wichita and I went there with Jocelyn for 10 days.  We had a blast.  It was low key for the most part (I read 4 books but I got to meet the author of one of the books, Heather Cashman and she signed my book which was so COOL!) but it was very nice.  Here are some of the other things we did. 

We went to the zoo.

 We got there just in time to see the elephants do their tricks.



It was so cool to see the gorillas so up close and personal. 

This giraffe has figured how to get down in the moat so it can get really close to the fence.  Awesome.

We went to several activities for a program called Parents as Teachers.  We had a little Halloween shin dig, Cookie Bookie, where a book is read, a craft is made, and a cookie is decorated, and then we went to Music and Movement.  I wish we had something like that here.

The girls played together.  Jocelyn didn't take to well to her cousin, Ivy.  She would cry anytime Ivy screamed and we think Ivy started to figure that out.  They would play nice sometimes but for the most part we kept the two youngest away from each other.  Jocey did like her older cousins and they were really sweet to her.  Here is a picture where Ivy and Jocey are both happy.



And here are Ivy and Jocey in their cute Halloween pjs grandma sent.

And most importantly, we celebrated my sister's birthday.  We went out to lunch to Applebees and did cheese fondue for dinner.  YUMMY! And we add a Thin Mint Ice-Cream cake.  EXTRA YUMMY!!

Jenn's mouth is already watering. 

Jocelyn approved of the cake.

We also went shopping, we went to a chili cook off, we watched all 3 of the Twilight movies, I went to Book Club, we ate amazing homemade meals (thanks Jenn!), and played.  It went by too fast but I'm glad I went and I'm already thinking of when I can make another visit.

Dad's Birthday and Fam Fun Day

Well it's that time of year again.  The fall and winter months are busy in the Ricks/Brough family with lots of birthdays.  Dave's dad, Matt, Jenn, and Dave's mom are all in October.  And I got to celebrate 2 of them (I'll tell about Jenn's in the next post).  First is Dave's dad's birthday.  We had a lovely steak dinner provided by Mike and then played games, ate cake, and opened presents.

 Yummy cake!



He got a large clock, a new bicycle maintenance book, and pistachios (they only lasted that night).

A couple days later we had a Family Fun Day.  We started out with bowling.

 The boys.

The scoreboard after two rounds.  Yes, I got second place!  And yes, that means I beat 3 of the boys.  Bwahahaha!

Next, we went and played miniature golf.  Sadly I didn't win. I think I got last place but it was fun because they decorated the course for Halloween.  After golf, the boys went to the go-cart course.  It was fun watching them.


We had lunch at Red Robin and headed home after the fun where we played X-Box.  Jocelyn tried to play too.

The end.

Our Growing Girl

Jocelyn is learning new tricks.  She can now give high fives, give kisses (which she is very selective about and she actually only leans in toward you so you can give her kisses), and she can clap.

And within the last month she has gone from this:

to this within the last couple of days:

Yes, she is getting very close to walking big time and she can stand up by herself now.  She doesn't do it often but she can do it.

And here are some pictures of her lately. I can't believe how fast she is growing. 

Jocey loves to read her books. 

She also loves to hold onto our legs while we walk. 

Her first pony tail. 

What a cutie in that nightgown! 

She loves lasagna.