Enjoying the Christmas Parade at the Oceanfront with the family and the Gilkes Clan.

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The new house has vaulted ceilings... which would have made our little 6.5' tree look like Charlie Brown's tree. I was able to score a fabulous deal on CraigsList on a 12', prelit tree that had never been used or opened. I LOVE IT!

Posted via Anastasia the Android.  

So, what do you do if neither Mom nor Dad has time to take off work in the morning to take Kaiden to the Ortho doctor to have her cast removed? Well, that is when I tell Dad that if he cannot handle helping out with the doctor appointment, he has till bedtime to handle getting the cast off himself.  Of course, being a boy... he accepted the challenge.  Fifteen minutes, some vegetable oil and some kitchen scissors and the cast is off!

And Voila!  No more cast.  Now neither of us has to miss work for a doctor appointment and we just saved ourselves a $50 copay... SWEET!  Kaiden said "Man, you guys are so CHEAP!" HAHAHA!  YES WE ARE!!!

Another year... another Halloween with the Gilkes Family. We all met up at their house to get ready for trick-or-treating, have some dinner and then get out the door for some serious candy collecting.

Kaiden and Kevin once again dressed up together - they have been a Zombie Bride and Groom, Alice and the Mad Hatter and this year they were Dog the Bounty Hunter and his lovely Bounty Hunting wife Beth! I thought they looked perfect... but poor Kev, I cannot even remember how many times he was asked if he was Joe Dirt.  His response... "Who is Joe Dirt?"

Ashton STILL loves Star Wars and he still loves costumes - he is not one to be talked in to creating a unique costume. He counts down the days till the Halloween Costume catalog comes in the mail so he can spend days looking through it and deciding who he will be. This year it was Jango Fett that won his vote - although it was a close decision. He was seriously considering Darth Maul.

I cannot skip over Riley's costume. Anyone who knowa this child, knows JUST HOW PERFECT this costume was for her. I have never seen another human being beg for, cry for and consume more mac 'n' cheese than this kid. So this was the perfect costume for her and she was so happy to go out as her favorite food.

It was a great Halloween. The kids all had a blast running the streets in the neighborhood and collecting their parents candy. Can't wait to do it again next year.