Bernadette Turns 2 and the Princess Party

Well, it was quite the birthday party blow-out for our little Bernadette this year.  She turned two and we celebrated the heck out of it.  

Here is how her birthday morning started.  She was happily curled up in a box, with her blanky, a kitty and some m&ms.

Later that night we had a small party with just some family...but LOTS of gifts.  She wore the pretty dress daddy had brought back from China.

And we all enjoyed some Strawberry Shortcake.

Saturday was the BIG PRINCESS PARTY!  And, Bernadette was happy to dress the part.

Even Gus got a present!

Pretty soon the princesses started to arrive!

All sorts of princesses...

It turned out to be a BIG party.  Lots of family and friends.

Even Aunt Tina came from PA.

Bill and I made some fun decorations--and we will be bribing the kids with sucker for a long time to come!

After dinner we tried to get a photo booth going, and we got a few pictures...but in the end it was just a few too many people to wrangle!  

Dominic and Luke were good sports, though!

As was the Barron Family!

And John is always up for a few strange pictures!

Bernadette was, of course, not the only pretty princess at the party!

It was a wonderful night full of loads of friends and princesses and suckers!  We are glad we celebrated our little girl to the max...but chances are we will be doing something a little more low-key for her 3rd birthday!

the Bandzuch Family

Halloween and Fall Pictures

Today's pictures are sort of a mess.  There are pre-Halloween pictures from when we were down on the farm last week, a few corn-stock pictures (which we try to make a fall tradition), a few actual Halloween pictures and then some pictures that I snapped this morning when after all of the kids crawled in with me.  

For our pre-Halloween photo shoot I didn't have Dominic's costume done, so he wore a costume Ruth had used for Simon long ago.  A lion--which was pretty cute.  

Bernadette decided she was a teeth brushing princess.

Rosie and Luke got in on the fun too.  They are little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf.

And, he really was a big bad wolf!

Dommy was a bit of a stuffed (lion) shirt.

And, of course, we had to take a few pictures of the two little animals.

Later that day we headed outside to take a few corn-stock pictures.  My dad and Paul have bailed A LOT this year.  The shed are full and there are towering rows of hey bale and corn stock bails all over the yard/grove.  We usually like to take pics of the kids out in the field before the bales are picked up, but we weren't in Marshall soon enough ;).  

And, my mom had to bring her little assistant with--the kitty Bernadette tames last time we were in Marshall.  The kitty sits on my mom's shoulder most of the day and even takes naps there--which for a non-kitty-lover like me is totally weird.  

The sun was a little bright.

We didn't last long by the corn stalks because something much more interesting was happening.  Cement trucks were coming on and off the yard, laying new cement out in the cattle yard.  Gus and the kitty had a great view of the action.

Bernadette's view was not quite so good.

And finally, we played for a while on Grandpa's Juggle Gym AKA an old feed-wagon.

A few days later Bill was home from Michigan and suddenly it was Halloween!

We went with a Mid-Evil Theme--King, Queen, Knight, Princess and Dragon.

Our nice neighbor Jasper was nice enough to take these pictures for us.  

We did just a little trick-or-treating on Halloween, ate supper with Bill's Aunt and Uncle, went to a Halloween party with the old group of friends and (I at least) ate waaaay too much candy.

Bill is traveling once again this week--this time to Kansas.  We are still adjusting to Day-Light-Savings-Time around here, so when the kids got up a little earlier than usual I pulled them into bed with me.  The morning light was so nice that I just had to run and get the camera.

This boy gets lots of kisses!

And, that's all I've got.  

All the best,

Nancy, Gus, Bernadette, Dommy and Billy