A BUSY weekend!! But fun ... :)

We had a very busy weekend. On Saturday I took Audrey & Carter to a birthday party while Chad got the house ready for an overnight visit from his Uncle Bob. HOW, you may ask, did we manage to house an overnight visitor in our torn-apart basement? Especially since this is what it looked like only a few weeks ago:

Well, Chad has been busy. And while the basement is not finished, a good amount of work has been completed and this is where it stands now:

Coming along, don't you think?

And this is our downstairs bathroom now. I don't know if we have a "before" picture, but suffice it to say: This bathroom was ugly with a capital "U".

We had a fun Saturday evening with Chad's family: Uncle Bob (in from NC), Uncle Jim & Aunt Sherry (in from Delaware), his cousin Nicole, and his cousin Deanna (w/ husband Matt & kids Olivia and Owen). Deanna & Matt live here in Phoenixville and hosted our get-together! The kids had a great time running around like banshees. (Except for Carter, who was pretty much sick with a cold. Poor Carter!)

Uncle Bob brought his balloon-making equipment that he had used on a mission trip to Romania. He made Audrey a whole butterfly balloon "outfit" and left the balloon stuff for us to enjoy. I took a crash course in balloon animal making and put my newfound knowledge to immediate use (kind of!) as you'll see further down. :)

While everyone went to church Sunday morning, I took Carter (who was too germy to go to church) to Valley Forge Park for a nice long walk in the BEAUTIFUL 70 degree fall weather.

On Sunday afternoon, we went to our 2nd "annual" neighborhood fall party, hosted by our neighbors, the Zinks! We all had a great time. Thank you Brian & Karen!

As you can see, we definitely live in Eagles country ...

I brought the balloon stuff to the party. The kids were all excited until I proceeded to pop just about every balloon I tried to make into an animal! :( Fortunately, Julie has some experience with balloon animal making. She quickly became the balloon artist, while I just blew the balloons up for her. As one little girl (who will remain nameless) said: "Ask Miss Julie to make your animal; Miss Amy pops them all!" :)

Audrey & Emma eating yummy treats. There were LOTS of yummy treats. I don't think many kids ate dinner last night ...

Audrey & her decorated pumpkin.

Carter & Daddy. Carter enjoyed the treats too. They were all on a table RIGHT at his level, so every time I turned around, he was stuffing something else into his mouth ...

Chad gave some of the kids a "hay ride".

The non-haunted haunted house.

The whole group with their pumpkins :) Aren't they an adorable bunch (okay, minus Chad and Brian, aren't they an adorable bunch???)

Hmmm ... more evidence of cupcake snatching...

Making a scarecrow

Mini-me?

Carter's favorite use for the hay ...

In summary: A great weekend with family and friends.

But I am now officially pooped...