Ghosts Ghouls and Dunder Mifflin Too!!

This year, our Halloween theme was the "Dunder Mifflin" couples in the Halloween episode. For those of you that don't watch "The Office" you probably wont get it... but neither did anyone else at the party. I dressed up as Angela, the always annoyed girl at the office. So if I look mad in every picture this is why. My good friend Becky played Pam, Mike was "three hole punch Jim" and Becky's husband Dave was Dwight the Sith Lord.

 Here is "Angela" and Olivia Newton John... apparently Angela thinks she is very annoying with her weights and all her singing...

smurfette made an appearance
as did my favorite cartoon character of the night QUAIL MAN from Doug
And it is never a party unless the always prepared Mammogram Man is there to keep everyone safe and cancer free
My best girls

awkward Jim and Pam
rivalry cats with mammogram man making sure we are free and clear of lumps!!
Angela and her secret lover Dwight... yep, still annoyed.
And the Dundee for best costume goes to.... The awkward couples!!

Good times at Brian's house!! We get together every year for a screaming good time of backyard fires and flaming pumpkins. I work with these people and feel lucky to have such great co workers to share my social time with.

Happy Haunting everyone!!

Fair Family Fun

The Topsfield Fair

Yet another family tradition in the fall... We take a trip up to where the Killam family roots began to experience the Topsfield fair. I believe this is one of the oldest fairs in the country, established in 1818. It has all of your typical county fair attractions- the 1600 lb. pumpkin, the creaky rides, the racing/swimming pigs and of course... the FOOD!! I think Mike ate enough calories to sustain him for the next three weeks! I really enjoyed the baby bunny nursery and all of the animals (like we need any more). Here are some pictures of us with the Autumn ambiance and enjoying our very unhealthy lunch out on the grass. All in all it was an absolutely gorgeous Fall day in New England.

yay fall!  I love all the mums :o)

Apparently Paul saw something he didn't like! haha

Mike snoozing in the sun

Mike's sister Joanne and her girlfriend Addy

pigs pigs pigs!   I want one!!

 the flower displays are amazing!  

  check out this pumpkin!!!   a sand sculpture in the middle of everything! 

Bushels of fun!

This weekend was our yearly apple picking trip. We go with Mike's parents out to a farm in Acton, MA for an afternoon of walking through apple orchards, selecting pumpkins, hay rides and apple doughnuts. It is a great way to experience New England in the Fall and something that I love to do every year. This year we had TWO dogs to tag along. Last year Meli was only about 5 months old and was just as excited this year, especially because it included my in-laws' dog Simba. So here are some photos of a beautiful New England afternoon of fall festivities. 

Meli is ready to go!!

Mike and Meli 

Paul (my father in law) and Simba getting some good ones up high!

Meli thought it was great that the "balls" were edible

Us plus one :o)

Gem's Birthday

Saturday night was our annual celebration of Gem getting older and all of us being back into the swing of things at school. We had a bbq/ beer pong tourny in Gems back yard and had a good showing of school people. Mike enjoyed keeping tabs on Nina (who was drugged for the event). Becky was a trouper after her very long week and then a very long day in the sun watching rugby. It was a good time. Nice to see friends outside of work and just enjoy some of the last gorgeous days in New England. Happy Fall everyone!!

it looks like mike is feeding Nina beer!!

Me and Becky chatting it up :o)

Gem and Angela the pong champs in the beginning 
too bad they don't even like beer hahaJennifer's first time- she was fabulous. Martha looks amused 

kids make me smile

As crappy as my job can be sometimes, there are those moments that will make me smile for a long time. Our school had a little memorial ceremony on 9/11 to educate the kids on what happened and how we need to always remember how lucky we are to have our freedom. Some of the kids were understandably upset about the footage of the attacks and the fact that people had actually died. One kid in particular was very distraught about the fact that we still hadn't found the man responsible. Later on in the day this student came to me for science class and I could see that there was something on his mind. When I asked him what was up he told me that he was thinking of a plan... "What kind of plan?" I asked... He responded "A plan to catch Ben." I stopped for a moment to try and decipher what he might be talking about. I asked him who "Ben" was and why was he trying to catch him. He was frustrated with me and said, you know Ben, the guy who crashed all the planes. I could not for the life of me figure out what he was talking about- as far as I knew there was no Ben during the 9/11 attacks. Finally, the kid says, you know,  his last name is Laden... Ben Laden!! Ohhhhhhhh! I said- his name is not Ben, it is  Bin Laden and that is his last name, his first name is Osama. I wrote the name on the board for him to see and he looked at it with a funny look and said- no thats not who I am talking about... thats they guy that is running for president!! lol

Oh kids.... oh miscommunication and ohhhhhhhh our school system. Gotta love them all. I did go on to explain the difference between Osama and Obama and the only response I got was- what kind of name is Barack? hahaha. It is one of those moments that will make me smile for years to come... 

Just in case

Just in case you didn't really believe me about the bullet holes in the classroom windows... here you go- thanks to my good friend Becky for providing photographic evidence.

Gooooo Cougars!

Kellen's Wedding

Hard to believe that it was just a week ago that our whole family got together to celebrate the wedding of Kellen and Janelle!! Yes, I said Kellen. Our smelly, dirty, untamable brother Kellen found himself someone who could stand him enough to take eternal vows. Not only is Janelle beautiful inside and out but we are lucky to be able to call her family. I could not have asked for a better sister. The wedding was beautiful and simple as only such heart felt and spiritual occasions can be. Never have I seen two more sincere, in love and good people joined together. It was a special day for both families, bringing together the Keisling clan that doesn't get enough opportunities to hang out, and Janelle's poor family that was probably scarred for life by our redneck ways. The night before the wedding there was a formal family get together where some "Frog Giggen" took place... for those of you civilized enough NOT to know what this is- it pretty much boils down to heading down to the pond and stabbing frogs with sticks... yep- that's my family for ya! Not to worry though, these poor innocent creatures were not slain in vain... they were promptly eaten at the next family get together the day after the ceremony. mmmm. So Kel is hitched and what a fun weekend it was! Here are some pics of the day including my nieces playing the cutest flower girls ever!