Kayden turns 17

I can't believe my sweet little boy, my first born is turning 17 today.  Look how grown up he is.  Kayden I have loved you for the moment I heard your heartbeat.  You are turning into such an amazing Man.  You keep things REAL.  You make me laugh, you keep me on my toes, you teach me new things, you amaze me. I love you Kayden, I hope you have an amazing, wonderful Happy Birthday.

Kayden some of your favorites:
You love your Leather Jacket, You love Anything Broadway!  You listen to Pandora every spare moment you can.
You are loving your nursing course at school.  You love games any kind of game card, board.  You love movies.

Fun Birthday door

Fun Birthday Table

Fun Birthday Sign

Kayden had a special Birthday at Seminary.
Sister Moak made him a pumpkin pie his very favorite cereal and a birthday
badge and crown.  What a perfect way to start your Birthday.

Kayden wanted homemade doughnuts for his birthday dinner.  I just couldn't eat just doughnuts for dinner.  So I made chicken, potatoes, and lots of veggies.  We made lots of doughnut holes. This was only half the doughnut recipe.

Here is the Birthday Boy enjoying the very first pudding stuffed doughnut.
I made Lemon (Kayden's favorite) and Vanilla pudding so we could stuff
some doughnuts and top them with chocolate icing.  YUMMMM!

Perfection.  Crispy warm doughnut on the outside with lemon goodness on the inside.

Who needs cake when you can have a plate of your favorite doughnuts.  

The Flavors Kayden wanted...

Cinnamon and Sugar, Powder Sugar, Tang, Lemonade, 

Cocoa, and lemon filled doughnuts topped with homemade chocolate icing. 

Kayden is always our jokester when it comes to present giving.  I decided to give him
a taste of his own medicine.  I wrapped his present and took Jermey's Army duck tape and seal all the edges with it.
and I wrapped it again so he couldn't see the tape.  It was hilarious.  He was like what on earth.  I also included a note saying he could not use any tools only his hands.  

Kayden struggled for all of 30 sec.  He totally figured it out and just ripped it.
Hummmm I think I'm going to have to make it a little harder next year.

After all that tape and wrappping paper he got his favorite game.
Camel up.  Can't wait to play it.  Kayden has wanted this game since he played
it on his mini mission. 

Brooklyn, got the best sister award. Her gifts were all kayden's favorites.
He got Pickles.  I think this was his favorite gift.  Pickles.  How funny! 

These boys really are the best of friends.  Chandler's gift was a huge hit.

Happy, Happy, 17th Birthday Kayden!

Ward Trunk or Treat

Happy Halloween from A Skeleton, Alien, and Batvenger.

I was asked to help with decorations for the ward Trunk or Treat.
Tanae and I had some fabulous ideas.  Look at all the bats

Tanae, created a fun Photo Boo-th

Filled with fun masks.

Our beautiful Entry way.  Love!!!

I made the center pieces.  They turned out super cute
I love all the things you can do with suckers.

I made 60 of these little guys.  You put a penny at the bottom of the sucker and they stand up.
Brilliant.  They were so fun and the kids loved eating them.

We had a pie contest so I made my pumpkin pie

And Chocolate Pecan.  They look Delicious.  

I loved Kayden's costume this year.  He has been studying bones
for his nursing course and when I saw this outfit I just had to get it for him.
We found some gloves at one of the German stores and it was Perfect!!!
Kayden wanted his face painted.  I think he looks awesome.  Well maybe we needed different shoes.

The backside.

Brooklyn created a new Super Hero.
Her name is BAT-Vengers.  It's half batman half avengers
She is adorable with her cute bat leggings, and batman shirt with her cape.
We tried to draw a bat on her face. She looks like a beautiful hero to me.

Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na BAT-Vengers to the rescue.

Chandler, wasn't sure what he wanted to be.  He thought maybe a storm trooper but when we couldn't find a costume he liked  and didn't brake the bank we came up empty.  Chandler decided he wanted to be an Alien.  He wanted his face painted.  Brooklyn decided to color his hair.  Kayden put some awesome wounds on his hands with blue blood.  Chandler was so happy with his costume.  Score!  Win, Win We didn't break the bank and Chandler was super happy.... 

Here is Chandler's Alien face for Kayden's movie.
Chan makes an excellent Alien.

We did a pumpkin patch theme trunk this year.  

Happy Halloween from the Bastian's.

Ludwigsburg Pumpkin Festival 2016

This was a second annual trip to the Ludwigsburg Pumpkin Festival.
You can go here to see last years adventure. 

This year the Pumpkin Festival was all about the Zirkus (Circus)

The Barrel Organ-
is a mechanical musical instrument. The player of a barrel organ, traditionally called an organ grinder, operates a crank handler, which set a control system inside the instrument in motion.
  Often, a monkey sits on the barrel organ, clapping its hands or playing on a triangle. 

One of the most well-known magic tricks in the world is to conjure a white rabbit out of a black hat.
This display even told us how to conjure our own white rabbit.  Super awesome!    

The kids and I loving the Fall decor and beauty of Germany.

My favorite people at the Pumpkin Festival.

The Clown
A clown is a person who tries to make people laugh through his acts.  From the beginning of the 19th century, clowns were increasingly used in circus performances.  The outfit of a typical circus clown consists of various parts.  He often wears too large, colorful clothing, a wig and a red nose, and creates a witty inappropriateness through exaggerated contrasts.  A special feature is also the face make-up, which varies depending on type of clown.
The pumpkin festival had many clowns see below.

The Tiger
The feet of a tiger jumping through a ring of fire is part of a every good circus performance. It takes years of practice for the coach with the predator, otherwise this could be dangerous for the audience.  The art of training predators is controversial.  The conditions on which the animals are kept and transported are often criticized.

The Tightrope Artist-
Tightrope walking refers to an action in which once or more persons walk, dance, and perform other feats on a taut or slack rope. some for darings feats are jumping, sitting on a partner, skipping, riding on a unicycle, back flipping and forming a 6 man pyramid on the rope. 

The Circus Wagon
Wooden caravans are referred to as circus wagons or Vardos.  They serve as the circus artist' living quarters and as there means of travel.  Because of their size, the wagons are often pulled by tractors. 

Another clown.

Lots of clowns at the Circus. 

Brooklyn, Kayden, and Chandler having fun with the squash. 

We love trying the food at the different festivals.
We got salted, hot, and cinnamon pumpkin seeds. 

This year we tried Pumpkin Broughts with Pumpkin Kurbis (Ketchup)
and a Pumpkin Burger that was delicious.   

Pumpkin Ketchup.
Jeremy thought it was delicious,  the kids and I all tried it.
We didn't care for it.  But it was fun to try.

We even tried the pumpkin drink.  It was not good, at all.
It was like they forgot the sugar.  We didn't even finish it.  But we had to try it.

Here are some gymnasts catapulting onto the pyramid. 

The Artist Pyramid-
The highlight of a circus show is the artistic feats of the gymnastics. The artists often form a human pyramid.
This takes years of practice and trust between each person.

The Vaulter-
Vaulting is a type of sport, in which gymnastics and acrobatics are performed on a horse moving in circles.  

In addition to the gymnastic skills, as in all equestrian sports, knowledge and skills in handling the horse as a partner are most important. 

The Circus Elephant-
Circus elephants are tamed by humans, they are taught various tricks. They perform these tricks during shows.
Asian Elephants are considered more easily tamed, and are therefor more commonly used at the circus than African elephants.  

Kayden on one of the largest pumpkins.  Can you believe how big it is.
My boy is almost 17 and can sit on this pumpkin. Wow!

The Birthday Girl.  Brooklyn turned 14 today.  Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Just a boy and his Pumpkin.
My super cute Chanman. 

Jer and I look so little next to this Pumpkin.  I wonder how many pumpkin pies you could
make with this pumpkin?  Crazy!

The Knife Thrower-
Knife throwing is the art of throwing knives at a target, so that the knife gets stuck in the target with the tip  

In the circus, the knives land mostly around a person standing directly in front of a target.  Therein lies the thrill

Knife throwing is also widely practiced as a sport and as a hobby; knife throwers are organized in some countries in clubs which hold competitions. 

Chandler in front of The Circus Wagon.
This is Super appropriate because, he is our little actor.

Kayden the clown.  I think he could make a great living as a clown.

We got to see one of the master carvers at work.
This was so awesome.  It took him 4 hours to carve this face. 

He had a mirror above his head so you could see him work on the face.

Look at how cool these faces are.  

We were all super impressed. 

I wanted to take this cute guy home.
I would love one of these at my doorstep greeting all our friends.
We had such a wonderful day learning all about the Circus.  Thank you
Ludwigsburg for a super fun day.  We can't wait to see what next years theme will be.