The SEVENTH annual Itri Pre-Thanksgiving Pasta Pigout

Seven years ago, the Itri Men in Utah who had to spend Thanksgiving at their in-laws house instead of with each other,  needed an excuse to celebrate a separate Thanksgiving among brothers.  Hence what has become our very own Itri holiday.  Almost as good as the Costanza Festivus.  (Look it up.)  Except better because Italian food is the main point.
The day before Thanksgiving, we get together and every family brings their own pasta or Italian dish that they made all by themselves.  It is a glorious gluttonous occasion in which feasting and getting heavier is a delicious and well-crafted art form, in which one physically opens up the stomach through the gift of pasta, and stretches it out to the point that eating a lot of food on Thanksgiving, the following day is made easier. For those who consider food one of the high points of life, it is, in fact.  Genius.
This year was no exception.  Special thanks to Rob and Stephanie for hosting it at their house this year.  Good times were had by all.

Spaghetti Bolognese by Dan and Kelsey and salad by Margie

Risotto made by Kyle

Cheese tortellini with creamy garlic tomato sauce by Scott and I

Seafood Linguini (big pot) by Rob and Stephanie, and Minestrone wedding soup (center) by Aunt Cathy

SO many delicious Italian carbs.

Life at the kiddie table

Crystal adores pasta

Margie also provided the dessert.  Ferrero Rochet are Italian chocolates,l also Italian cookies and of course the cannoli: which is basically the best Italian desert ever invented. 

These two baby boys were also there.  Didn't get pictures of them eating, but here is proof that they were in attendance:

My second Halloween in Pennsylvania

I really had fun this Halloween.  Last year I was still getting used to life here, I felt somewhat out of place and awkward, not to mention the  postpartum hormones were running rampant.  Out of every Halloween I've ever had, it wasn't the best, but then again it wasn't the worst. The worst Halloween I ever had was at a UVU dance when I was just barely in college and dating someone I grew to hate.  Maybe some day I'll tell that story. The only good thing about that year was the amazing wig I had as part of my costume.  Like I said, long story.  Last year was much better than that year. I at least liked the people I was with and didn't have a bad time at the gathering, I was just adjusting.
 This year a lot more planning was involved along with a healthier happier more adjusted me.  The two combinations made it a good year.
Crystal and Seth were super excited for their school parade and party.  Here they are marching along with their classes.

Seth wanted to be Super Mario again this year.  According to him, he wants to be Mario every year, but maybe that will change as he ages.  Crystal went as Princess Anna from Frozen.  I thought she would pick Elsa for sure since Elsa was the huge Halloween hit this year with all the little girls, but I kind of love that my daughter went down the Anna route, Anna is quirkier and adventurous and more curious, and I thought she fit Crystals personality really well.

Here they are enjoying their class parties.

All the little cousins went trick or treating together, which they absolutely loved.  We went to a nearby neighborhood and they all got more and more excited as they saw their buckets and bags fill up with more and more candy.  I'm pretty sure it was the best day of Jacob's entire life.  Now that he's nearly three years old he understands so much more and had been looking forward to this part all month long.  He kept walking around saying, "Happy Halloween!"  Sammy on the other hand was a little bored.  He's still too young for the festivities.
Here is our little family.  Scott is an Eagles Fan.  Sammy is a little dragon, and Jake of course is Spiderman, which is this years current obsession.  I constantly find him climbing on things and hanging from different spots of the house because he's Spiderman.  Even though he already has about 5 different Spiderman outfits, he needed a new one for Halloween.  So there you go.  I was sort of a Donatella Versace, (google her face) meets a feminine hobo.  Just played with the face paint and put on whatever I found around the house that seemed like a costume.  It works right?  Whatever.

All the cousins came over so we could go trick or treating together.  Here are all of the cousins taking a picture together before the trick or treating started.

Our Halloween get together revolved mostly around the kiddies.  Seth was on cloud nine.  After the trick or treating we had activities set up at the house, including homemade pizza, face painting, (I just did it instead of hiring someone, because I like doing that stuff anyway)  and some games Stephanie prepared, including pin the eye on the monster, and some balancing acts for prizes.  Then they had a scavenger hunt that led to prizes in the upstairs family room where they could watch a halloween movie under blankets and hopefully go to sleep.  Everything went well except for the sleeping part.  They were way too amped up on sugar and excitement to do that.

Due to Jakey's drooling problem the paint on his chin is already gone during this game.

Crystal doing a bean bag toss

"Look at the masks we made!"

Cookie decorating with aunt Kelsey

When Seth went to bed that night he was acting sad.  When I asked him what was wrong, he stated, "I'm depressed because Halloween is over and now I have to wait a whole year to do that again.  I don't want to talk about it."  It made me giggle.  Glad it was so awesome for him.  It was a great success this year.  Everyone had fun and it was great to see the kids have such a blast.

October fun at the colonial Pennsylvania Plantation

We went to a fall Halloween Pensylvania colonial 1820's thing over at Ridley Park with the kids at the Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation by Ridley Park.  They wore their costumes from last year and were able to celebrate Halloween old school style.


Here they are all dressed up in some of their old costumes for the event.

'

After everybody was ready we drove over.

The Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation

We met up with their cousins so that we could all have fun together.

Seth with the two cutest little firemen I've ever seen. 

They were showing a little Halloween puppet show in this barn for the kids.  They loved it.  Here are Dan and Kelsey and Zach on their way in.

Everybody got to meet some animals, including cows, sheep, piggies, and these turkeys.

The turkeys were really friendly actually.  The owner said they were just like cats. This guy was fascinated with Crystal's dress.

"Hello!  Please don't eat me in November!"

There was also a sort of "spook alley" for the kids in another barn.  Basically they had to collect tickets and turn them in for prizes.  They really liked this one.

They made little ghosts out of rags like the settler kids did back in the day for fun

OH and look how cute Puppy Tanner and Sharkie Zach are!

Jacob was also all smiles that day with his little prizes and candy.

We went into the servants quarters to hear a scary story that happened there many years ago where the notorious Sandy Flash was captured.  Supposedly his ghost haunts the property to this day.
Here are the kids going into the room where he was captured to hear the story.

They made dolls/people out of corn husks.

They sat down in the leaves and ate candy

They also learned how to make candles.

Scott and Dan entertaining the babies while the bigger kids were busy.  Love the landscape here.  

It was a good day. The kids had loads of fun,and the environment was charming.  We're glad that Kelsey and Dan came up with the idea.