A Scooby Doo Birthday Mystery . . .

Warning: You may suffer from spookiness-overload if you read this post. But it's totally worth it!

Party number two, you ask? Why yes. Winn is a very special girl who totally deserved two birthday parties this year. And this Scooby Doo bash put our glut-fest to shame.

Last weekend, Mystery Inc. reunited to solve a very serious, mysterious disappearance: The Case of the Birthday Phantom and the Missing Party Favors. These two lovely ladies, "Delma" and Daphne sprang into action the minute they smelled foul play.

Who could believe it? While grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends showed up to help Winnie celebrate the big 5, that rotten Birthday Phantom breezed in and grabbed the kids' goody-bags!

Lucky thing we had Scooby Doo to sniff out some clues! And it was also fortunate that Tukk and Klive, although 2 years apart, wear the same size costume!

Sleuths get hungry, you know. Good thing we stocked up on monster munchies packed full of energy. And sugar. And nitrates.

Everyone pitched in to help solve the mystery. Auntie Rylee was the designated clue reader in the gang's hunt for justice.

And Aunt Misty, (AKA Fred) made one heck of a phantom hunter.

The gang tracked down a few haunted-household clues that led them to the treacherous toilet and instructed them to decode a backwards message in the mystery mirror.

While mixing some witches' brew, Daddy spotted some suspicious footprints that lead outback. The gang set off for Johnson's Haunted Wood.

Wouldn't you know it, Scooby got scared and took off. The only way to earn his cooperation was to toss a few Scooby snacks into his gaping mouth. Rum-Rum!!! Once Scooby came on-board, the crew popped a few balloon ghosts to get some answers out of them. Literally.

Thanks to his sweet walking skillz, clumsy Freddy accidentally knocked over a skeleton. In order to locate the next clue, the gang had to put it back together.

Delma's no slouch when it comes to anatomically-correct skeleton construction.

Too bad she got spooked and dropped her glasses right in the slimy swamp.

Daphne dug through the bubbles, fog and creepy-crawlies and fished them out for her . . .

And Caulder, I mean Shaggy, read the next clue.

A creepy mummy kidnapped Daphne, the damsel always in distress. Lucky we had brave young master Dawson . . .

He volunteered to be wrapped like a mummy and dove into the tomb to rescue the fair maiden - and the next clue.

The sleuths had to eat their way to the next clue - hanging donuts of death.

Eating junk food - now that's a Scooby and Shaggy specialty!

Daphne proved she could hold her own when it came to devouring donuts for a good cause.

Delma must have been serious about eating her fair share, because she had to take her wig off to get down to business. Daddy made a good wig rack.

Next, Mystery Inc. had to crawl through the spooky, spider-infested web warehouse to unravel a hidden clue.

Delma could have easily gotten wound up in the massive web and eaten by a giant spider if it wasn't for her fearless friends.

Finally, the Scooby Doo crew showed off their very best zombie dance moves in a rousing game of musical tomb stones. The winners (Dawson and Delma) cracked the case wide open when they uncovered phantom tracks leading directly into the garage.

They bolted after the thief, ripped off his mask and discovered the phantom to be . . .



DADDY???

Awww, man! Caught red-handed! And he would have gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for those meddling kids and their stinky dog, too!

Amid all the commotion, mom had to solve her own mystery. The Case of the Disappearing Baby. She promptly found Klive all wrapped up in the haunted house.

So in the end, Mystery Inc. saved the day, recovered the stolen party packs, and feasted on some gourmet Scooby snack cupcakes.

Delma let Winnie have the rest of the day off so she could open her presents, play with her cousins, and spend a little quality time with Uncle Andrew.

She got lots of cool stuff . . .

And said it was the BEST PARTY EVER!!!!!

The big 5

On September 8, it was her day . . . her big day. Winnie Johnson hit the five year mark. She awoke to her mom's beautiful rendition of zoo-style "Happy Birthday" and a bag full of stylish goodies - complete with brand new baby pink crocs adorned with Tangled jibits.

Sadly, her dad was M.I.A for the big event - stuck rotting away at his pediatric rotation in Boise. So we girls (and Klive) made the best of the day.

While sister was at school, we hit the dollar store for a celebratory helium balloon. And when Junie got home, we headed out to Winn's favorite feed hole - Wieners. You might know it as Wingers.

Next, we continued the birthday feast at Yo Crazy - Winnie's new obsession. Who wouldn't love a self-serve frozen yogurt that you can douse in bulk candy toppings. I think watermelon and gumballs was a great choice.

Why stop eating, right? We finished off the glut-fest at home with strawberry shortcake's ball gown and then got down to the present business.

Most awesome present: Shaving Fun Ken. This girl spent several days bearding and shaving the poor guys face.

I'd like to take this blogging moment to say how much joy this chick brings to our lives. Winnie, we love that you are still afraid of loud noises and spooky places. We love that you tell your own version of deep thought knock-knock jokes. We love that you fart frequently and have mastered the art of blaming it on your father. We love that you have an entire world of make-believe going on in your silly little head about 90% of the time. We love that you always think of others first and give love without looking for a prize or reward. Mom loves that you jump at the chance to help with baby brother. It makes me so happy that you still sing like Tiana with abandon and use the highest pitched squeal to give a voice to your barbies. Most of all, we love that you are all ours. Happy birthday sweet girl!

A Fun Family Visit

Twin Falls used to be a 28-hour trip from Oklahoma. But lucky for us, it is now an hour and a half drive. We were so excited to pay a little visit to Nana Betty and Grampy Bruce this month. They haven't seen the girls for a couple of years and they had never even met Klive.

They skipped the introductions and went right to snuggle time.

Plus, we got the added bonus of a little Miller time. They were visiting from Oregon for the weekend, and the kids had a ball with them.

Klive had a little one-on-one chatting time with Grampy. Gramp thought he looked just like Uncle Curt.

The girls suckered Tye into trying their Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. I think the one he was eating in this picture was throw-up flavored. What a good sport.

Nana couldn't get enough Klive snuggles . . .

and Winnie snuggles too.

The girls spent two days at "Camp Miller" playing boccie ball, going to the park, and playing some intense baseball games. Auntie Nini got the girls some fun sticker books that they have not put down since the trip.

And Nana taught the girls the fine art of making broken glass candy. I'm pretty sure they were eating it as fast as they were making it. I'm so glad it's a quick trip to Twin. Can't wait to do it again!

Look Out Second Grade!!!

June headed back to school in September. She was a brave little toaster - she started second grade in a new school, Chubbuck Elementary. I think we lucked out and got the nicest teacher ever, Mrs. Meline. She made absolutely sure that June knew where everything was, she introduced her to some nice girls in class, and she made sure everyone knew June was new and felt welcome. June is LOVING second grade. She made some new friends right off the bat and she's doing fantastic with her studies. Looks like second grade is going to be easy breezy!

This was our first-day beauty shot. I told the girls to do their best to look pretty, and this is what I got. Such ladies.