Say It Enough, You'll Start to Believe It
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I’ve written a lot of words this last month, so today I’m sharing photos because yesterday was Halloween and this is still a Mom Blog! Capitalize Mom Blog to show respect, yo…
Have a G-R-E-A-T weekend, all! Go eat some candy!
Duck Dynasty
Rock Star Gymnast…of course!
Robber
These kids are awesome.
I mean…you lost sleep over the fact that I haven’t posted Halloween pictures didn’t you? Come on…it’s okay to admit it. I know you were beside yourself with wonder and curiosity. I know you have been waiting with bated breath to see how adorable my kids looked on candy night.
It’s cool. I get it.
And I will not let you down.
You.
Are.
Now if you’ll excuse me – while you look over these and ooh and aah, I am off to try and make sense of my house. I was out of town all weekend and…well….
Super Mario, a Butterfly and David Freese
She wanted to be a princess, but didn't try any costumes on until 5:00 Halloween night. Cue weeping and gnashing of teeth. Nothing felt right or looked good. Oy, the drama. So we slapped on a skirt, butterfly wings, some hair color and make up and BAM! A beautiful butterfly. Score one for mom.
I just can't get enough of this kid.
David Freese
So despite a complete and total lack of preparation, Halloween was still a smashing success.
I win.
I’m going to go ahead and lay it all out for you. I am not into Halloween this year. It can just pass on by for all I care, because I have put zero effort in. We haven’t bought costumes, we haven’t carved pumpkins and I’ve got one bag of candy corn to give out.
I’m like the Halloween version of Scrooge. BAH HUMBUG!
Every year, we carve pumpkins. I bake the seeds, we enjoy this very fall-like tradition, but this year? Not interested. Because you see, what really happens is this: Every year the children draw their faces on the pumpkins, then I spend the next two hours scooping the gunk and carving by myself.
This year I decided no. And the kids really haven’t seemed too disappointed, which has diminished my mom guilt only slightly. Now if you all could quit posting your amazing works of pumpkin art on Facebook that would really be helpful.
I did buy three small pumpkins and let them paint them, so I haven’t completely failed. In fact, bring me a friggin medal people!
Tia and Landon are digging costumes out of the costume chest. We have plenty to choose from and that suits them just fine. Sloan wanted to be a zombie or a vampire or something else equally boyish and “cool” but we put the kibosh on those things. I finally suggested he wear his David Freese jersey and a Cardinals hat and told him to go as David Freese.
He agreed.
I’m still waiting on my medal…
I want to move on past Halloween and into Thanksgiving and Christmas, though if I’m honest, I’m not overly ready for either of those holidays yet, either. The cooler weather this week has gotten me a little more in the holiday spirit, though. Scones and hot tea in the morning make me feel festive. I may have to start listening to Christmas music starting tomorrow to psych myself up for it all.
Micheal Buble Christmas? Yes, please.
So what about you? Are you in the holiday spirit?
Which holiday are you ready for?
In order to fulfill my obligation as a mom blogger, I hereby present you with a few Halloween pictures. Not many words today. My computer crashed on me yesterday. My phone crashes on me at least once a day right now as well. Apparently I have somehow offended the technology gods.
They’s mad.
Instead of 1,000 words – I leave you with a few pictures, which are worth more than that, right? So here are your 13,000 words. Just click the picture to see it enlarged. I know you want to. How can you resist looking at those cherubs up close?
We celebrated the awesome that is Halloween with our new group of Russian friends. This means there was trick or treating, lots and lots of food, some vodka (I mentioned we were with Russians, right?) and a whole lot of laughter and fun. Today finds Tia with pink and purple hair still because she didn’t want to wash it out yet and Landon continues to bear the faint outlines of a mustache.
And I’m tired.
The End.
*a disclaimer: My husband rightly pointed out in the comments that the Halloween Fairy idea was not ours. We heard it from a friend at church and loved it. Thanks Paul! 🙂 And now…read on.
Dear Halloween Fairy,
It was a beautiful Halloween night. Seriously. As lovely as Halloween nights come ’round these parts.
Some of us even played a little football in our underwear before the festivities began. Naturally.
Of course once dinner was over, we made sure each costume was put on lovingly, with great care and precision.
Anakin, Cheerleader Tia and Woody were all ready to go. See the attention to detail in the costumes?
With great impatience they endured picture time as we waited for the sun to go down so we could stroll the neighborhood demanding candy from all of our neighbors.
We were all thankful to have Boss and Byshka in town for a few days.
But then someone else showed up and nobody knew what to think of him.
Landon in particular was a little leary of the man in the mask. Once we figured out that it was only Boss, though, we all enjoyed trying it on.
Even Monkey got in on the action.
We got a decent family picture for once. It was like a Halloween Miracle!
And we lit our pumpkins, which mommy lovingly carved (read: she mumbled and groaned the entire two hours) and we decorated with a Sharpie when she wasn’t looking.
After meeting up with neighbors and friends, we hit the pavement. It was exciting and fun and filled with laughter. Of course, Landon only made it a quarter of the way before getting tired and needing a ride in his cadillac.
Here’s the thing, though, Halloween Fairy. We ended up with just a little bit more candy than we could ever possibly know what to do with. It’s enough to make sure all three kids need massive dental work for the next eighteen years. Here is an example. This is just one kid’s bag.
So here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to take a little bit of this candy out, and lay the rest on the front porch tonight. We would like you, Halloween Fairy, to come pick up the candy and do with it what you wish. You can dispose of it, you can donate it…just don’t eat it. You don’t need to do that to yourself. And in it’s place would you please leave a special toy for each child?
That would be great. Thanksomuch.
The last two posts were fun for me to write. I like creative writing and I love to write about the moments in my past that comprise who I am today.
What I don’t like, however, is loading you all down with too many wordy, serious posts. Life’s too short for that, yes? So today I will merely throw up a couple of pictures before I tackle the pit that used to be my home. First things first…diging myself out from under the laundry that appears to be reproducing at night while I sleep. Seriously. Piles of clothes everywhere.
This little girl is going to be sporting a very different look possibly by as early as this afternoon, but definately by Monday. More pictures to come.
What better way to spend your morning off school than looking at a toy catalog and telling each other what you want for Christmas?
I’ve been going to Rambach’s Pumpkin Patch since I was a kid and for nine Halloween’s we haven’t missed visiting this patch with our kids. (The first year I was pregnant with Sloan).
So Sunday when the weather was balmy hot we decided to make the trek out there. It feels a little sacreligious to visit the Pumpkin Patch in shorts and T-shirts, but given the fact that I loathe cold weather I wasn’t overly concerned about. And the best part of this year’s visist was the fact that we got in and out of there without spending a dime.
Because we rock.
The trick is to go without money. And leave your ATM card in the car so you’re not tempted to get cash out while there. Then you can honestly tell the kids you don’t have any money. And you know what? They didn’t really care. They were happy to play on the playground, run through the pumpkins and simply enjoy being outdoors. They didn’t need overpriced pony rides and I had already told them we would buy our Pumpkins at Trader Joes because they’re cheaper.
And so I give you…the Pumpkin Patch of 2010. And a lame blog post. Sorry.
This morning, the kids got up long before Lee and I were ready. So as we laid in bed, they pitter pattered out to the living room. From the warmth of our bed, we could hear them digging through their little halloween buckets where the candy they racked up yesterday trick or treating at my dad’s office awaited their arrival.
Twice they came into our room to ask if they could have a piece. Twice I played bad cop and said no, not until after breakfast – because eating a sugar-filled-teeth-rotting-sugar-exploding morsel is way better after you’ve eaten a bowl of cereal. (eyeroll) Really, I just didn’t feel like I would be doing them justice as their mother if I allowed them candy at 6:30 in the morning.
Moments after their second rejection, I heard Sloan tell Tia that they should dump their buckets out and count their candy to see how much they had.
So with a tumble and a THWOP we heard the innards of their plastic buckets fall to the floor and the delighted giggles of two very excited children. After saying a silent prayer that they would have the same amount of candy I heard Sloan count to 14…twice.
“Tia, we both have 14 pieces!” he exclaimed. “That means we don’t have to fight!”
Yes. And it meant that mommy could lay in peace for a few more minutes. Praise God Almighty from Whom all blessing flow!
As I thought of them counting their little piles of candy, I remembered my trick or treating days when my brother and I would come home and share the same ritual. We would dump out our pillow cases of candy and take an inventory of our loot. Then, of course, the trading and bartering would commense.
I tended to trade the Twizzlers and M & M’s for Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and Skittles. Of course, I also hoarded the Bottle Caps and Pop Rocks and we both handed off the Sugar Daddies and Suger Babies to my dad, because those are his favorite. And we threw away the Nut ‘N Honey’s because, ew…
Then we would diligently count how many pieces of candy we had and hoot and hollar if we were fortunate to pass the 100 piece mark then squeal with delight if passed 200. We would plan out what we would eat when and how long it would take us to devour our treasures.
(Come to think of it, I wonder if my mom ever threw away a few pieces of our candy every day without us knowing so that we would ultimately not end up eating that much junk. Not that I do that…ahem.)
When it was all said and done and Brett and I were equally pleased with our final count, we would sit back and eat as much as mom would allow and rehash the night’s events remembering which house gave the best candy, who had the best costumes and how we nearly froze to death in the frigid Wisconsin weather.
Then we would head to bed, our stomach’s aching from over consumption and our head’s spinning from the rush of sugar.
Those are sweet (pun definately intended) memories. I miss my brother.
What are some of your favorite Halloween memories?
Today Tia got to wear her costume to school. She’s Princess Leia.
She has been so excited about it all week.
This morning, she put on her costume an hour before we had to leave and asked that I take her picture:
She was most excited about her “for weal” Princess Leia hair.
“Thsee mom? I wook just wike Pintheth Yay-ya,” she said.
When we got in the car to go to school she asked me 100 times if I remembered her Princess Leia hair.
When we arrived, I secured it to her adorable little head and in we marched.
Then…
Someone laughed and told her she looked adorable…
And someone else told her she looked just like her older brother in that wig…
And someone else clutched her chest and grinned as she walked past…
And before we even made it to her room, Tia yanked the wig off her head and thrust it at me.
“I not want to wear it anymore,” she said.
And no amount of assurances that people were only smiling because they thought she looked cute would convince her to put it back on.
So I fashioned her hair into two pigtails and sent her on her way sans wig. Then I went to the lobby to wait for her class to return and show off their costumes and sing us a few songs.
Apparently she went to the bathroom before coming out to sing because her dress was tucked into her pants.
And instead of singing the songs that she’s been so boldly performing for us at home, she sucked on her finger.
And then she got tired and sat down.
The End.
If you must know – there were also three Kool-Aids, two hot dogs and sloppy nachos involved. Yum…
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