Happy Halloween

Looking at the outside of our house, you would never know that I am a Halloween junkie. Except for my Boo door hanger, there is not an ounce of Halloween in our yard. First of all, it has been cold and I hate decorating in the cold. Second, very few, if any kids trick-or-treat on our street.

But that doesn't mean I am lacking on the decorations on the inside of our house.

Witch and monster sign, courtesy of my MIL.
Boo ghosts that I just finished making.
A pumpkin whose batteries might actually survive
through Halloween this year.

As much as I hate spiders, I have to put this guy out every year.
Last year, I actually forgot to put him away.
Yes, it freaked me out on more than one occasion.



web made by me

Not only do I enjoy watching my kids enjoy this holiday, but I also enjoy being someone else for a change. Can you guess what I was this year?

The husband was NOT a fan of my all to real black eye!

And by the way, why does my hair never cooperate
until I actually want it to be messy?! So frustrating!


In case you're still not sure of my costume,
would dirty, beat up wings give you a clue?

Because I have been so busy making Halloween decorations and starting on Christmas stuff, I decided to forgo making homemade costumes for the kids. The first costume GG chose was not available in a size that would fit her. Big is good as we have to work a costume over layers of clothes in this city, but 4 sizes too big is pushing it. She instantly fell in love once she saw a picture of something else.

I bought Little Dude's costume at a consignment shop back in July and up until October, he was so psyched to wear it. Then he decided to be a werewolf. Having already purchased a costume, I said no. Once I explained I could paint his face, his original costume was a go.

Without further adu, I introduce my Polar Princess and a soldier to protect her.

Or maybe a soldier to chase the polar princess with the gun I caved a bought him.

I wish everyone a safe and happy Halloween full of good candy for moms and dads to dip into!


PS. In case you're still not sure of what my costume was, I was a Fallen Angel.


Until next time...

Red Ribbon

This week at the kids' school, along with many others I think, they are participating in Red Ribbon week. The point of Red Ribbon week is to teach kids about saying no to drugs. In our school, the kids wear something different each day.

Forgive me as I seemed to have thrown the actual paper from the school away. I don't remember what each day symbolizes.


Monday - Black and white day. Students are encouraged to wear these colors. Possibly because it's a black and white decision to either do drugs or don't and we strongly encourage you to say no.

Tuesday - Wear your favorite boots so together we can stomp out drugs.

Wednesday - Hat day. I don't know why, but the kids were happy to wear hats, which are usually a no-no. There were some funky hats!

Thursday - Wear your team colors. As a team we can stand up against drugs. Boy am I glad I bought those school shirts a few weeks ago

Friday - Wear your Halloween costume to scare drugs away.


GG and Little Dude have been quite excited to pick out the special item before bedtime for the following day. GG was over the moon when she found out it was boot day. I will post pictures next week of her too cute boots when I do a Halloween post.

All day Tuesday Little Dude was thinking about which hat he would wear for Wednesday. Tuesday night he finally found a bright yellow Steeler hat (that's my boy!). He came downstairs to show me his find and I told him to put it in a safe place so we didn't forget it in the morning. As he carefully laid his hat by his jacket and book bag, he asked me a question.....


"Mom, what are drugs?"


Red Ribbon week fail!





I am so proud of my boy for happily participating in Red Ribbon week without knowing why. Of course this is only true if proud is the new word for disappointed.


Do you have a proud, or not so proud, parenting moment? Link up with Kmama and Emmy Mom.





Until next time...

Love

My kids love me.


I don't think it's because I'm the fun mom.

I don't think it's because I pass out hugs and kisses every night before bed.

I don't think it's because I allowed GG to play the flute this year.

I don't think it's because I let Little Dude spread Legos all over the floor to build one tiny car.


I'm pretty sure it's because of this....

Vanilla bean ice cream
(the bean is essential!)

Chocolate syrup
Massive amount of sprinkles
Mini brownie
topped with orange and black icing
and ghost sprinkles

Until next time...

They will remember

If nothing else, I've learned that kids have a knack for remembering things. But only the things they deem important.

I have been known to have a momentary loss of judgement. This usually happens while I am driving and both of the kids are in the back of the car. We are usually on our way home from somewhere, thus we are all tired and cranky.

In a moment of desperation, I start spewing out threats. I threaten to take toys, bump up bedtimes, force them to sit on their hands, and the ever so famous

"Don't make me pull this car over!!"

One of those threats usually works. But only for a few minutes. This is where the bribes come into play. Ice cream with sprinkles. Milkshakes. One of my beloved chocolate chip cookies.

Instant silence. I can continue the drive home in peace.

But somehow, every time, without fail, those bribes are forgotten about. Until 2.3 minutes before bedtime. I have decided the kids are conspiring against me to gain a few extra minutes before being sent to their beds for the night. Damn them! I promised, which means I have to deliver.



Another important piece of information that is rarely forgotten? Pay day. Especially with Little Dude. He knows which weeks pay day falls in. For days before the money actually enters the bank, the husband and I (usually me) are barraged with please for this toy or that.

"Mom, come see this commercial for the new Hot Wheel track! Can we go out on pay day and buy it?"

"Look! New pillow pets! Can we have one? Pleasepleaseplease?!"


How do I make this madness stop?

Better yet, how can I make sure my son remembers how to spell "could" and "there" on his spelling test instead of how some new truck he has to have works?



Until next time...

Paint and Blow

This past weekend Little Dude has his first big Boy Scout event. I said from the beginning that I wanted nothing to do with Boy Scouts because it seems a little more disorganized than Girl Scouts can be. But that didn't stop me from attending this event with my boy.

The big scouting event of the weekend was the Rain Gutter Regatta.



Like we tend to do with many things, we waited until the last minute to purchase the supplies. I'll spare you the hell I went through to get said supplies. But I will say that Pat Catan employees are idiots! I finally purchased the paints Wednesday evening and began painting Thursday afternoon. The plan was for my to paint the boy's boat with a base coat of brown. He would do the details. The paint I bought was definitely not easy to work with (or clean up), but by Friday evening, that part of the process was complete.

Saturday morning the husband gave the boat one final sanding job before he applied the acrylic sealer to waterproof the boat. I'm not sure if the paint or the sealer caused the problem. Perhaps both. The paint looked smudged after a coat of the sealer was applied. Luckily, Little Dude wasn't upset. He said the cannons he painted on the side could still shoot. I guess that was the important part of the boat!


After lunch, the four of us headed to the library where the race would take place. Two rain gutters were set up on poles. Two boys at a time would race and it a double elimination. Each boy had to use a straw to blow air on the boat's sail to move it from one end of the gutter to the other.




Just knowing that Little Dude's boat floated made us all very proud. Watching my boy come so close to winning made us even prouder. He ended up coming in a close second. If his boat had not tipped over at the end, he would have had it.

All week, Little Dude was telling us that racing is not about winning, it's about having fun. The smile on his face, and the blue ribbon in his hand, definitely shows how much fun he had.

Boys were allowed to wear Halloween costumes.
Which worked out since we have yet
to buy his actual uniform. Oops!

We now need to prepare for the Space ship race. I think we'll need some luck for that since neither the husband nor I have any experience with this race. He never did it in scouts and my brother never did either. I have a feeling a blog post or 2 may come out of this race!





Until next time...

I do, not boo

The husband and I are coming up on a pretty big anniversary this week. I'm not quite sure how it happened. So much has happened, and yet it feels like yesterday we were saying our I do's. I can't believe we're coming up on our 10 year anniversary!

We had talked about doing something big, like going out of town for a weekend. I am a little disappointed. I know someday we'll get there. But that certainly didn't stop us from having a great night celebrating this past weekend.

The husband and I went to one of my favorite Asian restaurants. We shared a plate of tune sashimi, and I followed that up with my favorite dish - Dragon and Phoenix. Chicken, shrimp, and veggies n a spicy sauce.

Sitting in our own corner of the room, the husband and I talked about new things as well as reminiscing about the past. At that moment I didn't care where we were. I was happy just being together in our own world.

After dinner, we decided to use the 2 tickets I had in my wallet for a local haunted house. Those RIP tickets allowed us to bypass the line and walk right up to the entrance. At that moment we really were in another world. We jumped. We laughed. I may or may not have screamed a few times. It also took everything I had to not torture the kids in front of us.

I sometimes feel old when I think about being with the same person for half of my life, married for 10 of those years, but that doesn't mean I can't act like act like a kid!



Until next time...

Whose children are these?

I am happy to say that I love clothes. This was not something I could always say.

Through elementary school, I wore sweat pants. Jeans were my enemy. In sixth grade, I became a little more daring. Neon socks, layered and slouched. Jelly bracelets, stretching from my wrist to my elbow. Hyper-color shirts, mood rings, and good grief, I even got my ears pierced!

I entered junior high, wearing any color sweat pants that I happened to grab that morning. That trend didn't last long, thanks to those mean boys. I finally forced myself to get used to the feeling of denim against my scrawny legs. The shirts I wore were any color related to black.

It took me well into my late 20s to experiment with colors such as pinks and purples. I discovered that there are shoes out there, plenty of them in fact, that are even more awesome than the boots I used to wear from the boy's department.


I didn't realize when GG came along that I was in for a shock. It seems she was born with something that took me years to figure out - a sense of fashion. She loves boots that are meant for girls. She loves experimenting with color and jewelry. She got her ears pierced much younger than I. She already wants them done again.

As her mother, it is my job to guide her and give her advice. When it comes to clothing, I am turning to her, my 9 year old. According to my girl, I look good in purple. After shopping with her last week, I think she might be on to something.

Being somewhat of a tomboy as a child, it can be tricky having the complete opposite for my child. And if that isn't bad enough, I am slowly realizing that I actually have 2 children who care what they look like more than I ever did.

Little Dude can only wear certain jeans with certain shirts. He loves to fix his hair. He either spikes it up or brushes it flat. He can usually pull ff either look, but he is in dire need of a haircut. Right now, it's either the shaggy dog look or the bed head look. But the point being, he cares.

I've also noticed that he loves to cuff his jeans. Every. Single. Morning.

Can someone direct me to the Chicken Soup for the Soul- Parenting trendy kids book? I think I need it because I have no idea whose children those kids are!



Until next time...