Trunk or Treat

Happy Halloween!!! I love and hate Halloween...hate it because of all the work involved for one or two evenings of dressing up, love it because it ushers in the whole holiday season. We get to eat turkey soon, and hang Christmas lights, and the music, oh, the music!!! So tonight the kids headed off to a trunk or treat, while I sit here blogging, listening to the game, and congratulating myself for having spent $0 on Halloween costumes this year...man, I wonder if I can pull off Christmas for the same...

Sam is too sick to trunk or treat tonight (she kept saying, "No treat-treat, no treat-treat!"), so she doesn't get to show off the costume I've been slaving over! (You catching the sarcasm?) Actually, Luke and I are dressing as bacon and eggs again this year and Sam is my only child that would jump on the breakfast food bandwagon.

Batman. On Gus's terms only, though.

A tae-kwon-do guy. I think.

And a leopard. This is a completely EmJ costume. (I tamed it a little bit....) Her class is doing the play "Where the Wild Things Are" tomorrow, so she took it upon herself to be a wild thing. Very cute.

"It's high, it's far, it's gone. A thrilla by godzilla."

Yankees just took the lead.

So, that's it for me!

Happy Trick or Treating!

I love my family. They're all favorites. However, my cousin Jace holds a special place in my heart. As kids, we fought (and occassionally played ball), as teenagers he introduced me to his cool friends (because California boys are always better, right?), as adults he has become a good friend, a good uncle-cousin to my kids, and my personal chef (okay, not really, but if he ever lives near me, he's invited to dinner every night!). He is the one who came closest to living out my dreams of becoming a Yankee, and I adore him! So, I'm sooooooo so happy that I got to attend his wedding last week. Being there for his special day almost made spending 30 hours in the car with the kids by myself worth it. Almost.

Jace's beautiful bride, Angela. EmJ was enthralled with the bride and bridesmaids...princesses!
Willie and Benjamin were enthralled with the fact that there was a playground right outside the reception hall. Willie ruined his suit. That's my boy!

Angela about to throw the bouquet. I included this picture because it's the only one that shows her awesome shoes. (Seriously, girls, enlarge the pic.)

The groom/mother dance. Aunt Traci looked hot! (She made that observation herself...I'm just quoting her!)

First dance. Awwww!

Sam blended in with the decor, though she didn't show a lot of decorum...hiking up her dress, sliding around on the floor, and leaving the reception for good once she discovered that there was a park.

The boys and cousin Kiffyn. They were smitten...never mind that they have a sister the same age, Kiffyn's cooler.

Lindsey, Sam, and Kiffyn dancing the night away. I think both, no, all three girls are about to collapse from exhaustion.

And she did, as soon as we got in the car Sam was out. She slept well that night, as I recall.

I was exhausted, too, because not only did I drive for 30 hours to get to Bakersfield and back, but I had to lug that tummy around with me. 16.5 weeks and I already look pregnant? Not cool.

(P.S. Yes, that was an announcement. You can all congratulate me now, or say, "Neener, neener," if you already knew, or shoot daggers if I have seen you recently and not said a word!)

One final note. The Yankees won the night of Jace's wedding. (I would wager that if you go back to all the important dates in our family, you would notice a decisive victory trend.) Yes, our family creates our own Yankee magic!!!

Dear Ms. Hudson

While I strongly question your taste in men (did you know he gets pedicures?...and I'm pretty sure he wears lip gloss), I appreciate your beau's performance thus far in the ALDS.

Thank you.

Tell him to keep up the good work.

From,

A Loyal Yankee Fan

Humans and Doorknobs

You know those days when you are CERTAIN that CPS has hidden a camera in your home, is going to show up at your door, take your kids, and sell them to China because they'd be much better off spending 14 hours a day learning some obscure art form like plate spinning or contortionism all while being indoctrinated with communism, than spending any more time with their crazed mother who is taking the short bus to the looney bin.

You know those days. Don't lie.

But then your child goes and says something profound to totally redeem himself, like...

"When I grow up, I'm going to be a human."

Really? Promise?

Or they do something like this...

Throw a goldfish cracker in the air to try and catch it in his mouth, hang out under the goldfish, watching intently to follow it into his mouth, bang eye on doorknob because goldfish drifted a little too far.

I didn't do it. CPS, did you catch that? He gave himself a black eye. But that hidden camera would have caught Luke and I laughing hysterically and calling America's Funniest Home Videos.

Benjamin's First Day of Preschool

A few weeks ago, Joshua came in the house and asked Luke to buy him a "drump" for his bike. A drump? Sure, but we can just make one. So, five minutes later, Joshua was showing of his skills with a sweet new drump in front of our house. (Yes, that is a girl bike. Yes, he would like a new one. Who wants to be the Christmas hero?)

Sam wanted to get in on the first day of school pictures.

Benjamin, on his first day of preschool!

Awww, all decked out!

With his teacher...Oh, that's me! He is doing great in his "preschool", but is very upset that it's not "real preschool". Sorry bud.

It's October!!!!

Alright, in honor of the playoffs starting (with a Yankee win) yesterday, I decided it's finally time to get the blog updated! So, at long last, here are the first day of school photos! (Sorry about the wierd layout...I'm not sure what's up.) Anyway, first off, we have our healthy, brain enhancing, first day of school breakfast--Crepes with whipped cream and chocolate!

Next, we have EmJ and Willie posing for the camera. Say cheese!

EmJ, in all her new outfit and messenger bag glory. (She just HAD to have that thing, and now she hates it.) I hate the Mr. Rogers sweater, but apparently it's trendy.

And here's Willie, later in the day, all decked out for his first day of PMK. Why do my kids feel the need to, literally, pose for the camera?

And lastly, Willie waiting at the bus stop. The bus was 25 minutes late, and we eventually just drove to school. He was so sad, but recovered when we got there and his teacher declared that the kids would be making a human train to chug to Kindergarten. Human trains make everything better!