Halloween's in the Bag!

I'll be honest: this morning when the streets were wet and it looked rainy and dark, I was sort of hoping for all day thunderstorms. Something-- anything, really-- to make Halloween go away. I'm a total Halloween Scrooge, as we have previously discussed.  But of course, the day ended up beautiful and warm, perfect for trick-or-treating [or, in MB's new slang, tricker].

MB ended up with several costumes, but their real costumes were Max & Ruby [Ruby! And her Little Brother Max!] My mom contributed significantly to their costumes. I made Bo's shirt and whined through most of it. Did you not believe me when I said I was a Halloween Scrooge? Because I was not really exaggerating.

This was the last time Bo wore his ears. I think he thought they were his dinner. Why my dinna on my head? he must have thought to himself.

Mary Bullock was serious about tricker this year. She didn't really understand what the deal was with the candy at first, but she figured it out very quickly while swindling four candies out of the nice mommy at the first house we visited.

As it got dark, MB just had to take a little bweak. A bweak from walking, that is. Not from candy. Oh no. That would have been ridiculous.

And then Ruby & Superman walked home.  I bet Superman's parents even pilfered his candy. [Not that Ruby's parents would ever ever ever ever do that.**]

And that was that. We didn't even carve pumpkins this year. Oh well.

On a side note, though: I took Bo to a playdate for MOPs this morning dressed like this:

It was a costume party, so I claimed that he was dressed as his Daddy. But really these were just the first clothes that I grabbed out of the drawer and wrangled him into on our way out the door.

Then Daddy showed up to our pre-tricker festivities at Meg's house dressed like...drumroll please?

And though I may be the biggest Halloween Scrooge ever, that was definitely a Birthday Thing.

**TELL ME THE TRUTH: YOU EAT THEIR CANDY, TOO, RIGHT?

Now & Later

What I've got now:

What I'm going to have to have later (like in twelve years?): an unlisted phone number.

Birthday Recap

This post is mostly for our family flung far and wide, so bear with me through the gazillion pictures I'm about to lay on you.

We celebrated Mary Bullock's birthday early this year with Pretty & Dadu [Lee's parents]. Pretty made a delicious dinner of Spaghetti and Meatballs a la Molly Wizenberg-- SO GOOD. Easily the best I've ever had. [And if you haven't read A Homemade Life yet, and you enjoy cooking or reading about the cooking you will probably never do, you should read it!]

My contribution to the meal was MB's birthday cake a la Betty Crocker. And by that, I mean the box. Not the cookbook. I didn't even decorate it myself-- I had help with that too.

MB sprinkled the top with confetti between shoving handfuls in her mouth. Quality control specialist in the making.

Of course, the Molly Wizenberg meatballs were entirely lost on the birthday girl. She saved herself for dessert, then took a big old fake nap on her new sleeping bag from Uncle Derbs. I think she likes it. :)

On Thursday she celebrated her birthday again with her class at playschool. I sent owl cupcakes [thanks Pinterest!] and was thoroughly amazed when I picked her up and she had not one speck of cupcake on her hands, face, or clothing. Her teachers amaze me daily.

On Saturday she woke up [very, very early] to gifts and a special breakfast from Daddy. 

I thought Bo would be satisfied playing with the balloons, but actually he digs the dollhouse, too. [Which isn't such great news to Mary Bullock.]

After breakfast we loaded up and drove out to Connor's Amaizing Acres. MB and I went last year, but Daddy missed out, so we re-visited.

It was fun, if a little crowded. I asked Mary Bullock on the way out what her favorite part had been, and she said Mommy. But she was also exhausted and probably delirious. Both babies fell asleep in the backseat within 10 minutes of leaving.

After marathon car naps, we came home and put Bo to bed while Lee prepared a tent under the stars, a fire in the fire pit, and a special dinner [burgers on the grill for us, cheetohs and apple slices for her-- this only passes as dinner on special occasions]. Then we all lounged on blankets and watched It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! 

And there was also an outdoor tea party. 

It was such a great, relaxed birthday. Just what we needed. We're so proud of our big girl, and she continues to amaze us every day. Some days we're just amazed we don't pull our own hair out, but mostly we're amazed at what a sweet, smart, and capable little person she's becoming.

Now we're just going to sit back and see what the year has in store. Dear Lord, let it involve a certain something in the potty. Amen.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!

Happy Birthday to our special-special! Have patience with us while we learn to be parents of a three year old. From what we've seen so far, you teach a rigorous course.
But all the good ones do.

It's the Great Pumpkin 2011

[Catch It's the Great Pumpkin 2010 and 2009 here and here. Mary Bullock has different colored eyes every year! Wonder what next year will be?]

Our annual October obsession with the pumpkin patch is well under way around here. We were temporarily derailed last week of course, so we're a little behind. We've only had three patch trips so far, but I'm sure there will be several more before November.

It has come to my attention [via Jill] that what we call a pumpkin "patch" in Florida is kind of laughable to the rest of the world. There are no pumpkins growing here. It's just a place for us fall-starved folks to go and pretend for a minute that it's not still in the upper 80s straight on through December.

But we'll take whatever we can get!

We're back!

Ok, so that little hiatus got ridiculous. We have all been sick, with the exception of Lee, who somehow manages to avoid the germy slobber the rest of us share. He has a maneuver wherein he only kisses the cheek of a sicky with the side of his mouth, and you don't even realize he's doing it until you're in fever misery and he's bouncing out for a quick run. He's stealthy that way.

Lee was also our official grocery shopper during our week long convalescence. I sent him for Pedialyte popscicles, which I remembered someone recommending to me last year during the great Stomach Flu of 2010.  But Publix didn't have them. So guess what I did? I made my own.

I know! GET ME OUT OF TOWN. I'm still pretty proud of them. And I've got one left in the freezer if anyone has a sicky of their own soon.

But we're all recovered for the time being. We've had a visitor the last few days, my friend Jill. She just left a little while ago, and the babies are going to be bereft when they wake up and it's just mama. 

Speaking of babies waking up, my break is over! Stay tuned for birthday festivities, The Great Pumpkin 2011, and more soon.

Speaking of Heroes

Lee is [of course] not a Marine, but he did run the Marine Corps Half Marathon last weekend! And he is definitely a hero to a certain girl in our house.

Sorry to have just posted a picture of Lee's backside, but I love how MB stwetches with Daddy. She is a little Lee in the making.  She barely left his side once the race was over. Next year, we'll just enter her as a runner.

MB also got to sit in the...tank-y...type...thing? [Don't be jealous of my superior Marine equipment knowledge. You could be this smart if you really put your mind to it.]  That picture is especially for my newest reader in Afghanistan.

So proud of you!

Hurry Home

Uncle Derbs leaves for Afghanistan tomorrow.

I've been sitting here staring at this stupid blinking cursor for a long time, and words are failing.

I can talk all day long about baby poop, but there aren't words in the dictionary for how much we love and will miss you. So, I'm settling for these:

Be safe.
Hurry home.
No tattoos.

Santa Claus is coming to town

Let's just skip Halloween and Thanksgiving and move right along to Christmas, shall we?

I'm kidding. We'll get back to those holidays [and MB's Halloween costume, which I'm so excited about]. But MB has already started on her Christmas list, and it's actually very short. Want to know what's on it? I'll show you.

MB's Christmas List

Everything in the catalogue

See? She's making it so easy on us. Just buy everything.

Last night after carefully showing me every picture, she snuggled up with Lee to review.
I want dat and dat and dat and dat and dat, she said.
What are those? he asked.
I don't know. 

I think we might be in for an interesting Christmas.


Unfortunately, I haven't seen any Santa toothpaste yet. Will someone alert me when it's available? We might need to have a chat.

See? Pinterest is inside my brain.

Source: icanrelate.info via Suz on Pinterest