On Board

I feel like I can adapt to a lot of things. 

I am pretty open about styles, and think that there are a lot of things that I can "get on board" with.

These shoes are not one of them.

I just don't understand the appeal of having ones feet look like they belong on Frankenstein.

But if they tickle your fancy...well than all the power to you.

You can even go for silver with fur too.

I won't judge. No seriously...I won't. 

You kind of loose the opportunity to judge when you have worn something within the last month that was pulled out of a dumpster.

Funny story:

My friend April and I were at an estate sale. The lady having the estate sale had thrown away a bunch of vintage clothing. We looked in the dumpster and found a whole box of clothes. 

This shirt came to live with me.

The End.

Another thing that I can get on board with is having an old steamer trunk for our boys room. 

Granted it is large, but it is dual purpose. 

The kids can use it as a coffin/hiding space, and they can also put their toys in it and not have the option to dump the whole thing out. 

Can I get an amen?

One of my friends Wendy is in the hospital. 

She had to have a bone marrow transplant, which started out with a heavy round of Chemo. 

To do something nice, a lot of the kids in the neighborhood made hearts to go all over her door.

Gavin made this one. 

At first I thought that it was so so sweet then I laughed.

Take another look. That lady in the bed is Wendy. That scribble below the bed? Her hair. 

If I could start a conga line for my kids art I would.

When they make me look so pretty, how could I not?

Now, I am going to break it down for you.

I can not get on board with animals dressed as people.

Alright so I was going for stealthy but all I ended up with was a picture of Gavin. 

Check out the guy behind.

His dog was in a dress..waiting in line...to see Santa. 

Hey, if you wanna stand in line and take a picture with Santa and your pet...all the power to you. But please...please...don't start to talk about how you are worried because your dog is yawning and you are really nervous that your dog may fall asleep before their fancy picture.

Or... 

You may catch me rolling my eyes as I try to control my 4 yawning kids from tearing down Santa's whole establishment.

Speaking of Santa and animals...

Laney is positive that she is getting a bunny for Christmas. We have gone past the "I hope I get a bunny..." and into "When my bunny is here..."

I will be the first to tell you that animals...well...they aren't really my thing. 

But they used to be. I used to love them. I actually had a pet bunny which is where I am sure that Laney got the idea.

Originally when she started to say that she wanted a bunny I told her that I had a nice bunny, but that my sister Ramonah had a mean bunny. It was so mean that it would hiss and bite you.

Laney was not swayed. 

She just said that if her bunny was mean that we could put it outside. 

Canon said that if it was mean we could put it outside and not feed it, then it would die. 

Canon. 

Always coming up with evil options to things.

Anywho...

Then I got to thinking. I loved having pets growing up, and my kids should have the same option too. 

So....

coming to live with us on Christmas morning...

our new pet.

Blake and I originally thought that Laney would be distraught that Santa had not in fact brought her a bunny then I came up with a fool proof plan:

Write a note from Santa saying all of the bunnies were mean this year so, he brought us a cat instead. 

Then give Laney one of these bunnies to appease the last little bit of disappointment...if there is any.

So evidently I am on board with pets now. Just not dressing them up.

Because how could you resist that creepy/can't stop staring at it face?

It truly is a face only a mother could love.

I seriously don't know what she was doing.

No really. 

No idea.

October

October turned out to be a very busy month. 

While I realize that every month is busy...it seemed that October had it out for me. 

In the interest of trying to make sure I got everything covered, here are a couple of tidbits that got missed along the way.

1. Blake went to a FEMA training for a long weekend. It wasn't too bad for me. Although trying to get Canon to his soccer game at 9:30, Laney to ballet at 10:15, and Gavin to his soccer game at 10:30 proved to be mildly challenging.

2. The kids had "Crazy Hat Day" at school. It wasn't super crazy for us. We just opened up the old Halloween costume buckets and viola...instant hats.

Even though Canon doesn't go to school with Laney and Gavin he couldn't help  in wanting to participate. 

3. Canon loves to eat cereal. Just not at breakfast. He likes to get it out of the cupboard later in the day as a snack. Sometimes he puts some in his pockets "for later." It is especially entertaining when he is snacking on Cookie Crisp, from his pocket, during church. Lately I have been finding boxes in the oddest spots such as: between the ottomans in the living room, in Blake's closet upstairs, down stairs in the family room behind the lamp and a personal favorite of mine...2 boxes of Mini Wheats in the upstairs bathroom.

4. Canon has also made a habit of helping himself to other things in the cupboard. One day he finished off 3 BOXES of fruit snacks by himself. Then the next day he had 3 suckers. We are working on it.

5. Grandma Dana sent us this card in the mail for Halloween. The kids loved it. Every time Penny would walk by it on the fridge she would say "Scary. Gama Dana. Not scary." 

6. The kids also did their Red Ribbon week this last week at school. They had, a luau day which was the only day I managed to get a picture. Not that this picture is anything to write home about. This is what happens when Blake takes the good camera to work and all I can find is our camera, that our kids mess with...and now can't figure out how to get it off of sepia.

Laney's coconut bra was made by yours truly. I thought she would think it was great...I had made it out of real coconut shells after all...she hated it.

7. Gavin discovered a talent. We are so proud.  

What-Nots

• I have been keeping track. One of our kids spills their milk at least once a day. Which gives new meaning to the phrase "there is no use crying over spilt milk." Those guys...the phrase inventors...don't know what they are talking about. Either that or they have never had to clean up milk. Every. Single. Day.

• Penny has been asking every day to have her nails painted. It is cute. Also cute, and nail related...the conversation between Laney and Canon that went something like this: "Canon, mom just painted my nails. Do you think they are golden or silver? I will give you 5 guesses."

• Canon in preschool has turned out to be a great bargaining tool. Mostly Canon doesn't care what happens to him. Now all of the sudden when I threaten that he can't go to preschool he listens. If I had known that was going to work I would have in listed him in preschool years ago. Never mind the fact he wasn't old enough.
• I want them to bring back Birthday Oreos. They were delicious and gone too quickly. I am thinking of starting a petition...only I am not really that gung ho. So while I say I am going to start a petition I am mostly blowing smoke in the hopes that someone thinks it's a good idea and starts it instead.

• I love this face.

• Almost as much as this one.

• Gavin lost another tooth. I tried to remain calm about it...and I kind of succeeded up until the moment that Blake needed help with some floss...around Gavin's tooth...and I was holding it in place...Then Gavin said we had to stop because "he didn't want me to scream or pass out." Such a sensitive boy. Concerned about his mom's weird phobias.

• I am so glad the tooth is out now. He ended up loosing it while brushing his teeth. Go figure. Which is good because it was sticking straight out and starting to turn a weird grey dead color. No exaggeration. 

•  I found this beaut at an estate sale. Paid $5 for it. I thought of all the things I could use it for. I sanded it, painted it, got new hinges, put a top coat on it, and found a place for it inside. Now my only problem is that I don't know what to put in it. At first my options were endless. We do not have a lot of storage space. But I don't want to fill it with things, and wish that I had used the space differently. So instead it sits empty. Makes perfect sense to me.  

Adults Only Party

 For the last two years we have done an Adults Only party. 

No kids just our friends all hanging out.
Because we are torturous friends, we make people dress in a theme. This year the theme was to dress as a "Team."
You could choose how far out you wanted to go with it.
I do love a little Halloween in July.
We had:
Team Lacrosse

Team Packaging

Team Poo.
(toilet paper and poo that is. Not marshmallows and chocolate.)

and Team Hawaii

See.
You could go as casual or as extreme as you wanted. 
However, hard core is always appreciated.
Introducing,
Team Luchador.

They won best costume, so I am sure it was worth it.
Blake and I were dressed as referees and we also had another couple that was dressed as Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head. (not sure how we missed a picture of them)
We played some Minute to Win It games.

Hip thrusting is always entertaining.

So is chocolate all over someones forehead.

Who knew that ding dongs were going to make such a fun game?

We also did a white elephant gift exchange. 
Mostly because they are always funny. 
The best "gift" of the night?

Everyone laughed for a good hour about this poor ladies portrait. 
Mostly because the shading makes her look like she has a black eye and a goatee but the scrunchy in her hair and the fact that she was nude up'd the funny factor.
The fact that she was bought at a second hand store for $7 was mostly just sad.
Another treasure from the party?

Evidently a cow cookie jar is what we have been missing all of our lives.

For two days this cow, loving referred to as Lamb, had been carried around.

That is, until Canon got a hold of it.

R.I.P Lamb.

Precarious

Our home is the epitome of an "Accident waiting to happen."

I would like to say that it is not my fault...but truth be told, it is. 

These little monkeys came straight from my belly so I feel responsible.

I am, however, going to maintain my stance on Not liking stuff between my toes. 

But I will still claim them when they are in the circus a few years from now.

I may even watch from the sidelines with some popcorn.

Because evidently climbing on everything in sight, and dangling close to any edge is not enough for our kids they like to get the rest of the house involved.

I am sure it is some kind of game they have plotted out without us knowing.

To see how much of a mess they could make with out actually making one.

They'll show us why having a 2, 3, 5, and 7 year old clear the table is a bad idea.