Trick or Treat

This year, we have a valiant knight...

A beautiful Hannah Montana...

And a child who looks slightly neglected and possibly less loved than the other two but nevertheless makes for a pretty darn cute ghost.


Doesn't she look like she's perfectly suited to join the Peanuts Gang?

Here's our gang and last Saturday's annual trick or treat at our neighborhood town center. It was a perfectly beautiful fall afternoon and a fun way to whet the kids' halloween candy appetites.

Waiting for a treat at Ben and Jerry's.

So the school doesn't allow regular costumes on Halloween, probably because of the whole not-everyone-celebrates-holidays thing, but they had one of their spirit days instead. In honor of some visiting authors who write Cowboy books, the theme was to dress up as cowboys and girls. I thought my lil' partners were pretty cute.

But I have to admit, I'm pretty partial to my Charlie Brown ghost. She just kills me in that pillow case! I think this next photo sums up the best part of Halloween: the candy. She barely made it past the threshold before plopping to the ground and diving into the goods.

And even more yummy stuff to come tonight. Happy Halloween!

Creepiest Halloween Costume Ever!

Our Halloween party-hosting friends decided on a redneck theme for this year's traditional get-together. I've decided that the stereotype is a bit too rude and crude for my tastes but we still had fun dressing up. We bought a mullet wig for Jon but the rest of the costume came right from our closet. I'm not sure what that says about us...

I removed all my make-up, wore the baggiest clothes I could find, brushed my hair into a product-free poof, and wore my "nicest" Auburn cap. I was a pretty scary sight but Jon just looked downright creepy. The mullet just looked way too...natural.

We made our babysitter take this picture before we left the house. Poor girl was probably tramatized at seeing her Bishop in this sleazy state.

Isn't this a classic Jon face?

Here are the guys chugging soda for the belching contest.

Jon not only won the best male costume but also won the photo contest for best mullet. And my childhood hairdo was enough to win me the title for the women. Again, not sure what that says about us...

My mom always called this cut a bi-level. Maybe that's just a slightly more sophisticated word for mullet.

Any way you look at it, the mullet is just wrong. Add some really classless clothes and you've got the creepiest Halloween costume ever.

The Curse

We learned a long time ago that if an extended warranty is offered with any electronic device, it's in our best interest to spend a few extra dollars for the added protection.

Our curse on all things electronic started early in our marriage and remains with us still. Some gadgets have fallen victim to our own negligence, others to mischievous children's hands, and many others have been struck with plain old bad luck.

There was our first camcorder, which was doused by Shamu at SeaWorld. I'm still bitter towards that whale.

There was the video IPod that Natalie placed in the toilet, the camera dropped by two little girls, the other camera and cell phone that suffered cracked LCD screens, and the other cell phone that awoke in a puddle of rain on a camping trip.

Jon's prized flat screen TV died, inexplicably and very suddenly, just months after its purchase. Our DVR box suffered a similar fate. Our car stereo stopped working properly soon after the car warranty expired but thankfully Honda applied a goodwill warranty, sparing us a large replacement cost.

Kitchen Aid, printers, telephones, external hard drive...I could go on and on.

We've had many good reasons to post and I've got some killer pictures of Jon that I'm just itching to get up but we've been smitten by the curse yet again. This time it's the laptop. I'm currently using the loaner we were given (thank goodness for that extended warranty that we purchased) while our laptop was sent in for repair or inspection or something. We won't get it back for 6-8 weeks!

So as soon as I get the image resizer installed on the loaner laptop, I'll get my intended posts up. And in the meantime, I'll be hoping and praying that the weird humming currently being made by the Wii will pass uneventfully.

True Love

When Alyssa was born, my mom made her a simple quilt. She used the blanket, along with many others, but it was a soft baby doll to which she became devoted. Natalie came along four years later and inherited Alyssa's collection of baby blankets and for whatever reason, took a particular liking the quilt my mom had made.

Natalie soothed herself to sleep by rubbing the corners between her thumb and middle finger. There is a specific method to her corner-rubbing which she has tried to explain to me on more than one occasion. I can't seem to master the exact techique. But it has worked for her.

She rubbed the corners until they no longer existed. Once the corners disinegrated, the threads on the edges started to give way. Her one true love is now being held together by two small stitches, its innards exposed. But, as they say, love is blind.

She drags it, trailing behind her, everywhere she goes...

Looking through one of the used-to-be corners.

Peeking past the few remaining stitches.

We've attempted to convince Natalie that the blankie has reached the end of its life. But she is no where near ready to part with it and has placed all her faith in our talented, seamstress neighbor. She believes her love can be resuscitated.

Who am I to deny her that hope?

Do You See What I See?

I've been meaning to post this "funny" for quite some time. Caleb has a one-track mind. Do you see what he sees?

Natalie fell asleep while riding in the car. Caleb seemed particularly entranced with her and kept looking at her and poking her. I repeatedly asked him to leave her alone until I finally realized what was bothering him.

"She looks like a Florida State Seminole," he said.

I turned around to see this image of Natalie and laughed so hard I cried. Do you see the resemblance?

We Love Gymnastics!

Alyssa had her first meet of the season on Saturday. She did very well! We can't seem to get the video working so these snapshots will have to do for now.

Here goes the round-off back-handspring... Check out that rebound!

Today she received an invitation to workout with the Level 5 gymnasts on Fridays. She's excited to start working on new skills. Yea, Alyssa!