happy halloween!

We started our Halloween festivities yesterday, when Britton and Barrett's daycare had their Halloween parade.  The parade is at the end of the day, so we went with costumes that could be comfortable.  Barrett was a cowboy!  This might be the easiest costume ever.  I made his vest out of fleece, and we already had the jean shirt, jeans, and bandana.  Then I ordered a cowboy hat.

Barrett's class went before Britton's class, walking through the parking lot then stopping for class pictures.

Then Britton's class came out!  Oddly enough, only two Elsas.  Seriously, I was totally expecting her whole class to be Elsa!  Britton wanted to be a seal ever since we went to the Marine Science Museum with Cammy and Alexandria and she saw the seals in the tank.  Britton loves seals, but apparently the Halloween costume industry does not!  I could not find a decent seal costume to save my life.  So, a grey hoodie footie pajama and some felt and googly eyes, and a couple of hours later, and we had a seal costume!

And a tail stuffed with pillow fluff....

Today, I picked up the kids early so we could get home and eat dinner before the neighborhood trick-or-treating antics began.

Britton got back into her costume, and then helped me set up the candy bowl and jack o'lanterns.  As the hubs took Barrett upstairs for his bath, Britton and I headed out for some trick-or-treating fun.

It was rainy and chilly, but her costume was so warm and snuggly Britton didn't even need a coat.  

We used black glitter on the spots because seriously, everything is better with glitter.  In this picture you can better see my weird, free-hand tail.

Happy Halloween!  May your night be filled with candy and fright!

happy birthday to me (and Jessica)

It's odd, having children who get more excited with every birthday.  And then there's me, who gets less interested in my own birthday every year!  I had a great day - the hubs took me to lunch, I received two cakes, one from the hubs and one from work, and yet...I was oddly neutral about the whole birthday thing.  I thought maybe I'd be angry, sad, possibly even melodramatic about turning 36.  But really, I'm not.  I can only assume that this calmness comes from my old age!

I love that the hubs made me 10 years younger!  I cracked up the minute I saw this cake.  There are six different kinds of cake in the cake - pumpkin roll torte, pumpkin cheesecake, carrot cake, chocolate peanut butter, raspberry cheesecake, and key lime pie.  

Britton was excited about my birthday, because well, it's a birthday!

Every party has a pooper.  Poor Barrett just can't let Mommy eat her cake without needing a warm lap to kick back in.  

Half my life ago, at 18 years old (and can I just say, how does 18 years blow by so quickly?), I'd be out all night drinking and partying and reveling in general debauchery.  Now, a mere 18 years later, I'm celebrating with the hubs's grilled burgers and a beaded necklace gifted by my daughter.  Just remind me in another 18 years that I once called 36 "old"!

playing tourist in our nation's capitol

Jessica and I were bound and determined to do something together for our birthday this year.  We tossed around some ideas, but the one that got us excited was a touristy trip to Washington, D.C.  The hubs and I have wanted to play tourist, see all the monuments and museums, and Jessica and Tim were up for the trip!  We drove to their house on Friday, leaving the kids in the capable hands of Memaw and PawPaw.

Our first stop (after silly photos of "holding up" the Washington Monument") was the World War II Memorial.  The hubs and I have not seen it before, and it was very beautiful and incredibly quiet.

The WWII Memorial is in a direct line with the Lincoln Memorial, and the WWII Memorial was getting some construction work finished.  I saw this construction vehicle rolling across the water and it cracked me up!

We strolled down path to the Lincoln Memorial, then decided to move to the Reflecting Pool.  

There was music blasting from the steps, some frats playing hackeysack (seriously?), and two people dressed up as Mickey and Minnie Mouse in full costume.  We also saw some German soldiers in full uniform taking a tour.  I had forgotten what an incredible mix of people visit Washington, DC.

Next to the Lincoln Memorial was the Korean War Memorial.  None of us had seen it before, and it was very moving, and somewhat eerie, because the statutes were so realistic.  

The granite walls surrounding the memorial were etched with soldiers' likenesses.  I loved how the statutes were reflected in the walls.

Next we went to the Holocaust Museum.  There's no photography allowed, and unlike the unsavory folks taking selfies at the entrance, I thought it in bad taste to be hamming it up for photos outside of the museum. I'll be honest - the Holocaust Museum is amazing and very informative, but it also emotionally draining.  

We went to lunch at the White Apron, a fantastic sandwich shop the hubs found online.  It was so good!  And we were all starving and needed a chance to sit down and relax.  We couldn't have asked for better weather, and Jessica's FitBit was working overtime.  She calculated that for the entire trip, we walked 7.5 miles!

We had planned to go to the American History Museum, but when we figured out we were walking down Pennsylvania Avenue and were only a few blocks from the White House, we decided to see the White House instead.  I've never seen the White House in person before!

We pulled off a great birthday tourist visit to DC!  After we got back to the van, and all piled our achy bodies in, we headed back to Jessica and Tim's house.  We were expected some VIP people to show up - Garrett and his girlfriend, all dressed up fancy for their homecoming dance!  How cute are these two? 

I'm thinking that Jessica and I need to make this an annual thing - every year we find a different city to discover, or in this case, re-discover.  Husbands allowed, but no kids! Then we get to stay up late and sleep in!  Where to next year, Jessica?

yinzered out

I've felt incredibly ridiculously busy for the last two weeks.  Did I mention I'm Britton's Daisy troop's leader now?  And I found out today that I've got a meeting at 7:30 pm on Tuesday night, which will be a nice ending to the two parent-teacher conferences I have to go to at 5:00 pm.  It's stuff like that.  

And I've completed some great sewing projects, none of which I can share because they are either Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, or Halloween costumes (I made one for each kid this year).  And we did our Christmas card photo, and again, it's too early to share it.

See this photo below?  That's life right now!  The hubs is giving a thumbs up to his clay turd, Barrett is trying to reach something he shouldn't have (and will eat), Britton is being sweet as sunshine, I'm behind the camera and laughing at the clay turd, and no doubt all those sandwich bags on the table means we're out and no one put them on the grocery list.  

But seriously folks, have you tried this Model Magic clay?  Fantastic!  

So by last night, the hubs wanted a break from it all.  And he also badly wanted to go to a hockey game.  He found good tickets and invited his dad to go, which is fine by me.  I have a phobia of the puck hitting me in the head (I know, I know, it makes no logical sense), and with Memaw here the kids would be entertained.  A win win!  The hubs and PawPaw had a great time (Penguins won!) and brought back some loot for the kids.  

Did you know that people from Pittsburgh are called "Yinzers"?  It comes from the slang of "yinz" as in, "Yinz going to the Steelers game?"  My Virginia background would say it as "Are you guys going to the Steelers game?"  But there's also "youz guys" (New York or Jersey) and "yunz" (hillbilly and/or South).  I admit, when I hear someone start off a question with "Yinz..." my toes curl.  The word is downright abrasive to my ears.  So when Britton got into her Steelers shirt, and Barrett put on his Penguins sweater and sweatpants, and then stole Britton's hockey stick, all I could hear was "YINZ."

I've yinzed my kids.  Next stop is a big plate of potato perogies covered in french fries (it is standard for salads to come with french fries on them) and converting to Catholicism.

Except.... how sweet do these kids look in their black and gold?  Honestly, have you seen cuter yinzers?  Somehow a little of those three polluted rivers in the confluence seeped into our souls and  

family photo overload time

I saw a special deal on Facebook - a 30 minute mini session with a local photographer (Kelly Searle Photography), at the park across the street from our neighborhood.  For a fraction of what I've paid in the past, we got as many photos as we could take, plus we got all printing rights for every single photo.  No requirements to buy anything, and I can print them out myself!  And seeing as we haven't had a family photo in over a year, at least not since our last Christmas card session, I figured it was high time to get some family portraits.  Here are my favorites...