Enjoying: To the Moon

In case you were wondering what Hour Four looks like in a waiting room with two restless kids, it looks like this.

We go to Miami for Nella’s eye doctor–apparently along with the rest of the state of Florida–because we wait and wait and wait. He’s worth the wait, but Lord have mercy. I ran out of kid entertainment, and they lost interest in the iPad, so I pulled out whatever would buy me five minutes of happy. The Mom McGyver back-up parachute–we all have one. Ever fold a gum wrapper into a paper airplane? Try it. Our entertainment began with hooking my purse strap to a Minnie Mouse toy so the kids could “walk the dog” and ended with me throwing shoes across the waiting room for them to “fetch” (lots of laughing). McGyver does fizzle though, and at some point I was just plain scrambling. What’s that? You want my chapstick so you can dig it out with your fingers and smear it on your shorts? Why, of course. Anything to keep you happy. I sank low, folks. But we made it.

After all that, we hit Miami’s rush hour, so we waited it out with a little South Beach fun.

Ocean Drive playground: Babies in the front, nightclubs in the back. A South Beach mullet.

This week, we’re enjoying…

Halloween decorating.

There’s a simple answer for “How should we decorate for the holidays?” in our house. To the moon. Brett takes the outside, I take the inside and given that we both are missing the sensible “holiday moderation” sensor, there is no hope for our house.

For a moment, Brett saw some clarity when he glanced over at my shelf decor.

“Um babe, do you think that maybe blood and skulls are too much?”

“Yea probably–hey, pass me that red food coloring. We need more blood.”

He laughs. He tosses me the food coloring. He goes out to the garage to look for the hanging skeleton and fog machine.

For anyone new walking in our house, Lainey babysits the Halloween displays, taking very seriously the duty of letting people think things are real–because of course they do–for all of 4.5 seconds before jumping in with a “it’s just pretend” followed by a ha-ha-we-fooled-ya cackle.

For those childhood years when our church celebrated “Life & Living” and all things Halloween were forbidden, listen–I made up for it. In my book, bible studies does not trick-or-treating replacement make.

But unicorn dreads? Praise God. When Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me,” pretty sure it included when they were wearing costumes.

My Halloween innocence hasn’t exactly waited until adulthood to be destroyed though. Because in fourth grade this kid in Mrs. Kerspilo’s class asked me why the jack-o-lantern was crying and before I could answer told me it was because he had a hollow-weenie. So if my path to Halloween destruction has been laid, just know the foundation was paved by a smart mouth at Randals Elementary.

(several questions about our mantel photo display–it’s temporary until we figure what we’re doing with this wall, but it was really easy. Photos are 5×5 prints with a thin white border, adhered with wall putty.)

Flo Jo. 
She’s a fast cat.

Exploring. 
Why yes, he got wet and muddy. That’s what lake edges are for.

His curl pouf. 
I love it.

Sun sparkle.

Pre-bed Dance Party
They wanted the “twenty dollars” song, otherwise known as Thrift Shop.
I coughed over all the naughty words.

And Lainey collapsed to the floor in a fit of giggles when she jumped up to make Barbie photobomb Nella’s dancing and it worked.

No-no, Lainey.

October’s super fun.
Have a great weekend!

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If you too would like to join me in a Halloween brouhaha, check out these 8 Easy Halloween Costumes for kids–most of them created in a matter of minutes and from things you might have lying around your house. The Hills are Alive!!!