The Big Reveal

Every year, come October 1st, I find myself asking my children over, and over, and over , and yet over again -

What do you want to be for Halloween?

And over, and over, and over, and yet, over again, I get the same reply -

I don't know.

Me, personally, I am a fan of the homemade costume. Store bought costumes are so generic and cheap-looking. My children, however, don't always share the same sentiments. And as the days turn to weeks, and we find ourselves looking trick-or-treaters in the eye with no prospective costume lined up, store bought will always get us by in a pinch.

For weeks, I have been throwing out costume ideas, and no one wanted to catch any of them. Finally, I threw out a pitch Madilyn was willing to go after, and the costume turned out to be a homerun!

Introducing - Queen Candy Corn




Now as Queen, Madilyn rules over all Candydom, riding the land of sour-pusses and bitter apples, and spreading sweetness and cavities, I mean candy, throughout all the land.

And what Queen could rule without her Brave Knight to protect her from evil




So Brave and Strong! (And thank you, Target, for providing us with this magical sword that convinced one little 4-year old that being a Brave Knight would be awesome! Otherwise, we might still be standing in the costume aisle.)

Now Colin, he's so tricky. He had convinced himself that he was too old to dress up, and thought he should be able to just go trick-or-treating as himself. And as scary as he alone can be at times, no respectable trick-or-treater goes as ones-self. So, forced to make a decision, after my attempt at pitching out strike after strike after strike, he decided to buy his generic Star Wars costume, and is supposed to be Obi-Wan.


Hey, I'm just glad he smiled for the picture. That, in itself, was a Halloween Miracle. And remember, he is supposed to be Obi-Wan, because soon you will asking yourself -

What Changed here?

Spooky Tradition

Halloween would not be complete at our house without our annual Halloween Feast.

We dine on delicious meaty Bat Wings, crunchy Monster Buggers dipped in day-old Witch Vomit, and fleshy Mummy Toes.



Yummy!

You Better Not Pull Down Their Underwear!

Trick - Or - Treat

Smell My Feet

Give me Something Good to Eat

If you don't, I don't Care

I'll Pull Down Your Under. . .No, you won't, and don't you dare say that when you go trick-or-treating.

The kids had a great time trick-or-treating, even though it was drizzling rain all night and much colder than we had anticipated.





Now, I'm sure you are wondering what happened to Obi-Wan? Well, apparently, the force was not with him, and he decided to go as a Cub Scout instead. My guess is that being a Cub Scout is as close to NOT being in costume as Colin could get away with, hence, he wanted to go as a Cub Scout.

Here is the Cub Scout before trick-or-treating


And here is the Cub Scout after trick-or-treating


I have nothing more to say on that.

And the Brave Knight, after a long night of protecting the Queen,


He says Good Night, Halloween.

Boo-rrific Party!

Costumes, Candy, cooler weather, and celebrations could only mean one thing -

It's HALLOWEEN!

We kicked off our spooky weekend with a party at Philip's school on Friday afternoon. Thanks to one little child in the class who, for some reason unbeknownst to me, is part of a religion that does not believe in celebrating anything, even birthdays, and much less the day of the DEAD, we had our party after school, which meant, YIPEE, we ALL got to go! So much fun!!

The party was a huge success. There was a costume fashion show, games, and cupcake decorating. All the kids had a great time, and the 4-year olds were all so cute.






Madilyn's sweet BFF Melissa tagged along as well, because, really, how can you expect a 10-year old to go to a Pre-K party without a friend.


They would never admit it, but the big kids had a great time, too!


Philip's teacher, Ms. Nicole, with her Knight, in shining armor.


Spooktacular!

Keeping you "In the Know"

It has been brought to my attention that I have neglected to keep you updated on how Madilyn is doing. My neglect obviously is because she is doing great.

She had a post-op follow-up visit with both her doctors a month ago, and they both agree that she is doing great. Dr. Fabregas took X-rays, and it looks like the healing inside the bone has already begun. He said we should be able to see what will look like a spider-web inside the bone, which over time will become more and more dense. They will do additional X-rays in a couple of months to see how the inside of the bone is looking.

Dr. Shore, a great doctor in my opinion, wants her to continue on her antibiotics for at least six months. He did more bloodwork, which all came back great. Her SED rate was at a nine, which means there is no inflammation in her system.

A funny thing, well, kind of depending on how you look at it - on the way to see Dr. Shore, Madilyn asked if he would want to do blood work again. I told her I was sure he would. Her response - "I don't know why Dr. Shore likes my blood so much. Everytime I see him, he is obsessed with getting my blood." So I tried to explain to her why it was important for him to take her blood, and she just really didn't care. Her response - "Whatever. I just don't even care anymore. I'm not even going to cry this time, because I am just over it. If he wants my blood, let him have it."

What I can say, she is a trooper!

And for your viewing pleasure, here are some pictures of the residual damage




Quite a lovely little scar, isn't it? She doesn't seem to mind it, though. The clavicle bone is twice the size as the left side, and you can see how it protrudes. But Madilyn feels fine now, doesn't have any pain at all, and is doing great.

And, your welcome for the update!

Freaky Fright-Day

Thought I would take you back in time a few years to Halloween 2006. This was our first year living in Newnan. Madilyn was 7, Colin was five, and Philip was 1, and boy, were they cute!!

Sheriff Colin had come to town to arrest Frankenstein's monster, who had been set free by the hyper-active Alabama Cheerleader.








I love looking at these pictures. Some things I noticed - Madilyn still had bangs, Philip really was still a baby, and so cute!, and Colin was camera-friendly. I was cracking up at all his faces. The kid really got into character.

So much fun!

The Favorite Aunt

I know I have talked about my favorite uncle before, good Ole Uncle Bill, and then their is my kids' favorite uncle, my BIL Ross. But now the kids are all about their favorite aunt. And I have to admit, she might be my new favorite as well.

And seeing as how me and Donny both come from small families, my kids don't have a lot of options and the competition for favorite aunt is pretty slim.

They have their choice - My sister Miriam or Donny's sister Jacquelyn.

And while both of these gals are just super, we decided to broaden our horizons a little, and welcome a new aunt into our family. Kind of like an adopt-an-aunt program.


And since I was able to get her on sale for only 49cents a box at Kroger, we stocked up so we could enjoy her pleasant company for many many mornings.





So Miriam and Jacquelyn, until you are ready to come over and make some delicious pancakes for my hungry kids to eat before school every morning, I would say the competition for favorite aunt is pretty much wrapped up!

4I'S

Well, after a week of suspense, waiting on pins and needles, anxiously awaiting the announcement, I am here to tell you who is Cursed.

And the winner is . . .


Yep, folks, that is right, Colin is officially now a full-fledged member of the 4I'S Club.

Congratulations, my boy.

Here's to years of blurry vision, scratched-up glasses, running into the wall as you search for the bathroom light switch in the middle of the night while trying not to pee all over yourself in the process, dried-out contacts, Glaucoma tests, and that oh so difficult question asked over and over again each year at your yearly Optometrist appointment - "Which one looks clearer - A or B".

And quite frankly, they always look the same to me.

Three's a Crowd

If you are lucky enough to live in the Atlanta Metropolitan area, your vehicle of choice must pass this little test we endearingly call Emissions before you can renew your car tag.

No pass, no tag.

What a great way to cut down on the air pollution in Atlanta

(insert a picture of all Atlantains laughing their faces off)

September was our month for renewal. For some reason, Georgia thinks people want to have to worry about renewing their tags the same month as their birthday. Not exactly a very nice way to say Happy Birthday.

Now, Martha, well, she passed her test with flying colors. As if there was ever a doubt about that. She is so studious. Naturally, she takes after me.


But Ole Blue, he chooses to take after his driver, Donny, and failed the test.

Once.

Twice.

Three times, not so much a charm.

At this point Donny is wishing he had chosen to do better in school.

He tried everything he knew to do to get the old guy up to snuff. But it just wasn't working.

So, break out the wallet. Time to pay someone to fix him up.

Funny thing, $400 in repairs later, still no pass.

And remember, No pass, no tag.

Anyone ever heard the stories of Donny's luck?

Not exactly the kind of guy who should be driving around with an expired tag, polluted the air and destroying the ozone layer directly above all of Coweta County.

Mechanic says Ole Blue needs his engine rebuilt.

Umm, yes, sir, but seeing as how that would cost more than he is worth, what other options do we have?

You see, Ole Blue is a 1992 Toyota 4x4 Pickup Truck. We scored this lucky guy seven years ago from our neighbor back in Memphis for a whopping $2850. At the time, we had no idea just how good of a deal we were getting. It was good.


GOOD.

Now over the years, Ole Blue has given Donny a few fits. He has a tendency to get a little hot under the collar. He won't let you open the driver's door from the outside, he has left Donny stranded on more than one occasion, and if you like to vibrate, then take a ride in this old boy. Your booty will thank you later!

But all in all, he has served his purpose, and it is safe to say we got our money's worth out of him.

We came real close, real close indeed, to trading him back over the summer as a "Cash for Clunker". But the thought of them destroying Ole Blue, a perfectly fine truck, just about broke my heart, and we just couldn't bring ourselves to do it.

But now, things are little different.

Remember, No pass, no tag.

So, a choice had to made. A new car must be purchased. Which began the great debate of 2009. I'll spare you details, but let's just say that my husband should know better by now than to ever try to have his own opinion, because mine is really the only one that matters, and what I say goes, pretty much. Especially because I am always right, and like we have already established, the much smarter one of the two of us.

So, without further adew, I introduce you to Suzie, short for Suzanne, the new lady in our family.




Suzanne is a 2008 Suzuki XL7. Fully loaded, family friendly, and ready to go! That little girl, that is Madilyn. We had to pay extra to keep her.

Now Martha is having a hard time accepting this young lady into the family. No doubt it hurt her feelings when all three kids wanted to ride home in Suzie instead of her. Some thanks she gets for providing years and years of safe, comfortable, reliable and entertaining transportation for them. But the real slap in the face came when she got home, and found Suzie parked in her place in the garage, while she was left out to fend for herself against the elements of Mother Nature in the driveway.


Poor old gal. My heart goes out to her. And she didn't even do anything wrong. If she could have, I'm sure she would have liked to kick Ole Blue right in the face and say, "This is all your fault, you old piece of junk. Way to be a failure!"

So, there they sit, together in the driveway, both of them, while Suzie lives it up the garage.


And, as is typical of the irony that fills our life, Ole Blue got tested one more time, and he passed. So, the old boy gets another shot at life. Hopefully, he will make the most of it, because I have a feeling it will be short-lived.

Fall is for Festivals

AAhh, yes, you know fall is here when it is time for the classic elementary school Fall Festival. Games, prizes, cotton candy, and if you are lucky, nice cool weather.

Apparently, Poplar Road's Fall Festival is so popular, that Mother Nature cannot resist the urge to make an apperance. Nothing beats a little rain to up the humidity and make every woman there wish for baldness. But, at least this year, the rain was quick, and more or less painless, and the festivities continued despite the attempt of Mother Nature to crash the party.

Good Times







Good Food





And a foreshadowing of the future





So festive