We are SO ready for Halloween!

These pictures were taken weeks ago.


I'm not kidding. Who knew that you could buy pumpkins at the store a full 60 days before Halloween? Forget about Christmas in July. Its Halloween in August, baby!

Well, actually, we did.

As soon as summer comes to an end, we know we can find mini pumpkins, squashes, and gourds for sale. We buy them as soon as they come out. Brian absolutely LOVES the Fall. (His birthday and his favorite holiday together, what's not to love?). His love has become infectious over the last 8 years. Even *I* start to look forward to the change in season, despite declaring Summer to remain my favorite season of all time.

So although these photographs mark the very beginning of our Fall celebration at our house, they most certainly will not be the last ones that you see.

Welcome to Fall :)











What is YOUR favorite season?

My Supermen

5 Star Spa

Oh, my daughter inspires laughter from me on an almost daily basis. Her imagination has always been one of my most admired qualities about her. I faintly remember being so creative and imaginative myself at her age. What happened? I wonder what age I was when I started to channel my imagination and creativity into craft things instead of imaginative play.

I'm ashamed to say this, but playing pretend games with my daughter is my least favorite activity to do with her. I love snuggling on the couch, I'll read to her, I don't mind dressing Barbies, I'll babysit for her dolls all day long, or suggest, "Let's play a board game!". But I honestly groan whenever she says, "Okay, mommy. Let's pretend I'm your sister and we're orphans. Our parents were killed in a bad boat accident. And we are searching for buried treasure on the island that we are stuck on. Pretend the bed is the boat, okay? You can't get off or the alligators will eat you! And you need to say, "Sister! Watch out for the alligators! They're coming!" and then you say, "Oh dear, I hope we find some land soon." And you were a princess, but you didn't know it, okay?"

Um.... what was I supposed to say again? She lost me back on the "Let's pretend..." I just can't keep up with the script!

But sometimes I really don't mind imaginative play with her.

I walked downstairs a few days ago to find this:


"What's all this?" I ask.

"Oh, its just my 5 Star Spa and 5 Star Restaurant. Do you want to come in for a treatment?"


I laugh. "Where on earth did you learn about things being "5 Star"?"

"From Spongebob."

Well, okay then :)

I lay down on the "massaging table" after Jaina quickly shows me how to lay:


I was treated to a wonderful back and shoulder massage by a 5 Star masseuse.

Then she showed me where to sit for the fabulous hair style I was about to receive:


Sorry, no pictures of my hair. Let's just suffice it to say it was most definitely "5 Star".

Thanks again, Jaina. I'll be happy to play this pretend game anytime :)

What pretend games do your kids like to play?

Transformers. More than meets the eye!

Surprisingly enough, my husband lived another year without accident. We threw him a party to celebrate:

Dodi comes through once again for us :)


Brian's co-workers chipped in to buy him a bottle of "private reserve" hot sauce. It hadn't arrived yet, so he was looking at a printed out picture of it!

Just like a little kid, all giddy about everyone singing to him!

Jeremy and Brian ponder something deep and meaningful. Yeah, right!

We had lots of great conversation:

Brian was super impressed with Lori's nails:

Since we have no tree nearby and Jeremy was the tallest person we had, he got elected to hold the pinata.


There was SO much candy!! I think Vince used a 5 lb bag or something!

Fashion Show

I've been a long time patron of a local consignment sale. It used to be called Child-to-Child, back when Jaina was a toddler. I remember the first time I ever went there I found her a beautiful red silky night gown and robe.... absolutely identical to the one I had when I was 2 or 3. She ended up wearing it for years, even when she'd totally outgrown it and couldn't button it in the back.

I finally started selling some of her clothes when I got pregnant with Jayce. Not very many because I knew people I could pass them down to instead. Although I love selling my children's clothes at this bi-yearly sale, I still always offer them to friends for first dibs.

I used to keep my shopping at the sale to what I made in profit at the sale. Then I would spend hundreds of dollars on brand new clothes for the kids from Old Navy, Target, Children's place, and Gymboree.

Why? I think its because I saw the used consignment clothes as "play" clothes instead of their "real" Fall or Spring wardrobe. It quickly became apparent that my kids actually preferred the clothes they got to pick out for $5 instead of the brand new $20 outfits I'd buy.

Now I try to do the majority of my shopping at the consignment sale. Jaina picked out the following clothes herself and then did a fashion show for me when we got home :)



Don't worry, its a skort. No 2nd grade boy can look up her skirt on the playground :)

We found two pairs of PJ's for her right away:


It may not be a wired-hair fox terrier on her jeans, but its a super cute dog anyway!


Yep, she's a CUTIE alright :)

This sweater we found is from an old line at Gymboree. How do we know? Well, Jaina had an almost identical sweater when she was 18 months old :)

I wasn't crazy about this dress on the rack at the sale, but Jaina insisted. And I'm glad she did because its super cute on her!



Showing me her sparkly buttons:



So, how do you feel about consignment sales?

This is what happens when your mom reads your blog

Thanks mom! You really delivered :)

Here's a recap of Jayce's game. Don't I look lovely in my assistant coach's shirt? NOT!

Playing Soccer in the Rain

Super tired, so I'll make this quick!

1. It rained off and on all day last Saturday
2. Upward only cancels if there is lightening
3. Supposedly Jaina's coach doesn't know this
4. Instead of forfeiting, Jaina and two other team members who actually showed up decided to play 3 on 4.
5. Another girl joined in during the first quarter.
6. All 4 girls had to play the entire 60 minute game without a break.
7. They kicked butt and WON!!!
8. No pictures of Jayce's game until my mom gets them off her camera
9. It could be next year before that happens
10. I am seriously regretting putting Jayce in soccer this year.

Happy Birthday Macie!