We live in the best neighborhood. Ever. So, yesterday I called around to see if a few neighbors wanted to join us for pizza and snacks before we went trick-or-treating.
The kids looked so cute…….we had a surgeon……
matching 1970’s disco chicks (be still my heart)……..and matching Lucy’s from Prince Caspian….
a soccer player, a character from Star Wars with the best light saber ever.
munchkin and the scarecrow from Wizard of Oz…..
my poor neighbor Cihat who I conned into wearing this black mullet. (As a side note, I have a small obsession with mullets. This is not the first time I’ve bought one and tried to make Stevie, or anybody, wear it. I don’t know where this comes from…….I love bubba teeth too. I put them in everyone’s stocking one year for Christmas and told them they had to wear them through all the morning pictures. Maybe I’ll try that with mullets this year!)
and then there was princess Jasmine…..
and a grim reaper and Dorothy and Toto and Ariel and a hip hop dancer (no,not just me…a real one)
And my neighbors the Jett’s came walking up the street looking like this. This my friends you should not take for granted. A whole Wizard of Oz family Halloween. This is the stuff I dream about. Stevie in a munchkin suit……it’d send me right over the edge. Paul and Jeannie and Jackie and all their children pull this off well. Back in an earlier post, I talked about how Dorothy (really Polly, but she’s all in character and gets mad if you call her Polly today) switches her f’s for h’s and we didn’t want Jeannie to fix it (Jeannie’s a speech pathologist) and Jeannie agreed that for now it was ‘hunny’ and she’d leave it alone. Well, Polly is about to turn four……which in Polly-speak sounds like “hore” so Jeannie, the party pooper she is, is gonna fix it. Hello, I’m Polly and I’m ‘hore’. It would be ‘hunny’ Jeannie.
this is the kinda neighborhood you only dream about…..where good witches roam around and Dorothy clicks her heel together and says, “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home”……
the disco chicks are so chic in their white go-go boots. What I wouldn’t have given when I was their age for a pair of boots like that.
and Gracie–or should I say Lucy led the trick-or-treaters in their search for candy heaven.
Notice my feeble attempt at festive with the dark nail polish. Lame, I know. But in my mind, I was all dressed up. If Stevie would humor me, I could come up with many-o-costume. I wanted to dress up like Cher and sway and toss my hair and sing ‘I Got you Babe’.
Then Leigh Ann and I had the discussion about appropriate shoewear for trick-or-treating. One of us had on these shoes……
and the other one had on these. I’ll let you decide who chose heels for all this walking extravaganza. Cute boots though, huh?
and BTW, Leigh Ann, you’re already thinking like a blogger, you might as well start one. Come on!
Then the girls and I made our annual trip to Kimmie’s house. Kimmie was our nanny for three years and as you’ll see from these photos, she’s the ring leader of quite a fun troop. We miss her dearly. Their family wins first place for most festive family in the world. They all dressed up and her house was dark and spooky with lots of candles and fog and even dry-ice in the punch…..
Cara and Drew were adorable too. You gotta love a guy who’ll wear this wig all night and enjoy it!
and Lacey and her boyfriend were quite scary and goth looking. I need to see if she’ll do my makeup the night of the Twilight premier!
I couldn’t stop looking at or taking photos of this. Sheer entertainment.
then there was her son Ryan, who was a hillbilly sheriff and kept saying to everyone, “I’m the laaaww. It iis wut it iis”. You think I’m kidding but I’m not. All this….at one house.
Spooky mornings……..
Happy Reformation Day……
On being thankful……
1. anticipating my Eight O’Clock coffee, finely ground just before it’s brewed with a healthy amount of real half and half.
2. loving it when my 18 year old son swoops in for the air kiss.
3. Sitting on the sofa, knitting, while my girls practice their reading and thinking that I am the luckiest mom in the whole world.
4. to be able to spend these precious days and weeks and moments teaching my girls everything from how to count by 5’s to how to make the best chocolate chip cookies EVER.
5. never taking for granted kissing my husband goodnight and good morning and good afternoon and good evening and enjoying. his. affection.
6. teaching my children about the absolute love and grace that Christ has showered on us all.
7. and thinking that I am so unworthy to be so blessed like that.
8. enjoying laundry. Warm. Right out of the dryer. In a pile on the sofa.
7. wishing I could swim in a vat of Chocolate. but settling for M&M’s instead. by the handful.
8. Working in the kitchen, wearing my monogrammed apron, and listening to good music….maybe Brandi Carlile or Eddie Vedder or Taylor’s Band or Johnny Cash or Lifehouse.
9. Thinking about how much I miss my daddy and wishing his life could have turned out differently. and noticing how I grind my teeth. just. like. him.
10. Saying a big thank you to my God for blessing me with the most wonderful sister in all the world….who knows me inside and out….and still loves me….unconditionally…..and beats me at Rock Band. everytime.
11. feeling so blessed to have discovered blogging and wishing I were neighbors with Jessica and country girl and the nester and jennifer and emily and……..and Susan Wise Bauer and keli and kelly and denise and pam and brooke and on. and on.
12. missing my patients and hoping that they have found a doctor who loves them and prays for them and listens. and wears cute shoes. and lip gloss.
13. talking on the phone to JamieKnoxville and believing that everything is going to be okay and laughing so hard I cry…..and thanking my lucky stars that someone knows my story.
14. enjoying my morning run listening to “Never Alone” by Barlow Girl and hoping I make it to the next restroom. in. time. (there is a downside to having 4 children)
15. contemplating the meaning of my life and having the sense that I’m doing exactly what I need to be doing and knowing I am so blessed to be able to do it.
16. praying that Caiti knows how much I love her and that I believe she is a beautiful unique child of God. with many good gifts. and beautiful straight teeth.
17. wishing I was more patient and kind and compassionate and gracious and forgiving.
18. and tall. and skinny.
Guess who else loves ya??!?!?!??!?
Apparently I’m not the only one who loves you and wants to knit you a scarf. Emme started knitting this on Monday and said, ‘Do you think the friends on your blog will like these colors?’ Oh how sweet!! She’s knitting those little hands to the bone too. Look how far she’s gotten in just one day. Grandma Evadne would be proud. She’s got the prettiest stitches—even and not too tight. She’ll probably finish before me. She decided to make her scarf for her friend Anna’s upcoming birthday…..but I just wanted you to know that she thought of you girls first. When I’m checking blogs she likes to look at everyone’s picture and read along. BTW, for those who don’t know, I’m giving away a hand-knit scarf for my 100th post!
Less is more……….
we have a greed
with which we have agreed
You think you have to want
more than you need
until you have it all you won’t be free
society, you’re a crazy breed
I hope you’re not lonely without me
When you want more than you have
you think you need
and when you think more than you want
your thoughts begin to bleed
I think I need to find a bigger place
‘cos when you have more than you think
you need more space
society, you’re a crazy breed
I hope you’re not lonely without me
society, crazy and deep
I hope you’re not lonely without me
there’s those thinking more or less less is more
but if less is more how you’re keeping score?
Means for every point you make
your level drops
kinda like its starting from the top
you can’t do that…
society, you’re a crazy breed
I hope you’re not lonely without me
society, crazy and deep
I hope you’re not lonely without me
society, have mercy on me
I hope you’re not angry if I disagree
society, crazy and deep
I hope you’re not lonely without me