Almost o v e r i t

I'm so lucky! I am the Queen of Halloween. At least as far as this blog is concerned. I just realized that I got to post costume pics in 2012, 2013, and now again in 2014! Holy shit, did I have 2011 too? Please hold... 

No. Okay, but 3 years in a row! That's impressive.

I do not particularly enjoy Halloween, but I will begrudgingly give it the respect that it is due, and acknowledge that it is fun to dress up my kids. My girl tried really hard to go store bought this year. Silly girl. We compromised. 

Without further ado, though. Enough with the ado. Come on. Here is what I posted last year, which will take you right back to what I posted in 2012, then cleverly circle back to the past present when I ended with "check back in 2014." I think I Just fell into a wormhole.

Thursday, October 31, 2013

costume parade

Happy Halloweenie! This is only a partially recycled post, one that I believe is obligatory. Last year I organized a fairly awesome chronology of  the Halloween costumes my  kids have sported over the years, but I left you hanging by asking "what will tonight bring?" Today we solve the mystery of 2012, sort of. And even offer a bonus glimpse of what's cooking for tonight!

10.31.12

Ghosts of (some) Halloweens Past

It's times like this when I wish I was more like Ellie, with her neatly categorized photo albums available within arm's reach. My electronic photos are pretty well organized, at least since 2005 or so. But this morning's search for a legacy of Halloween fodder produced just one random early photo in an old flickr (formerly kodak gallery, formerly ofoto) album.

Look at my baby boy dressed up as an...er... enthusiastic elephant.  

2000

Awwwww! Efalant.

Now imagine the next few years as a blur of cuteness in the form of Simba, a cougar, and various unfortunate disney characterizations... oh wait... Buzz and Woody:

2002? I'm pretty sure it wasn't even Halloween, but AWWWWWWW.

and then

2003 or 2004. The belly. the mugs. I die.

probably 2005 - Mimi made these costumes for them!

 

2006 - my girl had to decide between a white or a black unitard for this outfit. Once she chose, she announced to anyone who asked that she was dressed as "a black rock star."

2007. Inexplicable green hair.

2008 - commence dark years. Note the recycled cheerleader costume from last year!

2009. Awww? He won a trophy for that shit.

2010: fave.

2011- really pretty awesome. I spent an inordinate amount of time on her shoes, which you can't even see.

What will tonight bring????

HERE'S WHERE IT GETS ALL NEW!

Here is what that night brought:
  

2012. Now all your questions are answered?

Bonus... a preview of half the gang's getups for tonight's adventures:

rocking 2013, superhero style!

I've got to leave you with another cliffhanger...what will the boy be? Will he be anything at all? Check back in 2014
 _______________________________

Hi! It's 2014! Want to see what the boy was last year?

yeeeeeaaaaah, booooooy

Want to see what they are wearing in 2014, when it's finally on a Friday night and we're all *almost* o-v-e-r i-t?!

Check back in 2015 :)

This is not why I got a new phone

So I finally, finally got a new phone. I love it. Nevermind that it was faulty and I had to get a brand new display put in my just-delivered iphone; I'm over that. Now it is just pure love.

I love it so much I really don't want to share it with my girls.

I finally relented last night and let my oldest take a look see.

This was the result.




This is not what I got a new phone,

Mojo, Meet Juju

Mojo. Juju. 

The World Series is all about them both. The 7th Game of the World Series is all about them both.  Life is all about them both.

Urban Dictionary describes Mojo thusly:

The word originally means a charm or a spell. But now its more commonly said meaning sex appeal or talent.

"I can get any girl if I just use a bit of the old mojo" 

"Man, that girl has MOJO!" 

 "God help me, I think I've lost my mojo!"

And Juju?

Back to our friends at Urban Dictionary; my favorite is definition #6 . . .

A general feeling or vibe, usually negative (bad ju-ju). Can be used in reference to karma, etc.

"I'm getting some bad ju-ju from that cop. I think he's going to arrest me."

"I'm not surprised I broke my arm; I've still got some bad ju-ju from that time I hacked xyz.com."

Mojo? Juju? We'll see who's got what tonight. Game 7, baby.

Halloweirder, in pictures

Rocking the Casbah

You know what this past weekend was, right? The weekend before Halloween, which means, of course, that kids have all manner of Halloween activities going on.

Our weekend wasn't too crazy, but we did have some dressing up going on.

Overall, there were two Indians, one cowboy, a vampire, and a punk rocker. Don't worry, I won't subject you to all of them. Just the best one.

The one that her older sister laughed at, and warned her that she would be taking it off right when she got to the party because she would be so embarrassed, because all the other girls would have costumes that make them look cute, not weird, blah, blah, blah, I-am-13-and-like-to-be-mean-and-contrary ad nauseam....

Well guess what, sissy?

She won first place in the costume contest! Originally a 3-way tie, the tie breaker involved parading in front of all of the parents (not just the costume committee), with the most applause taking the prize. Apparently they clapped and clapped.

Kitty Cat Whisperer

Back in the Summer of '14, we had a young friend visit us. We promised her mom and dad we'd take good care of her, but when we woke up in the morning, we found her on the street . . .

. . . Yes, okay, it was our street . . .

. . . our dead-end street, but still.

She was out there sitting on the street.

Because there was a kitty-cat on the street, and our young friend is a kitty-cat whisperer, and therefore, sits on streets where kitty-cats roam.

Hmmm, now that I think of it, we haven't seen that kitty-cat lately. Jacquie, have you checked your girl's suitcase?

Halloweird

Halloween is weird.  It's weirdly marketed and weirdly displayed and weirdly celebrated. My kids have had the misfortune of having the celebration fall on weeknights for the majority of the years when they truly could have made the most out of all night candy binging, and now that they've finally got a Friday night we are all a bit over it.

There are subtle ways to find joy in this weird holiday though, and I realized that I've captured some of this weirdness on my cell phone camera.

What's weird about these is that my friend who knows about inventory thought I was lucky to have found them. They are rare? Precious? Wanna buy some? Sorry, we ate them.

This adult sized ninja turtle big suit is weird. I sent this photo to both of my kids on the eve of their dad's birthday to ask if we should get it for them. Neither responded. When I got home they were disappointed hat I hadn't bought it.

An all-in-one horror kit. What's not to weirdly love?

OH, this doesn't belong in the weird category. But look at my girl! She's in Godspell right now I love her red lips and her jaunty cap.

A doggie costume party. Weird.

Weirdly AWESOME.

sharkdog was a pretty good costume...

But this? I d.i.e. A martini.

back to retail, and a charming airblown inflatable reaper. Weird.

Would it be weirder if the Lab Jar was without Head?

One or more of these humans are weird.

I'm not naming any names

He's going as weird half toofus monster this year, I presume. Can you zoom in on that label on his head? I didn't even notice it until we got it home

Happy Halloweird, you Halloweirdos!

I've got a list too

So, I read this article the other day: 11 Ways Growing Up Abroad Is Ruining My Daughter's Life

Did you see it?

Well, (although slightly annoying) it made me want to grab my girls and get right outta here and go live somewhere with WAY less crazy making, which leaves the locations WIDE open. 'Cause if we're talking about developed nations that are not at war (let me re-phrase that, since we are ALWAYS at war) don't have a war taking place on their soil, America may just win "the most crazy making" award.

It gets tiring.

But, seeing as I need to work with what I've got (you know, two baby daddies who live here in San Diego and no real way to provide for my girls in some wild, remote location), I've concocted my own list:

9 great things about living smack-dab under the flight path of America's 8th largest city:

1. You can sing as loud as you want in the backyard when the planes are flying overhead and no one can hear you.

2. You can pretend you didn't hear someone if you don't like what they are saying if a plane is going overhead.

3.You don't need an alarm clock, the planes wake you up at 6:30 sharp each morning.

4. Getting to the airport is quick, easy, and inexpensive. You could walk if you had to.

5. You can impress toddlers who are in their "transportation" phase. Man, do they dig watching the planes take off, get close, and then fly DIRECTLY overhead.

6. You have a good excuse to never have a garden party, too loud.

7. The temperature that is displayed on the news and on your phone is the temperature at your house, because they base those numbers on a city's airport (for some reason that I don't entirely understand).

8. You can play that music blasting into your headphones as loudly as you want! You're going to go deaf anyway.

And number 9? Well number 9, is the same on my list as on Crystal Blue's list:

9. She is We are thankful.

She is We are thankful for the little, free things in life. I mean big things, like when it's finally 11:30 pm and no flights are allowed to take off until 6:30 am. Ah, blessed silence.  sunshine and seahorses, like baby turtles and fresh drinking water, time with mommy, bare feet, health, understanding another language, colorful reef, universal friendships and rainbows.

Rocktoberfest

We're lucky peeps, lucky to have old friends far and wide, lucky to have a crucial friend, who hosts said far-and-wide peeps every year.

He calls it Octoberfest, but I like to extrapolate and call it "Bruce's Party". To be contrary. And belligerent.

The next morning . . .

What? We weren't hanging around taking photos during the party . . .

Oh, wait. Yes we were . . . .

photo credit: buzzie

Well, Buzzie was.

credit: buzzie

These peeps all graduated from Norwalk High School -- Home of Pride Intensified -- about 175 years ago. *Way* before Denise and I did. Three years after they did.

buzz

At least we had the youthfulness of the daughter of our illustrious hosts, to keep us from toppling off the edge of the earth.

Anyway. The next morning.

It's nice up there, in the northwest part of Connecticut.

Connecticut is a wee state, but the northwest part of Connecticut is about as far away as you can get from the southeast part of Connecticut, and still be in the same wee state.

We leaf-looked . . .

. . . we're leaf-lookahs.

. ..  and we had a spectacular ride home in the Westy but we were too busy driving to take photos then. Safety first, my friends.

But in the meantime, we got a good dose of Fall . . .

Mistah bonded with Doggie . . .

Aw, Doggie.

And most importantly of all,

Class of '81 rocks.