Tricks or Treats

Last night was Beggar's night here in Ankeny. Which I still think is stupid....that we can't call it trick or treating and have in on Halloween. Ugh. Anyhoo.....so it was windy as hell and me, Kyle and Emma were out for about 45 minutes before calling it a night. They scored lots of good loot, but Emma was bitching the whole time about her hat blowing off. Rob took Kyle out again a little later by themselves, but they still were only out for about 30 minutes. It was 55 degrees, but the wind was 30 mph, so it felt a lot colder. I bought a ton of candy because our neighborhood has millions of kids and I didn't want to run out, but because of the weather we only had kids for about the first hour and then it dwindled off. So now we are stuck with 2 huge bags of red licorice. I'm sure Rob will take care of that, but I can't stand the stuff. Here are some photos:

Race for the Cure and Living History Farms

Yesterday was a busy day and I woke up with a runny nose, cough, sore throat and thoughout the course of the day, got a headache. Yippee! I still went through the motions and even got to take a nap yesterday afternoon. The race was good, but chilly and overcast. Luckily by evening it was warm enough that the kids could trick or treat at Living History Farms without wearing their coats the whole time. They had fun roasting marshmallows and riding on the horse drawn cart.....but the storyteller was lame. We sat in the tent listening to this guy with a microphone that you could still barely hear and the story wasn't scary in the slightest. Needless to say, we'll be skipping that part next time. Oh and since when did they have microphones in the 19th century? ;)

The finger

For some reason whenever someone wants to take a picture of me, my first reaction is to give them the finger. Not sure why that's my first reaction.....but it always is. So quite a few people have pictures of me giving the finger. As a matter of fact, here are a few of me in my costume at the Halloween party and one has my favorite pose. ;)

Post Halloween Party

It was a really good time. I dressed up and got to scare some of the kids as they were coming in the house. ;) My kids had a great time. It was kind of a chore cleaning it all up the next day, though. Old stale popcorn all over the floor, decorations that were halfway ripped down, kool aid spills, etc. It was worth all the trouble as look at how happy these kids are:

Getting ready for Halloween

Tomorrow we are having our mom's group Halloween party here. I've cleaned out the garage and set up a haunted house of sorts. Nothing too scary as there will be little kids Emma's age here, but black lights, a fog machine and some scary music ought to do the trick. Today I made caramel apples, which I've never done before. What a mess! I had visions of using a double boiler and somehow they'd come out picture perfect. Whatever. I wound up just melting the caramel in a glass measuring cup in the microwave and dunking each apple individually. They aren't pretty, but I'm sure they'll taste good. I also planned on having the kids bob for apples. A friend suggessted that instead of using water, that I use popcorn so it woud easier and less wet for the little kids. So today I popped, and I popped and I popped popcorn....like a 64 oz bag of kernels. The house completely smells like caramel and popcorn. Not a bad combo. :)
Kyle is going to be a vampire, so today Emma and I headed over to the theatrical shop in Valley Junction to get some vampire teeth. I had thought that maybe Emma might be scared in there as there are monsters and all kinds of scary props/costumes. So we get there and start looking around. She is completely unaffected by the giant skeletons, severed heads, aliens, coffins, ect. There was even one of the employees dressed up like the devil and she didn't even flinch. Then another employee dressed as a Wizard walks by and she freaks. A fucking wizard! Just a damn robe and pointy hat and she was crawling up my leg, yelling "NO!". That child is nuts.

Gentlemen prefer skeletons

Check out these hilarious pictures of photo-shopped celebs. I guess that anorexic look is still in, huh? ;)

Smokey Robinson and Clay Aiken

What could these two possibly have in common besides music, you may ask? They are both going to be on Days of Our Lives in the near future. That's right, just when you think it can't go any further south.......Clay and Smokey show up. Ugh, why do I torture myself with this shit?!!!!

Insolence!

Check out what my family did to me today.......

I made a chicken and sweet potato dish for dinner tonight. I put it in the oven and then went on my merry way of doing the dishes, laundry, etc. When it was done, I took it out and set it on the counter to cool. Then I came down to the office to make a couple of phone calls and mess around on the computer for awhile. About a half hour later I hear the clanking of silverware on dishes. I listen for a few minutes thinking that maybe someone is setting the table. I wait a couple more minutes and then go upstairs. There they were.....all 3 of them, sitting at the table having dinner as if there were an invisible woman who cooks their food, but never dines with them. I say "what the hell is this?!". They all turn to look at me with "what's the problem?" facial expressions. "So I'm good enough to make your food, but I'm not good enough to eat it?", I say. Then comes the ramblings of...we thought you were busy, we thought you were on the phone, we didn't know you were hungry...blah blah blah. The worst part is that I kind of expect that stuff from Rob as he only had 2 organs that he thinks with...one of which is his stomach.....but the kids?! That neither one of them said "where's Mommy?". Oh the disrespect!!!! ;)

Music

Let me start by saying that my musical taste is all over the place. So today while driving Kyle to school we were listening to Pantera. Emma was outraged and demanded that we listen to "girl music". I think she had gotten a little too used to the Enya I had been playing yesterday. ;)

Apple Orchard

We took both the kids to the apple orchard/pumpkin patch yesterday. It was a little too hot for it to really feel like fall, but the kids had a great time. They got to pick apples.....the little Jonathan, tart, crisp ones...mmmmmm. We also went through the big corn maze, rode on the hay rack ride and picked some gourds from the gourd garden. Here are some highlight photos:

Yoga and the patch

Lately I've been doing yoga in an attempt to help my old, arthritic joints. Today I did it while still in my pajamas. After having two children, doing "downward facing dog" without a bra is the scariest fucking thing I've ever witnessed.

Now onto something more pleasant....yesterday Emma and I...plus a bunch of friends went to the pumpkin patch. It was windy and cold, but still was fun. Here are some cute pictures of Emma:

Suicidal Thoughts

Yesterday I bought some underwear. I took them out of the package, held them up and thought "God damn, these things are massive". Then I put on a pair.
Apparently, I'm massive.

School pic, movie review, and church talk

Kyle got his school picture back on Friday and I have to say, it's pretty damn good. I am always prepared for some crazy, buck toothed smile and squinty eyes....just so I'm not disappointed. So this one was a nice surprise:



Last night Rob and I went to see the movie "School for Scoundrels". It was funny, and worth the $7. I still can't imagine.....no matter how many movies he may do....anyone kissing or finding Napoleon Dynamite attractive. The wierdest thing was that right before the movie they showed a preview of another Billy Bob Thorton movie called Mr. Woodcock....that also looked humorous, and I swear he looked about 30 pounds heavier in that one.
Also, this morning we went to church and believe it or not, the pastor's sermon was based on the movie "The Lion King". He talked for about 15 minutes about the damn thing! I'm logging that away with all the other "things I never thought I'd hear".