bippity, boppity, BOO! {the witches}

we've been waiting for 3 weeks to eat breakfast with the witches at gardner village.
a private date with just brennan and me.
i carried him in b/c he was scared the witches might be real,
even though i told him they were not.
we ate pancakes and drank orange juice.
and hot chocolate.
which he spilled on my arm in a fit of excitement when the witches were singing on stage.
he hid from the witches when they would come up close to our table.
bury his head into my lap.
clap for them when they were far away,
and checked with me four times that i was staying with him and that the witches weren't real.
he spent the show clapping, smiling, laughing at their jokes, and finding the witches on his flier that matched the witches there today.
kept pointing to them like they were celebrities he'd only seen on tv or in a magazine.
and refused to take any pictures with the witches at the end.
i love that kid.
and our little private breakfast date.
with the witches:)

now i get why everyone says you should take your kids alone one on one sometimes.
magic.

max was here.

max was missing.
who knows for how long.
i was vacuuming.
and then i was making mac and cheese.
i swore she was watching Aladdin with the boys.
she wasn't.
then i found her.
playing in the toilet like she was a cat in the fish bowl.
with her shirt and a 3 foot radius soaked in "fish bowl" water.
it was gross.
and funny.
in a gross "oh no" i can't help laughing kind of way.
so i closed the door.
washed max's hands.
stripped off her shirt.
ate a pot of mac and cheese with the kids.
and two hours later remembered i had half a roll of wet toilet paper laying on the floor in my bathrooms upstairs.
with a 3 foot radius of pooling water.
oops!
thank you beach towels and paper garbage bags:)
and soap.
MAX=TROUBLE

thriller

tonight i learned...
when you are in a bind,
glad press and seal does NOT work as a substitute for wax paper.
it does NOT make your carmel apples glad.
it makes them sad.
and neither does tin foil.
pity.
i STILL dislike unwrapping the carmel pieces just as much this year as i did last year.
and the two years before that.
but they taste so good when you're done that it's worth it.
watching my kids faces when we open the pumpkin up for the first time is PRICELESS.
max dug right in.
brennan was hesitant,
like he didn't want to get his hands dirty.
stencils are a lot of work, but really fun.
you can listen to thriller 10 times in a row and it is still a great jam.
if i dangle carmel apples i can get my kids to clean up and sean to carve my witch pumpkin for me.
kids in aprons=so cute.
kids dancing to thriller=so so SO cute {"they've got the moves like jagger"}.
while you are carving, give the kids a spoon and get them to "clean" out the insides.
=an hour of entertainment.
really, it was amazing.
now my feet hurt.
and my tummy is full of Carmel apples dipped in white chocolate and crushed oreos:)
YUM.
our pumpkin lighting ceremony will be tomorrow and continue every night until halloween.
we are cheezy like that.
which may or may not consist of anything special.
and last but not least,
there is never time for dad to carve a pumpkin for himself b/c he has helped the rest of us {minus max, which i am proud to say i did myself}.
worth the sacrifice for his carmel apples?
i think so:)
we are officially ready for halloween.

 TRICK OR TREAT!!!

:)

october is my mistress this week.

the leaves were rolling through the streets today when we drove to target.
the wind was colder.
and i felt like i would have enjoyed my coat.
or at least a sweater.
especially in the shade.
max put her hood up and buried her face into my neck until we got into the store.
thirty seconds of heaven:)
i bought tomato soup at costco b/c my soul is screaming grilled cheese.
this is the week of the year where october becomes everyone's mistress.
lusting for its air.
colors.
and smells.
i can't stop thinking about candied apples dipped in white chocolate and rolled in chopped oreos.
jack-o-lanterns glowing,
and the smell of candles burning inside of them.
so before i give into my christmas music yearnings,
it's one more week of lusting with fall.

by "we" i mean sean:)

We sean cut the last of the pumpkins and pulled the vines.
We sean pulled all of the weeds in our 500 flower and vegetable garden beds.
We sean pulled out all of the tomato plants.
We mowed the lawn.
the frost is coming.
and i'm tomatoed and green beaned out.
hopefully that will be the last of the yard work for the season.
b.c i was done weeding two months ago.
our yard looks naked.
in a really nice way.
god bless sean.
and the fall.
with all of its burnt oranges, yellows, and reds in the trees.
...
in other news,
max is obsessed with showing us her stash of tinker bell and tangled underwear.
seventeen times a day.
one by one.
it's darling.
she is still keeping them in her trick or treat plastic pumpkin we bought yesterday.
and brennan informed me he would brush my hair until it was long like Rapunzel.
b.c "it would be so pretty!" {or super weird}.
his words.
not mine.
except the super weird part.
those were my words.
that i kept to myself;)

the scream costume scared max.

wake up.
feed everyone.
eat banana.
shower BEFORE i get max out of her crib even though she is awake.
get dressed.
halfway.
feed max.
feed myself.
get dressed the rest of the way.
dress brennan.
change max's diaper.
chase max around trying to get her dressed.
lately she'd rather just be naked.
and has learned how to take her clothes off if you don't get things fastened and buttoned quickly enough.
brush teeth.
brush kids' teeth.
change my shirt b/c i've decided i don't like the one i put on first.
tell everyone to get in the car.
5 times.
remember everyone needs shoes.
find shoes in the shoe basket.
a dreaded task each day.
find everyone's shoes, except one of brennan's flip flops.
dump out basket to find it.
no flip flop anywhere.
put all shoes back in basket.
find missing flip flop was behind the basket on the floor the entire time.
find brennan in his car seat.
max crawling around the back seat.
coax her to the front.
she screamed the entire time.
arched her back while i put her in her car seat.
gave her binky and blankie.
and brennan his movie head phones.
peace restored.
go back for wallet and car keys.
get in car.
then go back for phone.
get in car.
consider going back for snacks.
decide we will just buy snacks.
it is now 11am.
or something.
drive to walmart.
buy spiderman rain boots for brennan.
spiderman underwear for brennan.
tinkerbell and tangled underwear for max.
b/c she saw them and was screaming in a really cute excited way.
and explained the underwear/big girl potty rule.
1 green and 1 blue trick or treat bucket for $1 a piece.
some tights i've been needing to get max.
the cold is coming.
and her little legs will need them for church.
and furnace filters.
b/c we never buy them when we should.
we now have 4.
that will last us 2 years,
even though they say it should only last 1 month.
i will try to be better.
go to halloween city.
find a "respectable" halloween costume for sean.
as he declared last year's fire hydrant was just as low as he was going to go.
i explained he'd better wear this one every year for the rest of his life b/c i hate spending money on halloween costumes.
bought myself a halloween costume b/c i realized i don't have the energy to make anything for myself either, and it would match max and sean.
and i could wear it every year.
if i wanted.
brennan doesn't fit in our theme this year.
but man he is excited.
max got scared at the checkout register when a kid came up to us in his scream costume and pushed the scream button.
she cried really loud and shook.
it was sad.
and she wouldn't let me put her down until we got to the car.
poor thing.
then we met bree and her people for sweet potato fries.
b/c i couldn't stop thinking about them.
the fries.
salt city burger sweet potato fries.
there are none better.
we all declared we ate too much.
and now we are home.
with everyone's underwear sorted into their green and blue halloween pumpkin buckets.
T.G.I.F.:)
a really really good friday.

practice.

fall training camp at the gibson's.
getting ready for winter.
HOO-RAH!

aloha {goodbye}

my mom leaves tomorrow.

back home to hawaii.

we are all sad.

wah!!!

lucky little shorties {2 cups of pumpkin part deux}

i made them yesterday.

have you made them yet???

you should.

all you need is 2 cups of pumpkin.

AND

a few other spices you may or may not have in your pantry.

brennan took a bag for his preschool class snack today.

lucky little shorties.

click here for my recipe.

happy pumpkin-ing:)

pudgy cabbage patch hands

we may have a problem this winter on our hands...

have mercy.

...

tonight when i was singing to brennan before bed,
i all of a sudden got scared.
panic in my heart kind of scared.
i quickly grabbed his hand and my eyes raced to his knuckles.
his little cabbage patch dimples are still there.
PHEW!!!
i will cry the day they are gone.
and i vowed to myself right there by the side of his little toddler bed that i will look at them every night until they finally disappear.
i love those little pudgy cabbage patch hands of his.
"i'll love you forever...
my baby you'll be."