It's a beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

I love this time of year. I wish October was 60 days long. I love all the Halloween specials on tv, mainly the Simpson's, I love the apple spice air freshener in my living room, I love seeing pumpkins outside every grocery store, I love the crisp chill in the air, not too cold but not hot. I love school and all the fun activities. I love the FALL!

On Saturday it felt like out whole neighborhood was out raking their leaves.

What a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Child Protective Services

a photo of cleaner days




You know those days when if Child Protective Services were to do door to door rounds, you know they would take one look at your house and then take your kids on the spot? Well, today is one of those days. Not one of my bathrooms is clean, (thank you little boys with no aim) (gross by the way I know, but I really think it falls upon the Man of the House to take the boys and show them how to clean it up themselves, or at least show them how to aim), most of the beds are not made, there are leggos all over the play room floor and a nice trail out to the hallway, there are dvds everywhere, because in my house it would practically be illegal to put the dvd back into its original case. There are piles of laundry that the poor put upon laundry basket cannot compete with, the recycling bins are suffering from the same condition. My work-out gear is begging to be washed for a power workout tomorrow and I am pretty sure the spider who keeps building webs in my living room is our new family pet, still cleaner than a dog right?

Please Child Protective Services do NOT STOP BY TODAY!

The Mandatory Pumpkin Patch Photos

It is time once again to be brutally honest with myself about my hair. I cannot pull off long hair and I hate it. I don't like short hair on me but when my hair gets to a certain point I just stop doing it and only wear it in a pony. I try and try and try to grow my hair long but I just can't make it look good. Bummer. I didn't want my hair to get shorter the older I got, but here we are. I am coming up on my 33 birthday and hair past my shoulders makes me look tired. Or perhaps I should be even more brutally honest with myself and admit something much worse. I once read a book called "Hanging Up" and the main character kept changing her hair and complaining about it then finally her sister said to her, -it is not you hair you don't like it is your face. I am pretty sure I don't like my face.

Sorry that is so typical of me, here we have a bunch of beautiful photos of my kids in the most perfect setting and I turn it into some kind of self declaration, epiphany, philosophical moment. I think I might be annoying, or it is just after 9pm and I am getting tired and loopy.

Here is all I should have written in this post.

We went to the pumpkin patch on Monday. It was fun. We got 2 really big orange pumpkins and the boys picked out a little white one for Auri. I was able to resist the gingerbread cookies. (yawn, are you bored yet? I know I am)

Here is the photo of me with semi-long hair that I don't like.

October 1st

Max, Auri and I busted out out Halloween decorations today. I think it was like Christmas for Max. You should have seen him opening the boxes, trying on old costumes, going through the movies and books. I love this Holiday. If the decorations at Target were more reasonably priced I'd have my whole house decorated. I feel like that at Target a lot lately. The things that are priced $14.99 really should be $8.99. Is it just me or has that place gotten more expensive over the past couple of years. Maybe it is just that I now live close to a Walmart and Winco and by comparison everything seems expensive. I get sticker shock when I go to the mall.

This is my pumpkin collection.

My Mother in law gets me a pumpkin every year for my birthday.

These are our Halloween movies. I have to keep them hidden in a box year-round otherwise they would be so scratched by the time Halloween rolled around.

Some of our favorite Halloween books.

Gourds for my dining room table.

My "spooky tree" as Max affectionately calls it. This is where I wish I could afford target stuff. Today I saw more houses, but for the bargain price of 19.99, 14.99 and 10.99, so let me get this straight that is basically 50 bucks for a couple houses that I only get to see one month out of the year. Do you ever ask yourself this

I'll know I've made it when I can______________________________

Here are some of my answers---when I have a driveway that you don't have to back up in, you can just go around in a circle. I think they are called train station driveways, or something like that.

---when I can make my dental decisions based on what I want not on what I can afford.

---when I don't have to let my hair grow a full inch before I get to a salon.

---when I can buy all the Halloween decorations I want.

This is my Walmart house that I bought for 2.99. That is what I want to pay for a

"spooky house"