Halloween in a nutshell

Jon made his famous flaming pumpkins, terrifying the neighbors and instigating this conversation yet again.   This year, however, Jon and Elijah unwittingly carved pumpkins to represent the both of us; I'll let you guess who's who:

Note the highly flammable weeds, err, cornstalks

Here's a wide shot of the driveway....

Note that the Montero is parked in the fire-ready position, albeit on the wrong side of the fire.

Sadly, it was raining, which put a damper on both the pumpkins and the trick or treaters...but not before the new French (really) neighbors stopped by to be amazed by the limitless American taste for shock and awe.

Fortunately, here in Mormondom, the uber-Christian holiday that is Halloween has been stretched out over three days.  Because it falls on a Sunday.  Am I the only one who sees the irony here???  Anyhoo, this meant the boys got to trunk or treat...then trick or treat...and then trick or treat AGAIN with their mother, who is in town this weekend.  I'm done with Halloween, by the way...

At the trunk or treat:  Yoda, Apollo, Skeletor.  Obviously, not the blue one.  A different one.

Look at Gabriel's hand.  Now:

Gabriel:  You want to take this stupid hat off of me.

Jon:  I want to take this stupid hat off of you.

Gabriel:  You want to wear the stupid hat.

Jon:  I want to wear the stupid hat.

Gabriel:  You don't mind if I sleep in your bed and kick you in the kidneys all night.

Jon:  I don't mind if you sleep in my bed and kick me in the kidneys all night.

Let's see...what else happened this weekend....

Oh!  I present to you....Gabriel's first word (outside of mama and dada):



A quick word of explanation:  it took me about a zillion takes to figure out why my camera was, mysteriously, not focusing (answer:  it was.  on the supermacro level).  At any rate, Gabriel was DONE telling us that Dharma is a doggie...hence the disgust as he turned away from Jon.  In fact, I think that, had his spoken vocabulary been able to support it, his answer to Jon's question would have been more like, "It's a dog.  Sheesh.  I've told you that a thousand times.  You guys are morons.  I'm going to go read a book."

And now, I'm going to go play with the older boys, who just got back from spending the weekend with their mother (who had them steal pillowcases from the hotel she was staying at to trick or treat with.  Because you can't get bags for a buck at WalMart.  FACEPALM!).

And, apparently, work on my "charity for all men" and "unexpressed thoughts."

If you have extra time you don't know what to do with...

I found a new website that is officially one of my favorites.  It's awkwardfamilyphotos.com.  Here is some of its awesomeness:

It makes me feel better about my level of dork.  We will not discuss the Halloween costume discussion I recently had with Ethan, but only say that Gabriel will be Yoda.  I will NOT be going as a Jedi, even though the scale would be appropriate.

It took me a while to see what was so funny in this picture.  Now I can't unsee it, and it's creeping me out.  Hint:  look around the mom, and know that this entry was titled, "Has anyone seen Aunt Teclia?"

“I recently photographed my sister-in-law’s wedding (my husband’s sister). I knew the window overlooked a part of the hotel’s roof, but I didn’t notice the workers until after I snapped a few pictures. When I got home and downloaded all the pictures, I couldn’t stop laughing when I saw this. Lucky for me she has a good sense of humor and allowed me to share it with you.” 

Again I say, go to awkwardfamilyphotos.com.  Prepare to be amused.  And disturbed.

The Reader's Digest version

I've decided to ignore my blogger's guilt and treat my blog like I do thank you notes:  stop whipping myself for the ones I didn't write and vow to do better.  And then blow it again inside of a month.

Sigh.

Being a typical Mormon woman, I can't completely ignore my Relief Society-induced "guilt over being human," so I'll give you the Reader's Digest version of the last few weeks' worth of blogs I didn't write. 

1.  Gabriel turned one. I didn't think you could get so dirty pincher-fingering a piece of cake, but there you go.

 

2.  Ethan decided he wants to be a "cake maker because they make people happy."  Kudos to Ethan for always wanting to make the world a better place, either through environmental awareness or not letting injustices pass unnoticed, especially if they favor Elijah.  Where was I?  CAKES!!! Ethan wants to make CAKES!  I let Ethan make Gabey's birthday cake.  It was his first gig...sadly for Ethan, it was all done pro bono:

3.  Jon's birthday.  He left the state so he could get some alone time, which is the only thing he ever asks for. Well, alone time and a non-scummy Super 8.  Keep dreaming on both counts, buddy! 

4.  Judging by this picture, I think Elijah may have joined al-qaeda.  He says he's a white ninja, but I just don't know....

Dear government watch dogs:  he didn't REALLY join al qaeda.  I just thought he looked like a terrorist in this picture.  Which he is NOT.  The only people who have to fear Elijah are the dads of the girls in his class. 

The end for now.  Check back soon to see how long I go before I abandon my resolution to keep my extended family better informed in favor of clean underwear.

Much love!