A Brian Quickie

Brian called me today so we could catch up on things.  Eventually the conversation turned to Liverpool, our shared favorite English Premier League soccer team, which is currently ranked #1. In years past we've ended the season ranked about #7, so this surge to the top has been quite thrilling to watch.  I expressed a little reservation about finishing at the top by saying, "I'm not sure we can actually hold on to win the championship, but for right now, I am enjoying every minute of it."  Brian immediately cut me off.  "Whoa, whoa, just hold on there! We live in a new world.  Donald.Trump. just got elected president, so CLEARLY any thing that you think has absolutely no chance of happening, totally has a chance. Dream big, Jess."  Well, in that case, let's talk about the Bucs...

Everything Else That Happened In October 2016

What about everything else that happened in October?

Cindy got inducted into the National Junior Honor Society....

I made a giant fire in my backyard that almost burned down our entire property...

We took secret pictures of Luke because he was sleeping with his eyes open again...

I found Salted Caramel flavored cheese at Aldi...

Luke earned a bunch of scout awards and refused to hug his leader...

I won free entry into a local 5K from Orange Theory fitness.  And I won my age group! AND, Jacob came to watch me race, which, let's be honest, was way better than the medal :)

Cucuface totally betrayed me on National Cat Day...

 Luke had some soccer games and Cindy came to "watch"...

One of Jacob's former soccer players at the high school got baptized!....

We finally went to the outdoor movie for South McKeel!!!  Too bad it was the latest Ice Age...

Luke played some more soccer games and Cindy came to "watch"... (i.e. find a dog to kidnap and love forever...)

And we spent some time at 2Infinity trampoline park, where Luke finally mastered the taller warped wall and fell into foam pits and could barely get out.  Oh wait, that last one may have been me.

Halloween 2016

Halloween officially started with the Bartow Halloween parade, that I did not go to for the first time in 10 years.  Too much going on for me, but luckily Davina had mercy on my children's poor souls and took them with her kids for me.  

Here is living proof that Cindy once ate a piece of fruit.

The next day was the church Fall Festival, my fourth as Primary President and I would say that I think I finally figured out how to do things right!  So, I guess it's time to be released? Isn't that how things work?

Let's see, what is a costume that is super cheap and super easy?

Oddly symmetrical grapes, yes, perfect.

The kid's pumpkins turned out great this year!!! (And not just because we got them pre-hollowed out and for FREE from the Middle School at McKeel.)  Cindy went with the classic black cat and Luke had me really worried with this tiny, intricate design he drew by hand with thick black marker.

But you know what? I will shut my doubting pumpkin hole because he completely pulled it off!

Behold the Grumpster!

The kids are pretty good at knowing what they want to be for Halloween with at least some time for me to figure out how to pull it off, but Cindy left it down to the wire this year.  Luke was easy.  He knew he wanted to be The Flash, and after convincing him that I would somehow make it so the lightning bolts on his head did NOT look like bug antennae, he was happy as a clam with this Amazon special.  Cindy was "Hyper Kyle" from the Studio C sketch but finding adult footie pajamas was not a good last minute plan.  Thankfully Wal-Mart had something to work with and there wasn't really much left for me to do after that.  I'll take it!

We Trick-or-Treated with our usual group over in the Bailey's neighborhood. 

 One quarter mile loop and we were done :)

Candy angel, anyone?

This had to be my favorite single piece of candy.  Literally.

A sealed mini bag filled with ONE single candy corn that was broken in half.  Careful, Brach's, that serving size is getting a little out of hand.