hallow complete

Halloween day went off without a hitch (minus no school since it was still without power). We went to two library story times, one was meant for KC and one for Aiden, but they love to be tagalongs at each other's programs. The first included a costume parade around the library and several rounds of If You're a Monster and You Know It! The second included ghost puppets that learned to listen to their mom before eating anything. The skeleton brothers hung around the neighborhood most of the afternoon enjoying being outside again and trying not to slip on all the wet leaves. We went to a get together with all of Aiden's rowdy school friends in our neighborhood. The kids ate up a fruit monster and made mummy bagel pizzas. Then we hit the streets with perfect crisp 55 degree weather. This band of troublemakers collected lotsa candy and even tried trick or treating at their teachers' house (although she was at a church meeting -bummer). We made it home with 136 pieces of candy and KC's new favorite phrase, Tak A Tree Can-da puh ease.

happy

Happy, happy Halloween! We woke up to another bonus day off from school thanks to Aiden's school still being without power.  Woot, I added a costume parade at the library to our morning fun!  It got us out of the house in our skeleton jammies... since Aiden wanted to "save" his costume for later on tonight ;)

Everyone loves a slimy pumpkin?!

 It's a superhero pumpkin with an M crown for the Milkman and many other hidden superego symbols per Aiden's imagination... like a bat, a shield and a V...

 Mummy pumpkin daredevil bagel pizzas for Aiden's snack week Halloween treat (which will hopefully last until school is back in session!)

downtime

I'm loving the downtime especially now that the uncertainty of the storm has passed. Our thoughts are with everyone still struggling with storm cleanup and power outages. Aiden may not have school again tomorrow because his campus is still without power. We are lucky and despite trees down blocking roads we never lost power. I think he's ready to go back tomorrow, but if the power isn't back, we'll just save up our energy for some fun trick or treating ;)... Fingers crossed the rain stays away. The boys were pretty gungho for pumpkin carving, seed gobbling, birthday treat baking for school celebrations, brothers working together vacuuming, and my favorite - the Burrito Brothers running around rolled up in a blanket - An old game we used to play with Aiden which is even more fun with brothers bouncing off each other. We found some old tents we hadn't used in a while. Engineer Aiden continued building forts and added the hippo chair as a toilet. Now we are all set to head back to school since our fort building includes all the necessities like faux indoor plumbing! He also spent a big chunk of the day working on his blank book which is a really great version of Lego Star Wars retold and illustrated by Aiden.

the big top

Aiden named our fort The Big Top because it reminded him of the circus. According to Ring Master Aiden, the Big Top has a sun room with a bright yellow blanket, a baby room with a fuzzy cuddly blanket, a bed room, and a loft slide. We have been basement bound the majority of the day riding out this moody storm... Gusty then calm... which pretty much describes bedtime with two boys that didn't get to fully run off their crazy bugs today. We do remarkably still have power, probably because they had to rebuild the whole power grid after the derecho earlier this year and everyone went nuts trimming trees lately... Although we did hear about a tree down on the other side of the lake. We are wishing and hoping for a quick recovery from all the horrible flooding for our friends north of us! Stay safe!

waiting

Still waiting for the Frankenstorm to come ashore... This photo was taken first thing this morning when it was still clear... Looks a little wetter now, and we aren't hanging out by the windows anymore - Don't worry mom ;) Love extra long weekends of forced relaxation...

parade

So far it looks like Halloween is going to win against the Frankenstorm... It should clear out by Halloween night, but even if it doesn't, our costumes have had three runs ;)  There wasn't any rain all weekend and it wasn't even windy on Sunday for the lake parade. The Milkman was so excited to march along with the high school band, while Choc Chunk finished out his nappy. We met up with friends and stayed close to the band for the whole parade which made it extra fun.  Comparing this year to last year, it is so fun to be surrounded by so many familiar faces. The band played on the beach and then let all the kids do a show and tell with their instruments.  Aiden was excited to play Batman's drums ;)  Choc Chunk showed up and started devouring some of the party cookies.

parade from LB on Vimeo.

fall miss

Some events are a big miss and this one falls into that category. We walked after the end of the parade waaaay too far to get to a fall festival with annoying loud music and bad food. There was a random parrot giving out free mustaches (why does auto correct keep making that into moist aches?!) which was maybe the only endearing part of the whole thing. Oh, and it was pretty funny when Aiden declared the Minnie Mouse in the parade must be a counterfeit because she had weird lips- I guess the trademark office kid's workshop did teach him something last week ;)  KC was not at all interested in the tickle mustaches that daddy tried on after Aiden said it pulled off his skin... We did make it over to the soccer field in time for a bit of a sluggish game... guess everyone was having one of those days...

pumkin

We had to wake poor teething KC up from a very late nap to make it out to the pumpkin patch before this supposed hurricane comes through... He was pretty easy going but poor guy picked the one wet muddy spot to take a tumble and then was just generally peeved I couldn't get his pants completely clean. He was cheered up by the cute little vintage cars, probably because I couldn't stop smiling at the adorable mini woodie styled with fun old luggage and travel gear. cute.

costume cameos

We had another beach meetup with some friends in our costumes to eek out more Halloween fun and enjoy all this beautiful weather before the 'perfect storm' they've dubbed Frankenstorm arrives and possibly wipes out the trick or treating this year. There is some hope it will clear out by Wed, but in the meantime Aiden likes chillaxin in his costume even after we get home ;).

color crazy

Sometimes my random clicking around online leads me to something that just grabs me and gives me a little shake. A rumble in my mind that says you must do that... Enter the Color Run and the fun videos online that I dare you to watch without smiling. My saavy sister knew to register early (the two DC races sold out in two hours!) and got tickets from Ohio to join in the fun at the National Harbor. My first 5k completed in about 45 minutes - ha! - I joked that I was going to rename it the Color Walk ;). It was a rush running through color throws and at the last one my joy won. I accidentally lost my bandana as I hooted and ended up with a mouth full of blue corn starch powder. The powder throwing volunteers were yelling out little phrases like "We brought the yellow, so you didn't have to..." and some booyahs as they heaved the powder at us by the handful or through a ketchup squirt bottle for my favorite splatter effect. We chased down a family team dressed in honey badger tshirts. We passed my boys at the start and finish line and KC looked a little unsure of his messy mom.  Aiden joined the after party with us which was a super fun dance party.

brothers

These silly ducks are hard to wrangle for photos... 

but thanks to this session Keaton calls all cameras cheese now ;)

A favorite bit from a photo blogger in Australia S. Ellis:
"Every day is lovely and different and I want my children to have as many photos of them as possible to remember their childhood. I blog to remember the moments as they pass. The fleeting details like candy floss skies and the softest light are the perfect background to the special outfits handed down and the toys they loved. Those are the bits and pieces that get lost in our memory junk drawer. Sometimes I look at my children and I am overwhelmed by the fact that for the most part, they will not remember these days. They will live their lives and before they know it, the kids in these photos will be cute little strangers to their grownup selves."

relief

A pack of skinny black dogs jumps out at us as we turn the corner onto a new street. The boys curl up and I yelp, "What in the world!" - My husband's least favorite recent expression of mine. There is a wooden two beam fence with chicken wire separating us, and these dogs could clearly jump over and get us if they want. I turn on a cheery voice, saying "Oh, nice doggies, see ya later!" as I quickly jet all of us as far as possible away from the woofs. KC is barking back at them, while Aiden chimes in that we should all be brave. He says, "I'm pretty brave mom, although I think I got a wiggle wart and my nipple fell off!" He says it with such a serious voice, and I have to laugh and ask where he heard that? He says, "It's just an expression I use, kind of like goosebumps, mom, it doesn't really make sense!" Aiden goes on and says he loves days like this and I agree with him.

As we cruise into our driveway, I have this uneasy feeling, a hope that there will be plenty more of these walks like last winter... But as I swipe away a mosquito on my neck, I notice a little pang in my tender biopsy spot from exactly a week ago. A very long week trying to ignore the uncertainty of my health ... Sometimes you just need to keep on, keeping on... Scratch that -ALL OF THE TIME, you just need to KEEP ON...So I keep on, and we throw some leaves around and we start collecting the cool ones. Eventually, I dig my keys and iPhone out from beneath a big pile of leaves we collected in our basket. I notice a message from my doctor's office. I hold my breath as the boys start sorting the leaves and I pull up the message. Aaah, the biggest sigh of RELIEF with the word BENIGN... The message of relief arrived just after we rounded the corner in fear and chose to stay cheery (with some weird expressions to make us laugh and keep our sense of humor)... The choice to be happy is the biggest responsibility we are given. With a good bill of health restored, I will happily keep on pedaling along despite a few fearful turns and 'wiggle warts!'  KC is just learning to pedal straight and I'm going to be there right by his side. I'm just relieved I don't have to fight off any cancer or skinny black dogs.

more shots

Some of my favorites thanks to Lizzie!

shots

This brother pic was snapped after some family shots (which include many funny out takes including this gem) my sister took with us...thanks Lizzie!

super

It's the little known superhero The Milkman and his side kick Chocolate Chunk Cookie. The Milkman takes care of bad guys by freezing them into ice cream with his swirly straw! The Cookie likes to swing when he's not waddling around. The Barcroft Mom's group party kicked off the Halloween fun - check out the cool cheese puff monster.

color!

Woot! Color complete... More soon!

tmarky

We had fun meeting T-marky (the R circle symbol guy) and his trademarked pals at the US Patent and Trademarks Expo this weekend. There were companies with strong trademarks represented along with their fun products, like Mattel's Hot Wheels and Hershey's chocolate. Aiden seemed to understand what a trademark stood for and learned what counterfeit means at the Children's Workshop. He had fun matching the characters and symbols up with their products. The Geico folks were very gungho as usual and we scored a caveman mask ;) which gave KC a disapproving frown. He and his brother had high fives and even hugs waiting for most of the characters wandering around.