Trick or Treat

Wm went trick or treating last night. This was the first year that he has been really, really into it. For example, he has always been very content with his little pumpkin to collect the candy in, but this year, he insisted he needed a pillowcase. It was hard to keep up with him!! He was running from house to house like a crazy person - and dragged me around until he goes, "OK - my hands are so cold that at first I couldn't feel them, but now they are hurting." We went with some friends who have 2 little girls younger than Wm and a 1 year old. When we got home, Wm was all, "they slowed me down!!"  I told him I thought he did OK. And he looked SUPER cute! 

Just looking fancy

Slender Man ready to go!

Wm coming down the stairs from his first house!

The haul - not even including the super awesome bag from Mimi!!

This afternoon is his school Halloween parade/party. And, of course, it's supposed to rain. Hopefully it holds off because the indoor parade is a hot mess!! Wm went to school in his Slender Man suit and then just has to pop on his mask. Easy peasy!

Sweetie

Wm is hilariously sweet. I went and got my hair cut yesterday and asked them to cut me some bangs so my dumb hair will stop hanging in my face. Wm walks home from school, sees me, and goes, "OH MY GOD, I LOVE your hair!!! It makes you look younger!" Where does he get this stuff?!? He's funny. And such a sweetie. But it made me laugh my butt off. (Note: his reaction was way more fun than Steve's - who said "it's cute - what's for dinner?")

Do I look younger? Tell me more about my eyes.

Another funny part was the stylist went ON and ON about how I need to do this and that to make my bangs lie flat now that they are in a "blunt cut." So she gave me this whole tutorial on how to blow them dry, how to style them, what products to use, and kept trying to tell me I needed to get a "large paddle brush" to really get them to "lay right." I didn't have the heart to tell her that the only issue I'd have is if I wanted them to do anything OTHER than lay flat. My hair does exactly one thing: lay flat. She used some weird iron looking tool on it and insisted that it would be a lot of work to get my hair to lay flat the right way. So, after this whole 15 minute bang discussion, I woke up this morning, washed my hair, brushed it, and walked out the door. I did not even touch my bangs. And here's what they looked like once they dried:

Laying flat. Work involved: 0 minutes

Apparently I have found the perfect haircut for my hair. If "laying flat" is how it's supposed to be…mission TOTALLY accomplished.

Wm was looking adorable messing around on the iPad last night, so I took a series of action shots in a "photo burst," so you can see the many faces of Wm in a 5 second window:

Spotted.

Amused.

Silly.

ATTACK!!!!

Tonight is trick or treat!!! Wm is puuuuumped! I'm sure I will have a ton of pictures of him being a very tiny and very cute Slender Man!

Pumpkins!

Wm was VERY proud of his pumpkins when we were sitting on the front porch yesterday after school and a bunch of kids were like, "cool pumpkins!" He is also wicked excited for trick or treat and has a daily countdown. 

The first cut

Planning

Execution

Finished product

Steve still hard at work

Lit up and looking scary!

Adventures

Wm's class has a blog and a twitter account and his clubhouse has a Shutterfly account, so we're getting all sorts of Wm updates and pictures. These are 2 favorites:

School Field Trip to German Village (Wm in blue and tiny in the back)

Reading under a table at Clubhouse

We carved pumpkins yesterday - the weather was PERFECT! I got a bunch of pictures, but I want to light the pumpkins and get some "finished product" shots too. 

Bleak House

Wm is feeling almost 100% better, but I'm still feeling kind of yucky. Steve woke up yesterday morning and said his throat felt "scratchy," so he may be the latest victim of The Dread Germs William. I keep having horrible coughing fits and have my neti pot water preparing right now - per the advice of Mimi. Hopefully that helps!! I'm hoping for a decent night's sleep!!  Wm had trouble sleeping a couple nights ago because he read spooky stories and one had a picture of a guy with a really creepy face. Wm said he couldn't stop picturing the face. So I had him draw googly eyes and snaggle teeth and a silly mustache on the scary face and we made it into a funny face. Worked like a charm! He's slept fine the last couple nights. I'm hoping we're all up to a little pumpkin carving tomorrow after everyone gets a full night's sleep!!

This just made me laugh.

Wm's morning crazy hair

The Sphinx looking regal in his window bed

Rudolph

Wm has a little red nose. He says he feels "100% healthy," but he has a lingering cough. And now I woke up this morning with my throat on fire. So I think he has managed to spread the love.  He is currently on a field trip and taking a "walking tour" of German Village. And in major trouble with Steve for being pouty and evil about dressing warmly for the field trip. I got a text that said, "NO SCREENS FOR WM TONIGHT." 'Nuf said.

Red nosed Willie

Someone posted an incredibly sexist ad on Facebook to point out it's crazy offensiveness and when I showed it to Steve and opened my mouth to begin my rant, he goes, "I know…I know. Patriarchy…feminism…blah blah blah."

Fridge

THE FRIDGE HAS ARRIVED!!!!!! And it is pretty awesome. Here are before and after shots:

And....drum roll, please...THE REFRIGERATOR:

I can't believe it's here.

Efficient

Wm has a yucky mucus cold. He says he feels fine, but he has been leaking like a faucet. We went to Kohl's yesterday and got his Slender Man outfit. I was able to get in one win. He INSISTED on suit pants that he'll probably never wear again, but I managed to talk him into a black zip-up thing that he can wear all the time instead of a suit jacket. And, of course, the red tie. So now he's ready to go.  Wm is a stubborn little guy and when he gets and idea into his head, there is NO changing it. The trick is to plant whatever seed you want BEFORE he makes up his mind, then when he's all, "that zip up is perfect," you can be like, "YOU'RE A GENIUS, WILLIAM...how did you ever think of that? So smart." And he thinks it's his idea and that he's brilliant. [insert diabolical laugh here]

But now, due to The Cold, we are trapped at home so Wm doesn't infect anyone (or get quarantined - like a friend of Steve's who went to Urgent Care with a stomach bug and told them he played soccer with some guys from Africa so they quarantined him in the hospital for 3 days).  I guess I can clean the house...

Speaking of the house, we are super energy efficient! We got this from the gas company yesterday:

I think we're more cheap than we are green, but the result is the same: we use a ton less gas than most people. I REALLY wish they would have sent us this BEFORE we paid for the energy audit that told us our house is pretty darn efficient (especially for being 100 years old!) and we don't need to do anything. 

AND, big news: The Fridge comes tomorrow!!!! Allegedly. 

Costume

Two posts in one day! But we took Wm to the Halloween store this afternoon and he decided he wants to go as Slender Man for Halloween and I had to share. They had a real cheesy costume suit for $45, but I can get an actual suit for that much at Kohl's. So we got Wm Slender Man's white face:

And I'll take him to Kohl's Saturday for his suit! Now I have to think of fancy places to take him so he can get some use out of this suit.

On the way home Wm said 2 funny things...

1.

Steve: Convenient that you're slender.

Wm: Yeah.

Me: Skinnypants!

Wm: That's offensive.

2. 

Wm: They had that at school last year, but they excluded it this year.

Steve: Wow. Excluded.

Wm: What?

Steve: That's a big word!

Wm: Do not doubt my vocabulary. 

Deer!

I walked out and flipped on my headlights this morning and a GIANT deer was standing in our backyard only about 10 feet away from my car! Crazy!!  However, he did not do the "deer in headlights" thing. The minute he saw me flip on the lights, he paused for just a couple seconds and then ran into the trees. I felt very outdoorsy. And immediately texted Steve and Wm. Wm was amazed!

Wm came home yesterday and said he had his eyes checked at school and his left eye is 20/50 so he "needs a monocle." I told him he needs a visit to the eye doctor, apparently!! It looks like Wm may soon be the proud owner of some glasses! I am pumped to get him some cool tiny, hipster glasses. Wm, however, is really focused on this monocle idea.

And, weirdly, I found out I have gallstones yesterday! I guess my gallbladder is not inflamed or in open rebellion, so my doctor said we can just watch them for now. But if I develop "extreme pain on my right side; or nausea, vomiting, and high fever" I am supposed to immediately go to the doctor and they will have to suck the thing out. I'm losing body parts left and right!

Steve works all weekend - and long hours (because the dummy finally fired that guy...right before a tournament). So Wm and I will have to find ways to entertain ourselves!  On tap is starting an ambitious project, completing half of it, then whining until Steve does it. Same old, same old.

Spelling Whiz

Me: What is this whole big packet in your backpack?
Wm: Oh, we have started a unit on spelling. We got divided into 3 groups. I am in the best group.
Me: How do you know it's the best group?
Wm: Because I saw the words the other groups are spelling.
Me: And your words are harder?
Wm: Uh, YEAH. Group 1 is spelling "bed." We are spelling "insincere."
Me: Well, maybe Group 2 is the "best" group!
Wm: That's the group most of the class is in. It's the regular group.
Me: You just have this all figured out, eh?
Wm: Yep.
Me: Did you ever consider that no group is the "best" group and all the groups are just doing different, but equally good, things?
Wm: No. I'm in the best group. I'm an awesome speller.
Me: FINE. Spell annihilate!
Wm: A-N-N-I-H-I-L-A-T-E
Me: NO!
Wm: YES.
Me: A-N-N-H-wait.
Wm: You can't spell annihilate.
Me: You didn't get the spelling thing from me. I think I would be in the "bed" group.
Wm: Obviously.
BURN.

The Wilds

Mimi took us on an adventure to The Wilds outside of Zanesville today and we had an amazing time!! Wm said it was "epic." He wants to make a slideshow of all the animals he saw and take it to school to show his teacher and all his friends.

Mimi and Wm in the open bus about to begin!

We were feet away from a rhino and her baby!

A parakeet perched on Wm's arm!

Mimi shocked when her bird flew away suddenly 

Wm being a doofus

The ostrich wanted to eat Steve's face off

Gift shop!

And we returned home to our own wild beast

Wm said his favorite thing we did was go into the parakeet house and feed them. His favorite thing he saw were the cheetahs. Steve's favorite thing was the baby rhino. I liked the African Painted Dogs. But we also saw giraffes, bison, zebras, antelopes, and a bunch of other things too numerous to name. Perhaps the family's favorite were the dholes - Mimi tried to tell us it was pronounced "dole," but we enjoyed calling them "D holes." We went on the one nice day in an island of raining and gross days. It was a bit cool this morning, but nothing a few gift shop sweatshirts couldn't take care of! Perfect trip!!

Wm: Daddy, will you play iPad with me?

Steve: Give me a few minutes to digest, man.

Wm: [BIG ANNOYED BREATH]

Steve: Jeez, dude, we just took you on an adventure! Gimme a second!!

Wm: Actually, that was Mimi.

Steve: Well, I drove!!

Wm: Mimi could have driven if you didn't. 

Steve: [silent fuming] 

2 minutes later, Wm had successfully badgered Steve onto the iPad playing some new game he downloaded. 

Updates

I realized that there are a few things I have left hanging that require updates…

1. ALL of Wm's fair fish are still alive. Steve cleaned their tank last weekend and Schroeder FREAKED out. He was terrified something was happening to "his" fish. I can't believe every single one of those fish is still alive and kicking.

2. The memory foam mattress that Steve and I got a couple months ago is now a point of disagreement. Neither Steve nor I was sure about how we liked sleeping on memory foam (it's very different). After 3 months, I LOVE it and Steve hates it with the fire of a thousand suns. Soooo…not in agreement there.

3. We got a call yesterday that they have discontinued the fridge we ordered. So we continue to be cursed. And our old fridge has now started making a very menacing clicking sound.

4. Wm continues to be awesome…er, epic.

Memberized

Found on Steve's phone.

I have officially been inducted into the cult of the UU's! I had my new member ceremony today at church - and even Steve came (and took pictures!) My mom took  us out to lunch afterwards to celebrate and it was a great day! The only thing to besmirch an otherwise fabulous time was when someone asked Wm if he liked going to church and he was all, "Not really." Sigh. That kid will be the death of me. I did have to shake a million hands in the receiving line (I wanted to ask if anyone had traveled to Liberia recently, but decided against it) and was very grossed out. I am a fan of the bow. Let's start the bow as a thing. I vote bow. If I don't know your middle name, that means I don't know you well enough to touch you. I'll bow very deeply to you without a qualm, however.

Just realized I am weirdly shorter than everyone else on stage.

Getting my cardamon seed of welcome!

Making my day even better, a woman thought I was 25! Wheeee!!!

Lastly, Wm has taken to calling everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) "epic." So if I'm all, "Wm, you did a great job folding your laundry!! You can play on the iPad now!" He, without fail, goes, "Epic." He has added in the even more annoying "epicsauce." So things can now be "epicsauce." Like, the scones I made Wm were "epicsauce." Church today, however, was not epic, apparently.

Freezing Cold Apples

Last Saturday when we were supposed to go apple picking, it was sunny and in the 80's. This Saturday, when we actually went apple picking, it was in the 40's (with wind chills making it feel like it was in the 30's) and was sleeting. We put on a lot of layers, but haven't broken out our winter hats/gloves yet, so Wm said his fingers were so cold they hurt. We picked apples at record speed and had to skip all the stuff we usually do (corn maze, games, hay tunnels, etc). But we still had fun!! We were not deterred!

Wm picking a winner!

Stevie Appleseed

Huddled for warmth!

Since it's cold and blustery, I made chili for dinner (that Steve said is the best chili he's ever had!) and used some of our apples to make an apple pie! 

So, all in all, it has been a very cold and a very successful day!

<3 My Boys