12 Glorious Years

 

Leaves are dropping so fast here but I had to look past the Autumn Beauty and think Spring.  We purchased 50 bulbs from Costco and moved around the soil to bring good stuff to to the top.

 

 

Justin dug the holes and I placed each bulb in its one little winter hole.  Row after row I imagined how great it is going to look in April when all 50 pop up.  A little slice of heaven.

 

 

How sad I would have been if we wouldn't have planted them!  I think of our last 12 years together (mentally calculating that I have been married exactly 1/3 of my life!), but I think, what if?

What if we wouldn't have taken the time to bring all the good stuff to the top? I marvel at all the little things we have talked about and planned and how now we are starting to see the beauty in bloom!!

 

I am married to my best friend and I am so lucky.  He is generous and caring and loving and so gorgeous. 

 

I learn more about him all the time and feel like God hand-picked us for each other.  What will our next season bring?

Halloween 2013

 

Whoo made the coolest pumpkin???

I am rather proud of this creation - loving how I embraced the negative image...

 

This year, as I carved away at Audrey's pumpkin, I started to have some weird revelations.

 

 

My first thought was that we take our eager children to wonderful pumpkin patches and urge them to pick there best EVER pumpkin.  Encouraging them to search for good carving sides and great stems. 

Then...

 

We pull out the KNIVES and tell them to back the heck away.  It's for adults only.

 

Oh sure.  We try to make it look like fun by forcing them to stick their little hands in the pumpkin guts.  (But really that is so we don't get all sticky and they do the dirty work.)

 

 

Then we (the parents) carve our little hearts out and gloat about how amazing OUR pumpkins turned out. 

 

The Parents then turn the lights out and practically light the pumpkins on fire - screaming at our kids to stay far away. This is all perfectly normal.  In fact, millions of people do it every year! 

 

 

 

Then to continue the Halloween insanity we urge the children to dress up.  Pick anything you like we tell them.  This is your chance to be whoever you want to be.  Until, that is, we get to the costume store.  Then the story changes to: this is your chance to be anything you want to be under $19.99. 

 

Audrey is already on to this.  This year she just used an old skirt from her last dance performance.  We were feeling bad so we grabbed a $4.99 scarf from the Party Story.

 

It was the least we could do.

 

Carissa is 7.  She wanted to be a zombie cheerleader and just look dead.

I am not sure how to translate that but we just went with it.  Because, well, as I am starting to realize, Halloween is kind of weird.

 

 

Ok, next revelation.  Now that the pumpkins are lit, the costumes on, we begin to walk.  The parents start to explain that the more we walk, the more candy we will receive.  The kids quickly catch on.  The enjoy walking, knocking, running, walking, knocking, running. Until they realize they have to walk HOME.  That is the painful part. 

 

 

 

So we tell them that when you get home you can look at your candy!

 

Oh the candy!  Which leads me to my last revelation. 

We count the candy...

We sort the candy...

We inspect the candy...

We throw out the mints...

We trade the candy...

 

Can we eat the candy?

 

 NO!

 

Just one and it's time for bed.

 

Not really sure when the kids will get that Halloween is crazy, weird, and kind of not that fair but for now I guess I will embrace it.  More Twizzlers for me!