Wordful Wednesday-Can You Pop 'Round for Some Tea, Telly and a Chat?

A photo I took back in 1999 while visiting Canterbury Cathedral:

After almost twelve years stationed in New Jersey- we got an assignment. In August, we will be packing up and moving to England!

What an adventure!

Stay tuned....

It's Over (this time)

If you have been hanging out with me during my husband's deployment I both thank you for your support and apologize for the spotty and sometimes woe-is-me posts. The moment we were waiting for since the day he left arrived last week. He came home.

We are so excited to have him home and he is off work for two weeks to spend time with us. Thank you for reading and thank you for all your kind and encouraging words! So, until next time....






This post is being linked up with Dumb Mom's Wordful Wednesday at parenting BY dummies.

Fall

I grew up on the gulf coast where we didn't have seasons. It was hot, hotter and football weather (which is jacket weather in southeast Texas, but still short-sleeved weather further north). I once saw a "travel Texas" ad in Texas Monthly that said, "Sure we have winter in Texas! Last year, it was on a Tuesday." I think that about sums it up.

So, when we landed in New Jersey ten years ago, I was plunged right into winter without getting to experience fall first. I hate cold weather and I hate snow. I was miserable. But the following autumn, I was amazed. And right then and there, I fell in love with New Jersey. Don't get me wrong, when winter rolls around, I still have a love/hate relationship with the area, but I can honestly say that three out of the four seasons, I love it here!

Fall is hands down, my favorite! Such beautiful colors!

[Arney's Mount Friends Meeting House (Quakers) near Juliustown, NJ -date on bldg is 1775]

[Kirby's Mill- near Medford, NJ]

**this is being linked to Wordful Wednesday hosted by Dumb Mom at parenting BY dummies.

Wordful Wednesday- Bringing Da Halloween

If you know me, you know when it comes to Halloween, I like to bring it!

It all started innocently enough, when Noah was only 14 months old and we were pondering what costume to get for him for Halloween that would incorporate a stroller since he wasn't walking very well yet. We were strolling through IKEA, as we often did back in those simpler days, and passed a cute little tin garbage can and I off-handedly said, " How cute! We could make Noah Oscar the Grouch and roll him around in that can!" And the lightbulb went off and the wheels started turning.


We took him to the Halloween party at the base indoor pool that year and he won first prize. And that was it... we were bitten by the bug. We had to represent and defend our title.

So, the Halloween when Noah was two, his favorite character was Bob the Builder. So, I set out to make him a costume that was awesome and unlike any Bob the Builder costume you can buy.


So I had to make it more about the accessory than the outfit. He wouldn't put on his hard hat for the picture, so it is sitting on Scoop. But, alas, we did not win the costume contest at the pool this year. And I was out for blood. By golly, I would WIN IT next year.. I mean HE would win it next year. Ahem.... **blushing**

So, when Noah was three, it was just weeks before Halloween and I was feeling the pressure. I had no grand revelations. Nothing was jumping out at me. So, we made a visit to the Halloween store and I saw the cutest little top hat.. and thought of Moneybags from Monopoly, and VOILA!




He won the contest at the pool that year. WOOT!

So, when Noah was four, Zoe had just entered our lives two months earlier. I now had TWO children to worry about. Noah discovered Legos that year and his favorite color was blue.



And Zoe was only two months old, so she had no opinion on what she wore and I needed something that could just BE.


And much to Noah's chagrin, Zoe won the costume contest that year.

The following year, when Noah was five and Zoe was 14 months, Noah was still holding a grudge for losing the costume contest the previous year and insisted on a store-bought Darth Vader costume. I complied.



Then,I focused my attention on Zoe. Turns out, the few months prior, she finally started growing hair and it was red!! So, I went with it.


Zoe won the costume contest again at the pool party.

The following year, Noah was still bitter about Zoe winning the contest two years in a row and a little angry at himself for taking himself out of the running the previous year by going with a store-bought costume. I had already decided I wanted Zoe to be a scarecrow and I wanted him to be a crow. He refused. That is, until I found an article on Halloween decorations and showed him a "scary Halloween raven" and convinced him to be a raven. ( to be confused with a crow by everyone else, but that was what I wanted... shhhh.. don't tell him)




The bases had recently merged into one super joint base and we learned that the pool Halloween party had lost its funding, so we attended my husband's squadron party. Zoe won. Noah was mad.

So, this year, Noah has stepped up the competition, but, alas we have no costume contest to attend. The pool will not be funded again this year and my husband's new squadron has their kids' party on a Thursday afternoon at 4pm rather than a Saturday like his previous squadron. Zoe has a soccer game that Thursday afternoon and Noah doesn't even get home from school until 4:05, so we will not be attending the squadron party.

As for the specifics. I got off easy this year. My husband is making Noah's costume ( which is AWESOME and will have to be revealed in a later post because it is not yet finished) and my mother made Zoe's costume. I decided what I wanted Zoe to be and when my mother was visiting in August for Zoe's birthday, we went to pick out a pattern for a dress that looked like I envisioned in my mind. I already had the hat (from THIS prank) and bought the tights.





Now, if I could just find some strawberry-scented body spray to make her smell....

**this post is being linked to Wordful Wednesday hosted by Dumb Mom and is also being linked and entered in Dumb Mom's Happily (un)Haunted Photo Contest ( see how I still found a way to enter a Halloween costume contest? It's a sickness, really.)

**and apparently, when I blog past midnight, I use the word "so" a lot. I could easily just edit this and clean it up. However, I cringe when I read it, so I'm leaving it as is to remind myself if I do happen to blog past midnight, to save it and proofread in the morning BEFORE I publish.

Can You See Me Now?

It's that time of year! Soccer season. Noah got his uniform on Saturday ( just before his first game) and I was blinded by the glow factor. As we pulled up to the fields, I saw all the other kids running around in their adorable little red, orange, blue or yellow uniforms and then I saw my son was the green team. Not the normal, crayon box green team... the Nickelodeon slime, nuclear meltdown green team.



Umm.. yeah. They named their team The Green Machine and I am pretty sure I declared at some point that I had never seen a more brightly colored uniform in all my life.

Well this is what I get for making such a dramatic statement- because, early this week when we showed up to Zoe's practice, THIS was waiting for us.



I stand corrected. And they need a team name. Any ideas?

This is being linked to Wordful Wednesday which Dumb Mom is now hosting at Parenting By Dummies.

Wordful Wednesday-After the Party

After all the guests had gone home, after consuming a ridiculous amount of sweets, candy, cake and ice cream, after playing hard with all her friends, the birthday girl, dressed in her new Cinderella dress, passed out on her bedroom floor.

This post is part of Wordful Wednesday and linked up with Angie at Seven Clown Circus.

Welcome Back!

Last weekend, I had a wonderful break from my kids. I drove to North Carolina to see one of my besties from college and we went to a scrapbooking convention together. I had four blissful days kid-free.

I got back to New Jersey Monday afternoon and spent yesterday running errands. Last night, after my husband left for work, the kids ( and by "the kids" I mean Zoe really) wasted no time in initiating me back into the mommy groove.

There was a pretty messy and disgusting poop in the panties incident that wouldn't have been so bad if she had just listened to me and stayed in the bathroom while I rinsed out the underwear and put them in the wash. Then, later, she showed up looking like this:



I should say that there are no markers left in the house. That is blue crayon. I had no idea crayon would mark on skin, but apparently with a little determination, anything is possible.

Welcome back, Mommy!

This post is being linked to Wordful Wednesday at Seven Clown Circus.

NOT a Man of His Word

I love my neighbors! It's always good to have neighbors with a good sense of humor. I like people that make me laugh. Seriously.. that trait is above all others in my book.

Back in the spring, we painted our house. It took an entire four day weekend and my neighbors watched, helped and complimented. When it was all done, Noah was over at their house playing with their little boy and they asked him if he wanted to paint their house. My son, never missing an opportunity to get out of work said, " Nah. But I think it would be funny if you painted yours with polka dots!" Then he apparently went one too far and said, " I would give you $50 if you painted polka dots on your house."

About twenty minutes later, this is what we saw:



Unfortunately, my son backed out on his end of the bargain.

This post is part of Wordful Wednesday at Seven Clown Circus.