The best week evah

I absolutely, positively LOVE the Fall.  October in particular.  Absolutely without a doubt look forward to it all year long.  And here it is 20 days gone already.  But we have made the most of them, and will continue to rock it right up until the snow flies and the pumpkins are molded.

 Last Saturday- we were invited to a family style halloween party.  It was entirely outdoors.  There was a small bon fire (poo poo on you mr. fireban!) and colored halloween lights strung to absolutely everything.  They judged costumes, roasted weinies, we ate carmel corn and spider cookies, there were games and pinatas and a hayride (that may have looked like a small lawn mower pulling a really small cart- but heh who cares), there was a giant inflatable cat thing, there was tree climbing and tire swing swinging- laughter and giggling and kids running through crunchy leaves.  I swear to you I did not want to leave- it was the absolute perfect Fall evening in my book.  My only regret was not taking my camera, I swear it was right out of a movie or something.

Sam has decided to be some robot something or other that I can not at all relate to instead of a tow truck driver- which I was totally on board with.  Nothing I love more than making the kids costumes.  This year I 'made' them at Target.

 Last night we went out as a family for our anniversary dinner. Dan is working nights this week- but I was still so thankful we got to have a nice dinner out.  We even encouraged the kids not to wear sweat pants and character t-shirts.  And we managed to go somewhere other than fazolis, which is our normal nice dinner out. (What?  Italian, all you can eat breadsticks and .99 kids meals- how can you go wrong?)  Emily 'dressed up' and I will forever kick myself for not taking the time to snap a picture of her in a layered black fancy skirt, a white long babydoll style tank top, three pony tails, a glittery blue neckscarf, crystal high heeled shoes and glow in the dark hoop earrings.  It was an honor to hold her hand as we entered the restaurant.

The kids managed to behave and we all had a wonderful meal.  There is a concern though when you eat at a restaurant with clothe napkins and have a child (cough cough emily cough) who managed to overfill her mouth, get all gaggy and have to spit it out in order to keep from throwing up.  We are just too glamorous for words.

Speaking of our dinner- we were seated and then watched several other tables be greeted, get drinks and bread and even have their orders taken and yet we still hadn't heard 'boo' from a single waiter.  This is when I went all ultra-sheek and approached the manager and said (in all my ultra-sheekness) "Look, it is our wedding anniversary and we've gone out on a limb here bringing all three of our kids out to dinner at somewhere other than Chick-Fil-A.  They are like a ticking time bomb X3 and we've got no time to waste.  Are we even seated in someones section or what?"

I'm so classy.  Somewhere in 14 years of marriage and 3 children I have lost a lot of my polish, but I do still manage to chew with my mouth shut most of the time so I think that counts for something.  And it did manage to get a server to us pretty quick.  And the manager brought out a complimentary dessert- which we all found delightful.  (Ever heard of blanched grapes?????  They are red grapes, soaked in vinegar, made all hot and mushy with chocolate drizzled over them.  They are just as tasty as they sound.  I had to use Emily's napkin)  But the profiteroles they were served with were really good.  And yes- I spelled that wrong.

 On to other Fall wonderfulness.  On any given day you can find my robot costume wearing kid in the front yard riding his quad.  I love to watch him play outside.  And I love the beautiful weather we've been having.  And I love how active the squirrels are in the Fall.  And I love seeing those giant wooly bully caterpillars crossing the roads from field to field (really though- where are they all going and why????  could they have really polished off all eatable items in one field and be moving on to the next?  and does everyone swerve to avoid running them over?  or just me?)

And look who has taking up photography???  If only someone would take up cleaning. 

So on the horizon we have my birthday.  Which I love every year- I am like a big kid.  That is the day that I use my birthday as an excuse to get everything I want.  Like going to the zoo, seeing a movie with the kids, having popcorn for dinner, a trip to the pumpkin patch- whatever I want (which is all of the above).  And my birthDAY is more like a birthWEEK because I use the excuse for a full blown week.  It is the best week (in my opinion) of the whole year.  Starts with our anniversary, and ends a few days after my birthday.

And this year- we get to go to a wedding on my birthday!!!  My second favorite thing to a perfect autumn season?????  A wedding!  I can hardly wait, what a blessing!

And then Halloween.  The main event.  Wow- what a wonderful time of year this is.  After we got home from dinner last night- we decorated for Halloween.  Now the house is full of jack-o-lanters and ghosts, our porch is loaded with pumpkins and we are ready for that beautiful Fall evening when we go out and beg for candy.

It doesn't get any better than this.