On the Exhale

Well, I am still catching my breath. I thought I'd post a little photo essay tonight to show what we've been up to the past week or so.







Busy? Why yes, but in the best way. Still trying to land on my feet. More soon!

Something More

We're full throttle into Halloween weekend around here. The pirate, Power Ranger, dinosaur and Mickey Mouse are all ready to go. I, Spider Girl, have a full slate of events scheduled this weekend, not only of the Halloween variety but of the wedding and baby variety as well. Joe Dirt is still out from last night's partying with the boys.

The pumpkins are carved; school parties are done. Now all that is left is a special family kid Halloween party and Trick-or-Treat. But along with that comes the opportunity to be something else, something more or something different.

And, after we're done with all of this, we get to enjoy November, a beautiful girl's 8th birthday and a gracious Thanksgiving celebration of blessings, family and food. And, oh yeah, after that it's a month of family, good food, shopping, friends, and some of the best days of the year at Christmas.

So it's no wonder that we love this time of year! Here's to fall and family and friendships and the act of weaving fun into everything. (Photos to come.)

Be safe out there tonight. Be yourself, but be something different, something more.

If She Doesn't Scare You...

That Cruella De Vil. If she doesn't scare you, no evil thing will!

I tell ya, she might be scary to see, but she sure is fun to be. I had a great Halloween weekend with this award-winning costume coming together just hours before Trick or Treat last night. Shaggy... er, Shrek.. and I decided to dress along with the kids for the town's Trick or Treat, which we don't normally do. But we were planning to go out afterwards, and it just made sense. So the whole lot of us: Shaggy, Cruella, a witch, a zebra and Scooby Doo hit the street around 6:30 p.m. It was a blast!


The kids had a great time and we finished the evening, as is tradition, with a visit with cousins at the Cooper house. There were cousin witches, smiling four-year-olds and the dynamic duo of Shaggy and Scooby...




We left the kids happy at home with their mammaw and a couple of Halloween specials on TV. (Thanks, NBC!) We headed off to the American Legion for some good-natured Halloween fun with friends. We got to see lots of friends, including my best girl, Spider Woman, and my brother, the Scottish athlete. I even won third place in the costume contest!



It was another fun notch in the belt of Roberts Halloweens. Check out the belly on this Cruella! She must not be as scary as she looks...


Hope your Halloween was festive. I don't know about you, but I'm ready to kick off November in the morning. Let's keep the good times rolling!

Carving Out Memories

Well, I suppose this is a good time to admit that if I hadn't been so %$#&)^%# frustrated while letting the kids help me ice a kajillion sugar cookie ghosts last night that I might have really liked to have taken a photo of them to go with this post. Ah well. This still photo of the cookies tonight will have to do. No regrets, right?

What's that? They don't look like ghosts????? Oh well. They are ready for preschool tomorrow, and they taste so delicious!

Ironically enough, I've had a bit of a crap day, and it was one of those lovely little ghosts I just ate that gave me the energy and the desire to write this post. I think it reminded me of Christmas, which I love. And eating the cookie also reminded me of Thanksgiving overindulgence, which I also love.

I also think we're a little closer to all of the Roberts kids knowing what they are going to be for Halloween this year. Max is loving a zebra costume we borrowed for Tuesday School, but I think he'll be Captain America for tomorrow's Halloween party. Lily has decided to be a rock star, though she informed me tonight that she thinks her microphone is in the camper at Lake Tweet. Lovely. And Colby? Well, that kid's easy. He'll either be a mummy or a puppy or just the cutest curly-and-red-headed 17-month-old in the world.

Halloween is special for our family. We've never shied away from the whole dress-up thing. In fact, for the longest time, Halloween was Shrek's FAVORITE holiday. I think our laid-back and fun family has finally allowed Christmas to edge in front now, but I'm not sure.

So I've dressed up as many things over the years with my love. Most memorably, I was a flapper and he, Marquis de Sade, on Halloween 2001, at a party at which we were ENGAGED! That's right. Shrek asked me to marry him in a smoky, crowded bar while wearing a white yarn wig, tights and knickers. And I said yes!

I wish I had a scanner so I could show you a photo of the happy couple. But I don't. But I remember it all well: Shakebomb, tons of friends, my baby singing his crazy rendition of "Mr. Suit," and then a summons to the front, where he fell to one knee and proposed. I was crying by the time I got to the stage, and I couldn't see the ring for anything, but of course, I said yes. And then there was happiness, champagne, Shakebomb singing "Pretty Woman," and my baby and I dancing and laughing and loving our rock star proposal. Good times!

And that's just one small reason why I LOVE Halloween. What's that you say? What am I going to be this year? Well, I'm thinking I might just hike up my shirt to paint a pumpkin on this spectacular belly. I tell you what, at only 25 weeks, nobody seems to grow them like I do, and it might just be time to show off my amazing womb/gardening skills!

I encourage you to dress up too and to not be a fuddy duddy by looking like you do every other Saturday night of the year. Find the kid in you, and see Halloween from fresh eyes!

And now, just to prove that we dress up with the best of them, here are a couple snaps of the Roberts from Halloween of 2008, when we won Best-Dressed Family at a school-wide party at St. John's Central School in Churchtown. (I think it might have been the seven-foot-tall tin man that clinched the title....)




In the words of the wizard, "A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others."

Happy Halloween!