Better Late Than Never?

Well, I know Halloween and Fall Break were a while ago, but I thought I'd post some pics anyway so you can see the Adventures of Emily and Ryan. 

We had an early snow so we pulled all the pumpkins into the front hall.  Ryan played "ball" with these every day until the snow melted.

For Halloween Ryan was "Adam" from the Garden.  Just kidding.  His little tooshie was raw from 2 months of diarrhea so we let him "air out" at Nana's house.  FYI:  his big D is gone and the kid broke 4, count 'em, 4 molars!  Fun times...

Em and I got to ride horses at a friend's house while we were home in South Dakota. What's that?  Yes, I am wearing a Pashmina with camouflage and running shoes...(no, I wasn't prepared for the chill at sunset!)

Bonus kid points go to Emily this year...she told me she wanted to be Cleopatra and wear her Egyptian princess costume again...it's from two years ago...the bonus points come in that Mama didn't have to make a costume this year!  (*To tell the truth, I kind of missed making one...)  LOVE our niece and nephews pajamas that glowed in the dark!!!  And that's Aunt Kitty behind the sword...let's just say Ryan DID NOT LIKE Auntie's face painted like a kitty!

Ryan, or "Squirt," helped me pass out candy to the kiddos in the hood.  And by "pass out" well, I have video of him chucking it left and right but I'm not sure how to post it here.  He's into that stage of throw down/pick up/throw down/pick up!  Fun for Mama!

In order to stop Squirt from chucking the candy dish all over the hallway I allowed him a few seconds of phone time.  I NEVER allow this as a phone is NOT a toy...not in my book, anyway.  I have a feeling this kid is going to be like his daddy...a techy brainiac genius type.

I guess I did get to sew a little...we were invited to a friend's family party down the street.  Emily insisted that we HAD to dress up, that EVERYBODY would be wearing a costume, so, I was either going to sport my senior year gold sequin prom dress circa 1990, my Grandma's old house robe with slippers and rollers with face cream, or a flapper dress I had made for a murder mystery party we went to 15 years ago...Can you tell which one I went with?  I had to take in the dress, if you count that as sewing.  

And did we have the best costumes there, you ask?  Well, yes.  Yes we did, in fact...BECAUSE WE WERE THE ONLY FRIGGING PARENTS DRESSED UP AT THE PARTY!  So, there you go...Halloween down, Thanksgiving in a week and then December the next week!  This year is flying!

Oh, Facebook! Gotta love it!

"Please copy and paste this as your status if you know someone, or have heard of someone who knows someone that may know someone who knows anyone. If you don't know anyone, or even if you've heard of anyone who doesn't know anyone that doesn't know someone, then still copy this. It's important to spread the message. Oh, and the hearts. ♥ ♥ ♥ For crap's sake, don't forget the hearts. ♥ ♥ ♥"

My friend, Russ, from college posted the above as his Facebook status yesterday. He has always been able to make me laugh!

Jason, Russ, and Yo
(Like Em's photo skills? She cut her own daddy out of the picture! Oops!)

This morning while I was holding Ryan, I was skimming through Facebook and came upon Russ' status. I started laughing, and then crying, and then cracking up so hard that Ryan started laughing at me. I told him that my friend Russ is hilarious, but that I was super mad at him because his post made me laugh...and I have strep throat from hell and it feels like I'm swallowing swords, so laughing with a sore throat isn't funny!

But laughing is great! It feels good, aside from the swords, it feels good in my body, in my heart, in my mind. I could sure use a good laugh a little more often. I usually laugh at most of life, more sarcastically, but I laugh nonetheless. And my sense of humor, well, it's likely inappropriate for the next guy, but if I can't laugh at little things, I won't be able to laugh at the big things, the things that are hard, the ones that make me grow...the ironic things...

I think I've gotten too serious.

I mean, it's easy to get serious. There is a lot in this world that is scary and wrong and downright frightening!

But I think that when we stop to laugh, especially at life, at ourselves, at each other, we open a place in our heart for hope.

And maybe, just maybe, there is a silver lining in every cloud...

Just for fun...

So, I feathered my hair. You know you want to try it. And, that young thing to the left of the picture, when I told her that I 'feathered my hair' said, "What's feathering?" Which, mind you, came only days after Jason informed me that we were 'middle-aged'. Who knew 37 was middle aged?! I would beg to differ, Sweetheart! Anyway, not to mention, people, this all transpired maybe a week or two after I decided to stop plucking my gray hairs and let them grow freely on my head, since, I concluded that at this stage in my life, gray hairs are better than no hairs. (If you are bald, I am not knocking you...baldness is good, I just don't want to induce it, if you know what I mean?!) And besides...I have darn well earned every gray hair on this melon!

So, go have a little fun this weekend! Go feather your hair, just for fun, baby, and post some pictures! Let's bring it back, at least for one weekend! It felt good to step back in time and turn my curling iron in the opposite direction!

Feathering tip: Blow dry hair with big round brush in direction of feathering, then use a large curling iron to send those feathers way back. If you blow it dry straight and then try to curl it back, it doesn't have the same effect. Only apply AquaNet for nostalgia, otherwise, it's 2009, just go au natural and save the environment...

(Yes, I was bored the other day and thought, "I wonder what my hair would look like feathered..." Now I know. Not sure it'll be a repeat offense!)

Lighten up a little and have fun, will ya?!