Things that are teh awesome.

1. throwing a Pirate Party for your kid's 5th birthday party, because that's what he wanted. (how awesome is it to have a kid that requests, nay demands! his friends talk & dress like pirates?)

2. having other adult-type friends who dress as pirates for the party so I am not dorky costumed mom...I am dorky costumed mom with friends! also, having adult-type friends who are handy with tools build a pirate game to occupy tiny ones.*

3. in the spirit of the season, rewatching old horror films. Bela Lugosi as Dracula is awesome, in a cheese-in-the-can kind of a way. Tonight's feature is Night of The Living Dead!

4. my mom comes for a visit tomorrow. I will be showing her off like a space-age robot.

5. Every time we mention trick-or-treat, Fiona interprets it to: chocolate milk. This has led to a number of improvisations--Fiona as an elephant, drinking chocolate milk. Fiona as a dinosaur, drinking chocolate milk. The action is always the same, but the narrative is what really makes it worthwhile.

6. K and Fuz move into their new house (woo! and congrats!)


*I am not sure if I failed to explain it properly or if they were just more interested in yanking each other around by a length of rope, but the game didn't happen as it was described to me.

New new new!

My oh my! It's always exciting to get things done around the house. Aaron thinks I'm overly ambitious, but the truth of the matter is that I am proactive and he is reactive. I'm also really good at getting him to see things my way. Aaaaah, the power of persistence. (It only took me 5 years to get a dog, after all). To that end, we got a new roof. When we bought the house, there were 3 layers of shingles up there--and the inspector said we could probably squeeze 4 years out of the existing roof. But then some guys came by and gave us an estimate, and I figured lets just do it. (DO IT NOW, screamed the little voice in my head)

We did a complete tear-off, and you know what they found under those 3 layers of shingles? Three holes in our roof. Right over Adrian's bedroom. Which may explain why his room was SO MUCH COLDER than the rest of the house last winter. One of the holes was big enough to put a basketball in. And I took pictures. So here they are, for your viewing pleasure.

Hole number one. AKA the really big one. And if you look up towards the crest of the roof, you can see hole number two.

Hole number 3. The slightly smaller one.

Thankfully, all have been repaired and we have a new roof on top of them.

It just goes to show: you never know what's under there!

Product review, 4-year-old style.

Me: Here, Adrian I got you some more tape.

Adrian: A whole roll? Can I keep it?

Me: Yes, a whole roll just for you. I know how you love the tape.

Adrian: Yes. Because it is SO handy.

Right quick...

I am about to fall asleep where I stand, but I thought I should check in first. Hello! All is well! Children are giant! Adrian will be 5 in 13 days. He is vibrating with excitement.
And a funny: I have this Aunt, she's one of my favorite people EVER, and whenever I am having a grumpy day I know that I can call her and she'll say the exact right thing to cheer me up. One of these things has evolved into a long-standing joke. If the kids are being too much of a handful, she tells me to put them in a box & send them to her via the UPS man.
So this week, Fion climbed into an empty cardboard box and I said to her: What do you think? Should we send you to Aunt Carmela?
And she thought for a moment and replied: Yes. To Aunt Gorilla, please.

Noodles one and two, signing off.