So it’s November now, which is fine, we’re fine, it’s all fine. Except that in 6 weeks I promised Caroline I would throw her a Nutcracker-themed 5th birthday party and two weeks after that is Christmas and then it will be 2016 and  OMG. Let’s just focus on this past (excellent) week.

Sunday:

Getting as much costume time as possible this week

I got my first RocksBox! I’m really loving wearing fancy jewelry. My affiliate code good for 1 free month is bebehblogxoxo, if you’re interested in trying it out.

I brought Dorothy to help at a photo session and she charmed a farm dog, OF COURSE.

Monday:

NO PICTURES PLEASE (He’s kidding, he was an excellent photo subject)

DELIGHTED with our fake gravestones

HELP I’M BEING MAULED BY A NURSING LION

Tuesday:

I think he’s judging my hair.

Every day

Linc has a HUGE crush on all the tiny ballerinas

Wednesday:

Now he’s judging Aldi for being a weird grocery store

I might have been a LITTLE early with the reindeer leggings but WHATEVER

Helping himself to Caroline’s uneaten lunch. Caroline now BUYS her lunch.

Thursday:

OUTSIIIIIIDE

OOOOOOUTSIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE

Not happy to be inside, sorting wraps

Friday:

Definitely my kid

LOBSTER TWINS

A scary monster/vampire

Saturday:

SO PROUD of her first trophy

Totally normal

Letting the kids hand out the candy so I can sit and drink my wine #excellentmomming

I did NOT watch the Walking Dead tonight, because my husband is forcing me to watch The Packers embarrass themselves all over the teevee, so I’m going to do the smart thing and pass the hell out. I’m going to make the end of daylight savings work FOR me instead of against me. Fingers crossed all the kids are on board with than plan. They should be, right? Kids are totes reasonable about that kind of thing.

On Sunday morning, we participated in the Mystic Pirate Invasion. We did it last year too and the kids had a blast, Maybe next year I will plan ahead and find them pirate costumes that fit instead of cobbling together dress up from the last 4 years. They got a ton of treasure (candy + beads + plastic gem stones) and I got my 10,000 steps. Linc was strapped to my back (in our pirate/kraken themed carrier, obvs) the whole time, his pirate outfit went mostly unnoticed.

Look! Linc is in a picture!

Scary pirate faces.

Caroline felt is was VERY important that puppy come with us. The child-sized baby carrier was supposed to just be a toy but now it means I don’t end up carrying around the thing she insisted we bring and then loses/drops/wants me to hold. TOTALLY worth $30.

After we ran home and switched to regular person clothes, we headed to WeLiKit ice cream for their 25th anniversary celebration. A friend told me about the ice cream stand over the summer and I have to agree it is some of the BEST ice cream I’ve ever had. And what can be better than a waffle cone that is so fresh it’s still soft and warm when you eat it? It was a tiny bit on the chilly side for ice cream, but the kids did so much running around and general shenaniganery they were plenty warm.

Watching the waffle cone making. Obviously an ice cream stand is the best place to also buy beef.

Indian pudding, my new favorite flavor. It’s molasses and corn meal and if you think that sounds gross we can’t be friends.

p.s. They also sell clam fritters and chowder. Does it sound like the perfect place or what?!

And because I was so happy to be outside after a week of rain, I talked Caroline into playing model for a few minutes. I bought a set of Lightroom presets from Mastin Labs. They’re based on film (remember film????) and while I’m not going to switch over to ALL Mastin, all the time they are gorgeous. I love what they do to greens and shadows. The ones in her tutu were taken in the parking lot of Scotland town hall. The rest were in my yard.

‘

Thing #1 – Leave them on the ground and let them turn into pine trees like God intended. Because unless you have a herd of toddlers to put to work, why the hell would you waste perfectly good time picking up pine cones?*

First, bake them in the oven at 250 for 20 minutes to kill the spiders/bugs/nasty fungus stuff that might be living in them. Because nothing ruins the charming fall decor at your dinner party like poisonous spider bites as parting gifts for your guests.

Thing #2 – Roll them in acrylic paint and put them in a rustic basket as a centerpiece.

Thing #3 – Spray paint them and put them in a glass vase.

TODDLER FINGER PHOTOBOMB!

Thing #4 -Wrap the stem ends in yarn and make a garland.

Thing #5 – Cover them with spray adhesive and glitter and hang them up.

Thing #6 – Spread them with peanut butter and bird seed to make a bird feeder.

Thing #7 -Make scented potpourri: Put them in a ziplock bag & spray with adhesive, add cinnamon/cloves/lemon zest/pumpkin pie spice. Close & shake, open and sniff.

TA-DA! You just wasted your entire stay-at-home-lazy-day making pointless pinecone crafts!

*No toddler labor was exploited in the making of these crafts. Ok, maybe just a LITTLE toddler labor. But they liked it.