Welcome to the way-back machine, where we take a look at Halloween costumes past. This was Amy’s awesome idea, but she agreed to share with me because she’s my BIFF (best internet friend forever). I was one of those kids whose mom handmade all her costumes, which NOW I think was awesome but at I time I thought was SO LAME. Why couldn’t I have a cheap plastic Little Mermaid costume like all the other kids? (I mean besides the fact that my mom wasn’t crazy enough to let me Trick-or-Treat in 40 degree temps wearing a seashell bra.) Check out some of the best ones:

(Apologies for crappy scanned photos – my mom did them as PDF’s & changing them ruined the quality)

I am probably 3 1/2 or 4, based on the baby swing for my sister in the background. This one was actually made by my grandmother when my mom was a kid - I loved vintage, even as a toddler! Except back then we called it "dress up".

I am a bride and my sister is a fairy princess. My veil was made out of an old pair of curtains and I can still remember exactly how they smelled. I have no idea why I am holding wrapped presents.

This time I'M the fairy princess and Carolyn is an angel. There were other years with the same tutus/wands/wings combos - princess bride, ballerina princess, fairy bride, ballerina fairy. Whatever. Gimme a tutu and a crown and I am HAPPY. I should add my mom hand sewed all the sequins to all the tutus in all these pictures. WITH HER HANDS.

I wore this costume to school and I LOVED it. My grandmother made it (including the wig) for my mom when she was a kid. I remember being really sad when I outgrew it a few years later and couldn't wear it again. And check out the super sexy base housing in the background (this was the only time we ever lived on base.)

This was the BEST costume I ever wore. Not only did my mom make the genie costume by hand (out of satin! which is so hard to sew with! Project Runway taught me that!) but she made it FOR HERSELF when she was in middle school. AMAZING! She made Carolyn the Tiger Lily costume (we were obsessed with the live-action Peter Pan with Mary Martin where Tiger Lily is a blond) and she probably made Drew's costume too. Mother of the decade, amiright?

And this one again, because we all look so great and because I like scaring my middle school BFF by posting pictures of her on the internet (She reads my blog! How crazy is that?!)

Now it’s your turn! Link up a vintage-inspired Halloween post. It can be a photo of your costume from high school, a story about trick-or-treating in your snowboots, or memories of your best costume as a kid. Whatever you want! The linky will be open all weekend so be sure to check back and hop around to see everyone’s posts and link up. It’s a great way to get ideas for Halloween next year – I am totally going to talk my mom into making make Little Evan a clown costume.

I spent two hours yesterday trying to pick a family photo from our beach pictures to put on our Christmas cards. I was super excited to get them designed and ordered and maybe even addressed before Thanksgiving. I am On Top Of Things! I am Planning Ahead! I have 9 whole weeks to get this done! People will know I thought of them BEFORE January 1st! (Although last year’s late card can probably be excused due to the baby-having I was busy with the week before Christmas.)

Of course, after two hours staring at 300 practically identical photos I decided I didn’t like ANY of them and we’ll have to take a new one. I just can’t bring myself to put a photo of myself in a tank top on a Christmas card. OK FINE, so the real reason is I’ve lost 10 pounds since that trip and who wants to send every single person you know a picture where you’re fatter than you actually are? So “take a really awesome family photo” is on our list of things to do this week, right along with “clean entire house” and “knit a couple of sweaters”.

FORTUNATELY, Shutterfly makes the rest of the card super easy. Even more fortunately, they offered me free Christmas photo cards this year (although my beach photos were already all uploaded to their site, since I ordered an adorable photo book for Sara, the friend whose birthday we were celebrating) in exchange for telling you all which one I like best. How could I say no?

Pros: Lots of pictures, classic design, short and sweet

Cons: My family is never going to look that picture-perfect and I’m jealous

Pros: Cute and creative, I look good in blue

Cons: Not very Christmasy

Pros: I don’t have to write a separate Christmas letter!

Cons: I don’t think we did enough interesting stuff this year.

Pros: Fresh design, love the message, could use a black & white picture so our clothes don’t have to match

Cons: I CAN’T MAKE UP MY MIND!

Now here’s the best news of all: Shutterfly has given me three codes, each good for 25 free cards, to share with you.

Leave a comment below telling me about your holiday card tradition – do you skip them? do you write the BEST family newsletters? do you make your family wear matching pajamas and pose in front of the tree? – and I’ll use Random.org to pick a winner next week. You don’t have to be a blogger to win, just make sure you use an active email address when you leave your comment so I can contact you if you win.

Good luck! Are you totally freaked out now, thinking about how Christmas is only 9 weeks away?

From Wikipedia: The Big E, also known as The Eastern States Exposition, is billed as “New England’s Great State fair”. The Big E serves as the de facto state fair for all six of the New England states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Each of the New England states is prominently represented at the fair. The Big E is the sixth largest agricultural fair in the country, and the largest in New England.

From my experience: A huge ass fair where people lose their damn minds and stand in line for hours for a baked potato. Also, giant slurpies, beer, fried things, horses, crazy people, rides of questionable safety, good times.

We went on Friday, which was a Good Idea because although it was busy it wasn’t unable-to-move busy like it was last year on a Saturday. The weather was fantastic and the kids were 99% angels and even Mr. I Don’t Wanna Go There Are People There And I Hate People had a pretty good time.

Each state has a building showcasing the best stuff from their area. Maple things and seafood are in all of them.

What is this, a carousel for ANTS?

Best baby ever. We just fed her kettle corn the whole time and she barely made a peep.

No corndog no!!! Oh wait, that looks delicious. NOM NOM NOM.

I had the veggie platter for lunch and called it a healthy choice because it wasn't fried butter.

Duck Quack Quack

To make the day even more extra awesome, we met up with one of my long-time internet friends Leah (long time meaning since before I had any kids at all and her oldest kid was only a teeny weeny baby), who normally lives in Chicago but was visiting her family in Massachusetts. Little Evan immediately decided her son Calder was his new best friend, which meant he was allowed to borrow his dinosaur toy. Calder was too busy feeding popcorn to Caroline and sucking down the rest of my slurpie to care, so they got along GREAT.

Dinosaur RAWR

Driving buddies

This ride went WAY TOO FAST around the corners. Obviously Evan is terrified.

Choo choo train

Hey girl.

The boys practically mowed down the ticket taker carnie to be the first ones on and secure their spot in the engine. Calder then invited a cute little girl to sit with them. Mad skills for a 3 1/2 year old.

Hands up the whole time. This kid is fearless.

Isn't it nice when people you know online turn out to be awesome in real life too?

At one point, Leah had to go get some poutine (because, obviously) and I watched her sleeping baby and Calder. When he asked where his mom went I said “To get some food. You just stay here with the random person your mama met on the interet.” “Ok” said Calder. The people in line with us looked a little more concerned, but they must have thought I was joking. AHAHAHA jokes on them!

I love you Big E. See you next year!

So I was just linking to last year’s post about our trip and awwwwwwing over Baby Evan looking like a baby when I noticed I wore the same boots last time. I wonder if I came home and thought “Wow, those were a POOR CHOICE. Next year I’m wearing sneakers!” Because that’s what I thought this year. I win at forgetting things. Wait, what was I saying?

Diagnose me, interwebs. I need you to tell me I’m normal. Or maybe just a quick kick in the ass and someone to drag me out of this giant hole of ennui and laziness I’ve fallen into. I don’t really feel like doing anything anymore. And I really mean anything. Getting dressed is boring. Going to Stroller Strides is too much work. Taking the kids to the grocery store is exhausting. Washing my hair is pointless. My diet plan sucks. Talking to people is hard. It’s too hot. It’s too cold. I don’t wanna and this couch is so comfortable and no one actually cares if I get off it.

As a stay at home mom, I have the option to just…stay home. And lately that sounds more and more appealing.

I can complain about being So Busy with the best of them – “Oh yes! I’m So Busy! I’m on a diet and exercise plan, plus I’m really into making soup from scratch these days. And the blog! People are counting on me to…write stuff!” – but really? Besides providing basic food stuffs and making sure the laundry piles don’t get too high (and you know, keeping two children alive) I have no mandatory activities. So when I’m exhausted and in bed at 9 pm it’s my own doing. I’m not busy. I MAKE myself busy to make myself feel more important.

(Insert paragraph about how raising human beings IS important! I am creating loving, kind, functional adults who might cure cancer or fly to Mars or invent calorie-free dark chocolate! Now insert massive eye roll because all I’m actually doing these days is wiping butts and filling sippy cups.)

Lately, when we’re on our way to somewhere I start fantasizing about how I could just NOT. I can seeeeeeee us, all NOT DOING THINGS, and we are are enjoying it. I can feel my desire to be still and quiet pulling on me, whispering in my ear that my kids are too young to even remember these places so why bother? For the blog pictures? That’s stupid.

I’ve given in to my laziness a few times over the last few weeks and it is kind of fantastic. Kid’s TV for the toddler, stretchy pants and a Diet Coke for me, grapes and a teether toy for Caroline and we can all do nothing until E gets home from work. But it makes me sort of nervous because there is a fine, well walked line between taking a few days off from regular life and becoming a shut in whose kids no longer know how to interact with the general public. How deep can I let my hole get?

Also, my desire not to do stuff has also started creeping into stuff that’s slightly less optional, like dinner and laundry. How about pizza for dinner? Why put these clothes away when they’re just going to get dirty? Who cares if the half of the house we don’t use is a mess? None of the other people who live here seem to. And then a teeny tiny thought that says Why don’t you just not get up with the baby? You can let your husband do it. You can just stay in bed. He would HAVE to deal with it eventually. It only takes a few seconds for me to shake it off, but the idea showing up in my head at all is like having your grandma show up in your sexy dream about George Clooney. That’s weird, Grandma. Go away.

I’m afraid it’s only going to get worse, since the colder weather means fewer places to go (mall, aquarium, children’s museum, mall, aquarium, lather rinse repeat) and bundling up two kids is about as much fun as bundling up two rabid badgers. And when it’s snowing, staying home is allowed – encouraged, even! – so the people I see on a regular basis won’t even start to wonder where I am. Which might be nice for a while, since I can’t seem to hold a normal conversation without talking about my toddler’s potty training efforts or my baby’s habit of biting my nipples and NOBODY wants that mom at their party.

The irony of all these words is that I didn’t explain myself very well, but because I am so filled with ennui I can’t be bothered to explain any better, which might actually be the perfect example of what I meant in the first place.

Turns out there might be just a FEW benefits to having a friend who owns a vineyard. Like, for example, free tickets to her fall wine festival. Unfortunately, both my guys were a little grumpy and the place was PACKED so we didn’t stay too long. Little Evan kept running away through the throngs of drunks shouting that he wanted “Lemonade! Lemonade! Now Mama!” and trying to grab people’s wine out of their hands. (I guess calling my nightly glass of Reisling “Mama’s Special Lemonade” was a poor choice.)

There’s nothing that ruins a great glass of Cabernet Franc faster than having to wrestle a screaming toddler to the ground. I think the appropriate wine pairing for 2-year-old is GIANT BOX. But even with all four hands full, E and I managed to snap a few pictures.

How many babies does it take to rip Daddy's glasses off his face?

I love how they look so much alike even though it's just the back of their heads

A nice cold Riesling makes a great teether

And here’s what we wore. I’m not thrilled with my outfit, but it was the first time all week I wore something besides stretchy pants so I felt it needed some documentation. I am very excited boots and jeans and scarves, but not so much of how sweaters make my arms look. Time for some more push-ups, I think.

Little Evan:
Shirt & pants – Old Navy
Shoes – Target

Caroline:
Head to toe – Carter’s (all from a hand-me-down box)

Mama:
Sweater – Target
Tank – Express
Purse – Kate Spade
Necklace – Bought in Paris at a street market (don’t I sound FANCY???)

They also have a tiny kitten heel. They are FORMAL moccasins.

Shoes – SteinMart
Jeans – Courtesy of the Lee Denim booth at BlogHer. I love the color and the stretch, but I should have gone with a slightly lower rise. I swear there are NO JEANS anywhere in the world that fit me correctly, especially after 2 kids. All my mushy bits get strangled and my butt is sadly flat looking. I miss my old butt.