Spoooooky recycling!

OK, so we're not really spooky at our house. I like cute Halloween, which, thanks to cute girls, is pretty easy to have. It's also easy when you have a dress-up box full of old costumes that the girls go through to pick their costumes!

Here's spooky Molls in her witch costume - the scariest of the bunch - about to get hit with a spider cookie. (Witch was recycled from Emily's 2005 costume.)

Disney wishes their princesses were this cute!

Heidi had been planning to be a dog for MONTHS before Halloween (Dog costume was also Emily's, recycled from 2004) , so imagine my surprise when the morning of trunk-or-treat she decided she wanted to be Cinderella.

Last year Molly and Heidi both wanted to be Cinderella. Amazingly enough, we HAD two Cinderella costumes already! Molly's was purchased as a dress-up outfit and Heidi's was a dress-up outfit for Emily's 4th birthday. Funny story - it was supposed to be a 4T. Um, no. Heidi was not jazzed about wearing the one Molly wore last year because, as she explained, "Molly's Cinderella, not mine." So she wore the faux-4T. She looks like she's ready for the DCC. Good thing she's wearing that undershirt.

Last March, Emily and her favorite friend Emma decided they wanted to be princess M&Ms for Halloween. Thanks to JoAnn and her fabulous 50% off all felt sale, their wish came true! I have a feeling I can't pass this costume to any sisters. Maybe Em & Em want to recycle this one next year? It's pretty cute.

I'm sorry to say I actually spent money on this one, well only for the hair so I'm not too sorry. Maybe if I had shelled out a little extra people might have guessed who we were. Here's a hint - TV.

Can you guess? Do you give up?

ALOOOOOOO-HA!

Luaus

and sand angels

and volcanoes

and triathletes

(That's Chrissie Wellington, 2009's Ironman World Champion!)

and kayaks

and hula girls, OH MY!

DCC!

Maybe this was a mistake.

I was folding clothes yesterday and watching a very entertaining show on CMT - Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team 4. Emily wanted to watch too so she sat down and started asking questions.

Why aren't they wearing ponytails?

Are they moms?

Why are they dancing like that?

Do their moms know they want to be cheerleaders?

Why is that one crying?

Finally, after watching the girls trying out in their skimpy skimpies, she looked at me and said,

"Mom, you wouldn't be very good at this job.

Your underwear is lots longer."

My dreams have been crushed by my giant underpants!

Don't be surprised

When you have six kids at your house for the weekend

(#6 is behind Heidi's golf club/sword)

and you take all of them miniature golfing

in 100 degree weather,

don't be surprised if this is the best photo you can get.

Oh, and don't be surprised when at least one kid gets stuck in a hole.

Up!

We spent Friday and Saturday in the biggest little city in the world, not to be show-offs or to try to double our yearly income but for . . .

the annual hot air balloon race!

It was amazing and even though we got up at 4:30 (yes, am, and yes, on a vacation) We could stand in the balloon area and watch the balloons fill up and launch.

I was so surprised the organizers let us just walk around. I hate to say this, but this is a lawsuit waiting to happen. I'm just glad we were there before the lawsuits started.

Oh, also, the girls are wearing the pajamas on purpose. The local Reno paper sponsored something they called the world's largest pajama party. Um, not really. To attend you sign up and they give you a bag filled with low-grade swag and advertisements. Oh well. It's always fun to wear jams in public with your mom's permission.

Haven't you always wanted to see inside a hot air balloon?

This one was called "Heated Passion."

The girls were pretty tired on the drive home.

Just like they were the weekend before when we hit the Scottish festival.

Any ideas for next weekend's car nap?

Problem Solved

Two girls earned a movie after school today.

Two girls were excited to watch Barbie Nutcracker.

One girl wanted to jump on and pull the hair of the girls who had earned a movie today and who were excited to watch Barbie Nutcracker.

One girl is now watching Barbie Nutcracker from her car seat.

Problem solved.

When is Oprah giving me my own talk show?

Great Scott!

We always knew that Scott's family was Scottish. I was surprised to discover that we had relatives living in the same county in Scotland in the 1600s. I hadn't even realized I had Scottish relatives, so I was very excited. I also wondered if this was why we look so much alike.

I guess it's OK if you marry a relative if there's a 400 year gap.

This weekend we decided to show our girls (well, and us) our heritage at one of the biggest Scottish festivals in the US. (FYI, and yes, I am showing off here, we didn't bring a diaper bag or even a stroller! YEEEES!)

We weren't quite sure to expect.

Would we see people all dress up like this?

Not quite. They were mostly like this.

Notice the guys on the right and left in their Utilikilts. They're "modern" kilts with cargo pockets. I tried to talk Scott into one but he denied his heritage. Don't you think they'd be pretty handy for church? Pens in one pocket, scriptures in another, coloring books and crayons on the front . . .

Unfortunately we did see some of this.

Again, notice the Utilikilt. All the cool guys have them.

Big mistake Scott.

The girls thought the boys in skirts were funny and enjoyed walking around looking for the most interesting outfits.

When not looking for the men's "purses",

Heidi enjoyed tossing the haggis into the pot.

Molly exacted some revenge and even boasted about it.

Emily found this really cool hideout under the soccer bleachers.

When Scott does decide to start wearing his kilt to church, we found some tartan options for him.

This one is his family's tartan. It's a little Christmassy for my taste.

And this one's mine! I'll let him borrow this one.