Batman

You should know that I cried and cursed five minutes into costume making. That’s when Jared took over and I supervised. Either way, we ended up with the coolest little batman.

 Proof?

Gray's costume is, uh, currently under construction. Yeah.  

Costumes or what I'm really scared of this Halloween.

I have Halloween costumes to make this week and I’m feeling incredibly intimidated. I’m sitting here thinking, “Mel, you fool! Why are you typing when you should be drafting intricate plans for your children’s debut on the super hero circuit? Why blog when you could be sewing shiny pleather pants or making a paper mache muscle chest ?!”

Yeah. I should get on that. I had awesome costumes as a kid but it’s just reason number 987 that I will never be as cool as my mom.

Example you ask? When I was in fifth grade I wanted to be Cleopatra. My Mom helped me dye my hair black and we found the perfect snake jewelry at a thrift store. I would love to have it now. The draping we did with a bed sheet would have made Michael Kors and Nina Garcia cry happy tears. I practiced my most royal saunter until my eyes turned purple. The only snafu popped up when we realized we bought semi-permanent dye by  mistake. I sported that jet black hair until my mom was sick of it. Eventually she made me sit in the tub and shampoo my head fifteen times in a row. A little hair loss and scalp bleeding never hurt anyone.

On the other end of the Halloween costume spectrum my biggest fail happened when I was fifteen. I borrowed an orange jumpsuit from the correctional center my dad worked at. It was the opposite of attractive and despite a good washing, it smelled like pee and bleach. Not a good move for a socially awkward teenage girl. I told everyone who asked that I got it from my Dad and yes, it was real. They misinterpreted that. Sorry Dad.

Despite costume fear, I am so down with the Halloween train this year. Yesterday my two year told his Vovo that he was not Phinny but in fact, Batman. How cool is that? We are at that stage! He’s been practicing trick or treating for weeks. Although usually he only gets a string cheese or a cracker or a cable bill, you know, whatever’s handy at the moment. Imagine how cool he’ll think the real thing is. You have no idea how many times a day my two little boys make me smile. I have never, ever been more excited about a holiday season. I’m squealing inside at the thought.   

Alright. Wish me luck, I have flour and water to mix and form and paint.  Yippee.

Doing my duty.

There are approximately ten post ideas I've been bouncing around in my brain. Like one that divulges my deep obsession with Pretty Little Liars. The one that makes me want to dress like a teenage girl. Or more accurately, a twenty something aged woman playing a teenage girl who is dressed by a stylist with a big budget. Same, right?

Or how much I love raising boys so far. One all about my new found love for sports and superheros and dinosaurs. And barbies named Mia. 

I really want to tell you about how we put the hardware for the bathroom door on backwards after painting it. How someone can lock you in the bathroom from the hall by pushing a little button. How I'm pretty sure I should be figuring out how this is a metaphor for my life.

I want to talk about the election, insurance woes, the end of my maternity leave and why I stood on a corner and yelled at church goers the other night. 

I plan on writing about all of these things, but today I can't. 

Today is the first day of October. Well, it is on the east coast. So by blogger law I must post my fall decor. I'm already on formal warning for going all of September without blogs about fall, pumpkins or soup. 

Then I got tired of decorating.

Really, really tired.

And one from instagram because Gray woke up before I could finish taking pictures.

Can't help myself.

You won't have to see a single ghost or skeleton for a year after Monday. Humor me.

I'm a sucker

For seasonal stuff. Really, put out a shmoopy holiday commercial and I'm all over it. Example? I get excited every time that football or cable commercial comes on where they sing about the joys of football to a Christmas tune. Not even a football fan and I want to run home, put on a jersey, unzip my jeans and open a bag of crappy chips. And swear at people. I don't know why but that commercial makes me want to cuss.

I'm trying to sucker Phin into my psychotic love of all things seasonal. I should be able to successfully brainwash him, I got a hold of him so young. We went on a two hour walk around the neighborhood to ohh and ahh over every pumpkin, ghost and changing tree. Sadly I didn't get pictures of any of my favorite houses. Liza chose those times to have nervous breakdowns about the possibility of a raccoon lurking in the sewer drain. This resulted in me dragging a dog barking so enthusiastically in looked like she was having a freaken seizure while pushing a stroller where my one year old was trying to stand up in so he could be better heard as he yelled "No, no, no Liza. No, no, NOOOOOO, NOOOOOOOOOOO, NOOOOOOOO".  Same time I'm trying to take a picture and be discreet so neighbors don't look out their windows and freak me out when I review my photos at home. So yeah, those ones turned out a little too blurry.

Halloween House

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I've just been busy looking for that bag of eyeballs I lost and lighting candles. I love decorating for holidays. Phin loves trashing those decorations. So I'm swamped cause I'm not about to back down from this fight.

Halloween was spooky. My monster let his horns out and we carved a pumpkin we grew ourselves. Some people objected to his cage. These are not people who live with him. Can't wait til next year!

New kind of sick day

Dear Monster,


Despite mommy calling in sick no longer meaning jammies, the couch and a jersey shore marathon, we've had a very good day.


Instead of cuddling with my puppy dog Liza, I cuddled you.

We played while I changed your diaper. A risky move, but it paid off with lots of smiles.

I let you eat skulls. Monsters aren't scared of other monstery things. They just pick fights and lucky for you, the one with hands usually wins.

I have tried to make this place a bit more homey for you. Added some things from your natural habitat.

I love you monster. Even though you are probably the one who got me sick.