For Halloween J is...

Sickie-boy.

Sucks. Sucks. Sucks. But what can you do?

He had his costume all picked out- one for trick-or-treating, and a separate one for his school party. Obviously, he missed out on the school party. And it looks like he'll be missing out on the treating, too. I'll probably bundle him up and take him to the next door neighbor's house, just so he can at least say he got to. How can you deny a child their rights to things like trick-or-treating? It's just cruel.

But it hasn't been a total loss. The other night it was record-breaking cold down here, and so we lit a little campfire, and J and the nephew and the sister and I had a little campout in the yard. I can hear the grandmotherly types out there telling me that's the reason he's sick today, but it was worth it.




Hot dogs, marshmallows, foraging for leaves and twigs for the fire, and of course, the pumpkins. It was all a blast for them... and for us.

And overheard, as they sipped their hot chocolate together...

"Wow, Stee-mon, that was the best campout ever, wasn't it?"

Moments I wouldn't trade for anything in the world.

BTW, you'll notice that the gazebo is missing it's top. We're really not that ghetto, it's just that we took it down for TS Fay, and decided we might as well wait until hurricane season is over before putting it back up. We're probably safe to do so now. :)

Pictures, mostly

So, here are the socks that I finished up. Nothing spectacular about them, but they're done, and it's been forever since I've had anything come off the needles.


Other things going on around here:


J got his new bed(s) a few weeks ago. After holding out for the really cute pirate bed for a week or so, we finally ended up going with the bunks. It just so happened that my sister had a set hanging around in her garage not being used, and since they're what J's been really wanting all this time, we decided to go ahead. They'll give him something to grow into for several years to come, and so far he hasn't gone tumbling down from the top. Of course, he's still not sleeping the entire night in them, waking several times and running across the house in a panic to find us, but we'll get there eventually. The bad thing about them is their size. They take up half his room! Case closed! We need a bigger house. Oh, and the cats like them, too.

And finally, some pictures from this weekend. We're all set for Halloween.