Happy Halloween!

Trick or Treat Everyone! This year we were fortunate to have wonderful weather, halloween on a Friday and a nice friend who came over to our house to hand out the treats so both Steven & I were able to take John out. (THANKS Crystal!)

We carved our pumpkins (one for each of us). I don't know why but I love carving pumpkins.

I did the spiderweb, that one is John's pumpkin. Steven carved the wolves for Riley.

And these one aren't lit up that well so the flash kept going off. And then I'd turn the flash off and you couldn't see the pumpkins... anyway, trust me on this one but the one on the left is VERY scary when it's lit up. It's a "horror face". That one is mine. And the other one is the skull & cross bones for Steven. I carved both.

And here's our little pirate. All set to go trick or treating. We decided to only hit the houses where we knew (& liked) the neighbors, so as a result we only went to 6 houses.

Marcia's house. The first house. They had some sort of smoke machine under the stairs, it was very cool. John was enthralled.

I LOVE this picture. It's on the way home from Fern's house. Although, I almost tumbled ass over backwards trying to get a picture while he was running towards me. Actually I'm sort of surprised that I didn't fall over.

And here's John's second costume. Dawna got this one for him last year. Well, actually Cindy got the pirate one for him last year too. Anyway... this one is too big so we'll save it for next year but we couldn't miss the photo op.

That's Crystal, handing out soda to John.

We thought we were prepared. We knew that since halloween was on a Friday that it would be busy. And since we live in a VERY family oriented neighborhood that it would be busy. AND that since the weather was gorgeous IT WOULD BE BUSY. What we didn't realize is that we get 204 kids and we would run out of soda at 8:30pm and have to turn out the lights and bring in the pumpkins. Fortunately, after we turned out the lights no-one knocked on the door.

Shhhhh....

Be Vewwy, Vewwy Quiet...I am hunting wabbits.

Just For Brenda

I was vacuuming the living room the other day and John stole it away from me. So he sat and played with the vacuum for quite awhile, pushing the buttons and sucking up the drapes. I thought of you Brenda. You'd be so proud.

Thanksgiving

1. the act of giving thanks; grateful acknowledgment of benefits or favors, esp. to God.
2. an expression of thanks, esp. to God.
3. a public celebration in acknowledgment of divine favor or kindness.
4. a day set apart for giving thanks to God.

It's both easy and difficult to know what to be thankful for this year. I am thankful that my mother is still with us yet I am confused and struggling to understand why she had the stroke to begin with. My mother who lived for her family. Who struggled and worked her fingers to the bone each and every day of her life. Who made all of us feel special and loved. Who welcomed everyone into her home like they were her long lost child. My mother who only wants the simple things in life, to be loved, to laugh, to have friends, to have her family around her, to watch her tv show, read her books and work on her puzzles. It's hard to understand why her. I want to rail against the Gods and scream and cry and scream and cry some more. I struggle every second of every day with these thoughts and these tears. Don't pity me. Don't cry for me. Don't even try to understand me. I am especially troubled with the thought of mortality. My mortality. My mother. Steven. Even John. And it scares me. How long do we really have? I could sit here and feel sorry for myself or I could make a difference with my life. I could be the best person I could be and enjoy my life. I could enjoy others around me. I don't want to have any regrets. I don't want to look back and think "coulda, woulda, shoulda". I also don't want others to think ill of me. I'd like to think that people would say, "That Lori, she sure was a nice gal. So kind and thoughtful."

So really, what am I thankful for?

I am thankful for life.

Joy

And really, the only reason he's so happy is because he picked up the pair of socks. Ya gotta love being a kid.