A Bug, A Princess, and A Biker Chick

On November 1, 2014November 1, 2014 By AngeliaIn Beautiful Life, Life..Camera...Action!16 Comments

Last Halloween, Averey is little bundle of joy not more than 7 lbs. Far too little to dress up and take around the neighborhood. Plus, the weather turned pretty chilly on Halloween and she mostly stayed in. But this Halloween, in 2014, Averey is walking (almost talking). She may not get it completely, but she knows what is going on.

Candy? Mmmmm.

Hey, this is all okay by me.

Averey gets her first treats.

Tried to get her to put her candy in the bucket and that was not happening.

End of the night and she still had the same two pieces of candy clutched in her fingers.

Her first treats she got when we arrived at the girl’s Mom’s house. Every year, they trick or treat in her neighborhood, no matter whose weekend it is. We have many reasons for doing this. But the main one is that her neighborhood gets into Halloween. There are LOTS of dressed up kids and parents. Many houses decked out in spooky wonder. It is the perfect Halloween neighborhood. The last few years, I had to work until late and didn’t get to take part in the festivities. This year I planned ahead. And? Sydney and Baby Averey got to come too!

I wasn’t expecting that.

To be part of her trick or treating this year brought joy to this Grammy’s heart.

And now I present the stars of our Halloween.

The oldest. She picked a Biker Chick costume.

Mom coloring her hair pink.

Pretty in pink.

My biker chick!

She is pretty tough.

I hope she doesn’t want a motorcycle soon.

The youngest decided on an Asian Princess. And ohmygoodness, be still my heart. She made a gorgeous princess (of course!).

A beautiful princess.

Pretty in pink as well.

Be still my heart.

And then, the youngest of the bunch, my little Lady Bug granddaughter.

Baby Averey and Sydney.

Little bug on a spooky bench.

I ain’t afraid of no ghost!

They all look so cute trooping through the neighborhood house to house. Averey randomly laughed at everything. Not sure if it was the costumes or the kids or just her having fun. Whatever it was that made her hysterical…well, it made us hysterical too.

Halloween 2014

A princess, a bug, and a biker chick.

Trick or Treat!

Spooky house.

Give me some treats!

The girls getting a boat load of candy.

Spooky house #2.

Mr. Bones.

Our favorite house was the hot dog house. One person handed out candy. The other person handed out hot dogs. No kidding! Hot of the grill dawgs. How awesome is that?

This Halloween meant a lot to me. Sharing our night with family and enjoying the little ones. Becoming a Grammy made me softer and more nostalgic. Am I complaining? Heck no. I love this time of treasure.

Today marks November 1st. How amazing! It shakes me up a little. November already? Where has the year gone?

To you all, I wish you a happy November 1st!

Hope your Halloween was extra good.

The Little Shop of Costume Horrors

On October 17, 2012October 17, 2012 By AngeliaIn Life is what you make it.31 Comments

There is a crisp breeze to the air. Orange is the primary color of the month. And at every store corner is a jack-o-lantern with an evil grin.

It must be the season of the ghoulish ghouls. Mwahahaha!

A perfect time of year to take the little girls to the Halloween store and ~~scare the wee out of them~~ look at bloodcurdling costumes.

I mean, how scary can it be? It’s not like anything is real. Right, girls? Girls?

Heeeyyyy, I found an old friend (ha! punny!). Nothing to be frightened of girls. It’s just me, hanging with my buddy, he is an environmentally friendly fella. Heh.

By the way, the girls did NOT like my fella.

I think they said, “Get me out of here!” Or maybe it was, “Get away from that thing!”
I know there were some terrified glances, a few squeals, and then a mad dash. We lost them for a few minutes in their flee of terror. I am not sure why? Don’t they know they are not real? We kept trying to tell them…..

Dad didn’t help matters.

I finally found one of the girls just a few aisles over.

Ummmm….W-O-W. Back that thing up.

Let’s label this photo: too much booty for an eight-year old. And I’m really not sure why anyone would want to be a GIANT derrière for Halloween. I think there is enough of those this year, with the election and all. HA.

Maybe it goes with a Pirate costume…..

Anywho, I quickly led her to a different aisle.

And discovered this atrocity.

Awe!

Is it wrong I think this is adorable? I just want to pick her up and give her a cuddle.

In a scary movie, I’d be ~~asking for it~~ dead.

In no time at all, the other child moved from body parts to head-gear. Isn’t that awesome? I think the Drama Queen shirt makes it so.

Pretty soon, the costume changes, and hair-raising antics were out of control. I had to rein them in to keep them from having nightmares.

Be still my darling children, and come to Step-Mama.

Oh yes, the little shop of costume horrors is, as entertaining, as it is horrendous.

Have you visited the Halloween store yet?

Wordless(ful) Wednesday: Storm Chasing

On November 2, 2011November 2, 2011 By AngeliaIn Fright, Home Invasion, In the lives of children15 Comments

First of all, I missed trick-or-treating with my five and seven-year old stepdaughters.

Believe me, I missed a LOT!

They have the greatest neighborhood for trick-or-treating. Lots, and lots of little kids (and parents), all dressed up – super cute. Everyone heads out at the same time, walking the four or five streets in big masses.

If you are my age, it’s just like the neighborhood in the movie, E.T. Phone home! Phone home! It’s really awesome and incredibly fun.

But, I had class. Yes, I could have missed it……however…….I entrusted my mega camera to my dear husband. I said, “Just put on AUTO mode, and you will be fine.”

As far as I can tell, he used SHUTTER mode. I don’t even use Shutter mode. I can’t for the life of me imagine how S is confused with AUTO on the dial, but I digress…..

Here are the photos from the night – taken by sweet husband – who is normally very good with my camera (in AUTO mode). VERY GOOD. Thank-you honey for taking the camera. Please pardon the blurry ones.

These are way too good to miss, heh!

Can you guess what step daughter number one is?

If you guessed, F3 tornado from Oklahoma? You would be correct!

Or maybe she is just a tornado, but let an Okie girl have her fun, mkay?

Step daughter number two is a ~~bug~~ weather fairy. I think….. I mean she has rain boots on (and lord knows we need lots of that!). I adore her pretty wings!

They traipsed around the neighborhood (or swirled, or flew, or blasted?).

I’m surprised no one was taking cover in the closet! She totally should have carried a siren with her.

This is my favorite part of the Halloween documentation photos and where I get to say….Jason is storm chasing! HA. I crack myself up!

Look out! A tornado is heading for a house and some kids! Take cover! Ahhhh!

Give me some candy or you’ll end up on the other side of town. WHOOSH!!!

Here we have, funnel cloud in motion, not to be confused with funnel cake. Totally different, but I’m hungry, so I could confuse?

Look out little fairy! You are going to blow away! WHOOOSH!!

I have to give props to their mom for a very UNIQUE costume this year. She makes them by hand (seriously…wow!) every year.

I don’t think I have ever seen a tornado costume before, especially one as cute as her. Where is a contest when you need one?

And for the best news of all, the weather fairy said we should have more rain and cooler temps soon. Yay!

This (I swear!) is my last Halloween post, but I saved the best for last, right?

The Nightmare after Halloween

On November 1, 2011November 1, 2011 By AngeliaIn Don't ever leave the house, FAMILY, Fright15 Comments

I found this picture of my daughter on Facebook (I totally stole it!).

Sydney on the far left.

Here she is in her clown costume for the haunted house at Six Flags Frightfest. The 3D haunted house, called Cirkus Berzerkus.

Isn’t that great?!?

A fellow haunted house worker.

She goes from this…..

To this……

Sydney on the far left.

HA! Hilarious!

I know she will remember this for a loooong time.

Really glad someone posted a pic.

Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!

I know I did……..because this cookie was involved. I think I’m still on a sugar high.

Which?

Must be why I decided to do this…….

I plan on participating in NaBloPoMo: National Blog Posting Month. I thought it would be a good way of completing my 2011 blogging year. And? It’s much better than writing a 50,000 word novel on NaNoWriMo (I will tackle that someday!).

NaBloPoMo 2011